Chances are you’re already familiar with specified complexity, one of the mathematical pillars of the theory of intelligent design. There’s another pillar that is much less well known but equally vital: the law of conservation of information. On a new episode of ID the Future, I begin a four-part conversation with mathematician and philosopher Dr. William Dembski. The conversation explains Dembski’s work on the law of conservation of information and its implications for scientific theories like Darwinian evolution.
In Part 1, Dr. Dembski begins by defining information fundamentally as the narrowing of possibilities, where specifying one outcome excludes others. Using a simple analogy of location, he explains that identifying a specific place, like the town of Aubrey, Texas (pictured above, by the way), provides more information than simply stating you are in the United States because it rules out a much larger field of possibilities. Mathematically, this narrowing corresponds to probabilities; as an event becomes more specific and less probable, the amount of information it contains increases. Intelligence, according to Dembski, is the source of this narrowing, rooted in the Latin meaning inter lego, meaning “to choose between.” He argues that intelligence makes purposeful decisions to settle on one thing to the exclusion of others, a process that inherently generates meaningful information.
A “Designer Substitute”
Dembski explains that the law of conservation of information presents a significant challenge to Darwinism. By characterizing natural selection as a “designer substitute,” proponents of Darwinian evolution claim that this unguided mechanism can perform the work of intelligence without a metaphysical mind. Dembski suggests that the term “selection” is a rhetorical word game because it ascribes the power of choice — a concept historically linked to reason and intelligence — to mindless material pressures. In this view, Darwinism seeks to explain how complex, specified features can arise from interactions of hereditary variability and environmental pressure, essentially substituting a natural process for a traditional designer. But when the law of conservation of information is applied properly to evolutionary claims, the reality is sobering. Dembski argues that any net increase in probability must be paid for either by another highly improbable event or through the knowledge and intervention of an intelligence.
Download the podcast or listen to it here. This is Part 1 of a four-part conversation. Look for the rest of the discussion next!
Dig Deeper
- Ready to learn more? Download Dr. Dembski’s monograph at no cost!
- More conversation with Dr. Dembski.