One of the foundations of the scientific method is that it provides for replication regardless of prior conviction. That is, if ten people perform the same experiment in the same way, they will achieve the same results regardless of what they expected the results to be. In fact, this is one of the things that is so powerful about science. When done properly, it does not bend to personal conviction.
This raises an interesting set of questions for Intelligent Design proponents and Young Earth Creationists.
- Why is it that the only proponents of the theory of a 6,000 year old earth are prior believers in one of the monotheist religions espousing a 6,000 year timeline since the creation myth? Why have no Buddhists, or Hindus, or Non-believers, or Taoists examined the evidence and come to a 6,000 year old earth?
- Why is it that the only proponents of intelligent design are prior believers in one of the monotheist religions espousing a divine act of creation? Why have no Buddhists, Hindus, Non-believers, or Taoists examined the evidence and come to a theory of irreducible complexity?
Returning to the scientific method, let me relate a question that was posed during a discussion several years ago: If you were forced to go back in time and erase one historic work from existence, would you get rid of Newton’s Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica or Shakespeare’s Collected Works, which would you choose?
The correct answer — the only reasonable answer — is that you would destroy Newton’s seminal work on the physical laws of the universe.
This may seem counter-intuitive, but the reasoning is very simple. Had not Newton observed and described the laws of motion, someone else would have. If you can imagine a universe in which Newton had never been born, you are still imagining a universe with the three laws. Someone somewhere would have been clever enough to do the work and figure them out.
On the other hand, Shakespeare’s work — any or all of his works — are unique in history. They are subjective works of art, and if he had never been born, we would still not have “To be or not to be: that is the question.”
- Get Your Intelligent Design Out of My Science Classroom (releasingreligion.blogspot.com)
- Fear of Death Spurs Belief in Intelligent Design (livescience.com)
- An encounter with the Centre for Intelligent Design – debating creationism, ID and Holocaust denial (newhumanist.org.uk)