THE LAW OF INTELLIGENT DESIGN

A Lesson in Science By

Gary Ray Branscome


Careful observation consistently supports the thesis that design exists only as the product of intelligence. In other words, for every design there must be a designer. Furthermore, because design plays a key role in the function of any system, the evidence of its presence can be expressed mathematically by the formula, P+I>P. What this formula says is that the evidence something has been designed is manifest in the fact that the parts (P) plus the intelligence (I) apparent in the arrangement of the parts, is greater than the parts alone.

 

For example, suppose that we had all of the parts necessary to make a car. If those parts were just piled in the middle of the floor, their arrangement would not produce anything greater than the parts alone. On the other hand, if those parts were assembled into a car, then the parts plus the intelligence apparent in the arrangement of those parts would enable the assembled whole to function in a way that the parts alone never could. The same holds true for the parts of a microwave, vacuum cleaner, or any other system including biological systems.

 

However, for a principle such as, P+I>P, to be truly scientific, it must be possible to test it experimentally. If the principle is true, then on the basis of that principle it should be possible to accurately predict the outcome of an experiment. It should also be possible to predict what the outcome of the experiment will be if the principle is false. Therefore, in order to test this principle let me propose the following experiment.

 

I propose that we take a single biological cell and separate its component parts, placing all of those parts together in a container. If there is no design in the arrangement of the parts of a cell, then it should be possible for the component parts of a cell to reassemble on their own, without any intelligent effort being directed to bring it about. However, if design is required in order to arrange the parts of a cell into a functioning system, then we can predict that those parts will never reassemble themselves into a cell no matter how long we wait.

 

Since an egg is the largest single cell — the largest of these being the Ostrich egg — let me further propose that we use an egg cell for this experiment (a common hen's egg will be convenient). We can separate this egg cell into its component parts by placing it into a blender and turning the blender on high speed. Once the egg cell has been broken down into its component parts we will have all of the parts necessary to form a cell. We will then place these parts into a container and wait for the egg to reassemble. If there is no design in the arrangement of the parts of a cell, then it should be possible for the parts of our egg cell to reassemble on their own. However, if the parts of an egg have been arranged by design, and the system that produces the egg has been designed to bring about that arrangement, then the parts will never reassemble on their own. Therefore, we must ask: How long will it take the egg to reassemble? Ten minutes? An hour? A year? A million years? What if we help the process along by shaking the container? Will that speed it up? How long will it take?

 

If the arrangement of the parts of an egg is the product of design, then I predict that instead of assembling themselves together the parts of our egg cell will go in the opposite direction breaking down, decaying and separating even further. Furthermore, if it is not possible for an egg to reassemble without some intelligence to design and guide the arrangement of its parts, then we have no reason to believe that any cell could come into existence without intelligence designing and arranging its parts.

 

CONCLUSION

 

The law of intelligent design can be seen all around us. The parts of an alarm clock, microwave, camcorder, or television will never come together on their own. On the contrary, intelligence must design and guide the arrangement of the parts. Likewise the parts of a digestive system, a circulatory system, or a reproductive system could never arrange themselves into a functional form without intelligence (or a system designed by intelligence) to design and guide the arrangement of the parts. Perhaps that is why the Bible says, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God" (Psalm 14:1).