Difference between revisions of "Design inference"
| Line 6: | Line 6: | ||
''Specifications'' "are patterns that identify events and that have short or simple descriptions. But descriptions can be represented in bits." Also, "Design inferences engage in a balancing act between the complexity of events and the simplicity of descriptions."<ref>William Dembski and Winston Ewert. 2023. The Design Inference: Eliminating Chance through Small Probabilities (2nd edition). Discovery Institute. ISBN 9781637120347. pages 132-133</ref> | ''Specifications'' "are patterns that identify events and that have short or simple descriptions. But descriptions can be represented in bits." Also, "Design inferences engage in a balancing act between the complexity of events and the simplicity of descriptions."<ref>William Dembski and Winston Ewert. 2023. The Design Inference: Eliminating Chance through Small Probabilities (2nd edition). Discovery Institute. ISBN 9781637120347. pages 132-133</ref> | ||
| + | |||
| + | The term "'''specified complexity'''" is term used and endorsed by eminent scientists such as Francis Crick, Paul Davies, Leslie Orgel, and even Richard Dawkins, sometimes using the very term and at other times using "complexity" and "specification" in the same breath. The actual term "specified complexity" goes back to biologist Leslie Orgel in 1973 in connection to origin of life research.<ref>William Dembski and Winston Ewert. 2023. The Design Inference: Eliminating Chance through Small Probabilities (2nd edition). Discovery Institute. ISBN 9781637120347. page 258-266</ref> | ||
Though detecting design is often intuitive, some examples of use of design inferences include archaeology, intellectual property protection, forensic science, identifying fraud, cryptography, SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence), directed panspermia.<ref>William Dembski and Winston Ewert. 2023. The Design Inference: Eliminating Chance through Small Probabilities (2nd edition). Discovery Institute. ISBN 9781637120347. Chapter 2. Sampler of Design Inferences</ref> | Though detecting design is often intuitive, some examples of use of design inferences include archaeology, intellectual property protection, forensic science, identifying fraud, cryptography, SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence), directed panspermia.<ref>William Dembski and Winston Ewert. 2023. The Design Inference: Eliminating Chance through Small Probabilities (2nd edition). Discovery Institute. ISBN 9781637120347. Chapter 2. Sampler of Design Inferences</ref> | ||
| − | Many critics of the design inference mistakenly assume the mere improbabilities are what design | + | Many critics of the "design inference" mistakenly assume the mere improbabilities are what design inferences are. However, William Dembski has clarified "no ID researcher has ever suggested that "X is improbable; therefore X is designed" is a valid argument. Instead, since the publication of the first edition of this book in 1998, design researchers have repeatedly emphasized the indispensability of both small probability and specification in eliminating chance and inferring design."<ref>William Dembski and Winston Ewert. 2023. The Design Inference: Eliminating Chance through Small Probabilities (2nd edition). Discovery Institute. ISBN 9781637120347. Page 70-80</ref> |
==See also== | ==See also== | ||
*[[William Dembski]] | *[[William Dembski]] | ||
[[category:Intelligent Design]] | [[category:Intelligent Design]] | ||
Revision as of 19:02, August 18, 2025
Design inference is the logical and/or mathematical result of an assessment of both small probabilities and specification(s) on any phenomenon or event, and the resulting elimination of chance as a viable explanation for the phenomenon or event.[1]
William Dembski published The Design Inference: Eliminating Chance through Small Probabilities as part of Cambridge Studies in Probability, Induction and Decision Theory in 1998 giving a rigorous mathematical basis for detecting design and eliminating chance as explanations.[2]
Chance can occur as a side effect of design (e.g. car accidents occur even when cars, controls, and roads are designed). Chance can also be a an unguided natural phenomenon (e.g. earthquake, landslide, etc).[3] In order to narrow down if something is designed or natural, specifications should be present.
Specifications "are patterns that identify events and that have short or simple descriptions. But descriptions can be represented in bits." Also, "Design inferences engage in a balancing act between the complexity of events and the simplicity of descriptions."[4]
The term "specified complexity" is term used and endorsed by eminent scientists such as Francis Crick, Paul Davies, Leslie Orgel, and even Richard Dawkins, sometimes using the very term and at other times using "complexity" and "specification" in the same breath. The actual term "specified complexity" goes back to biologist Leslie Orgel in 1973 in connection to origin of life research.[5]
Though detecting design is often intuitive, some examples of use of design inferences include archaeology, intellectual property protection, forensic science, identifying fraud, cryptography, SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence), directed panspermia.[6]
Many critics of the "design inference" mistakenly assume the mere improbabilities are what design inferences are. However, William Dembski has clarified "no ID researcher has ever suggested that "X is improbable; therefore X is designed" is a valid argument. Instead, since the publication of the first edition of this book in 1998, design researchers have repeatedly emphasized the indispensability of both small probability and specification in eliminating chance and inferring design."[7]
