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Silicon Valley
Photo: A view of Silicon Valley, San Jose, California, by Coolcaesar / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0).
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“Poor Design”? Human Versus Biological Invention

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Biology
Intelligent Design
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According to a common refrain from ID critics, the theory of intelligent design is defeated by observations of “poor design” in our own biology. Smart humans could have done it much better, we are told, so this points to bungling evolution over the work of a purposeful designer outside nature. Does this challenge hold water? 

Well, let’s say you compare the most ingenious technological inventions — from Silicon Valley, for example — with the inventions inscribed in carbon, not silicon, in “simple cells.” On a classic episode of ID the Future, molecular biologist Douglas Axe and philosopher of science Stephen Meyer discussed the question, weighing Silicon Valley against “Carbon Valley.” Guess which one beats the other for inspired design? Download the podcast or listen to it here.

David Klinghoffer

Senior Fellow and Editor, Science and Culture Today
David Klinghoffer is a Senior Fellow with Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. He is the author of seven books including Plato’s Revenge: The New Science of the Immaterial Genome and The Lord Will Gather Me In: My Journey to Jewish Orthodoxy. A former senior editor at National Review, he has contributed to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and other publications. He received an A.B. magna cum laude from Brown University in 1987. Born in Santa Monica, CA, he lives on Mercer Island, WA.
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