Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Radio 4 discussion on ID
Creatoinist Prof. Andrew Macintosh, Philosopher Prof. Roger Trigg and Evolutionist Prof. Denis Alexander (all of whom are Christians) have a rather good discussion about creation, evolution and ID on Radio 4
www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/beyond_belief/index.shtml
In the face of Prof Macintosh's challenge about the origin of information, Dr. Denis Alexander asserts that information comes from the properties of the physical world studied by scientists but then immediately says that we 'don't know' where the information in DNA comes from. However, as Stephen C. Meyer and others have argued, the chemical bonds in the DNA sequence do not explain the sequencing. As Macintosh rightly says, the information is something over and above the physical forces and constituents at work here (just as the ordering of alphabet fridge magnets that spell out a message on a fridge is something over and above the magnetic forces that explain why the letters stick to the fridge surface.)
Roger Trigg mentions that he think there is plenty of evidence for design in physics.
www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/beyond_belief/index.shtml
'Monday 20 February 2006 - Intelligent Design - On Beyond Belief this week, Ernie Rea is joined by three guests who discuss the concept of Intelligent Design.'
For once ID was fairly clearly distinguished from Creationism, despite the fact that it was left to the creationist to represent ID arguments; and some good points were made about the ubiquitous influence of different philosophical and theological assumptions upon science.In the face of Prof Macintosh's challenge about the origin of information, Dr. Denis Alexander asserts that information comes from the properties of the physical world studied by scientists but then immediately says that we 'don't know' where the information in DNA comes from. However, as Stephen C. Meyer and others have argued, the chemical bonds in the DNA sequence do not explain the sequencing. As Macintosh rightly says, the information is something over and above the physical forces and constituents at work here (just as the ordering of alphabet fridge magnets that spell out a message on a fridge is something over and above the magnetic forces that explain why the letters stick to the fridge surface.)
Roger Trigg mentions that he think there is plenty of evidence for design in physics.
