4 4 7S c i e n t i f i c R e v o l u t i o n swill tell us that Intelligence operates when there are potentially advanta-
geous complex traits that can’t evolve by natural selection. Second, there
must be principles that explain what Intelligence does when it acts. Perhaps
these will identify the sorts of genetic changes Intelligence can arrange, or
the ways in which it can inhibit the normal operation of selection.
It is already clear that these principles will be hard to state precisely.
For, if Intelligence has been waiting in the wings throughout the history of
life, seizing opportunities as they arise, we know that there are all sorts of
things it hasn’t done. Apparently Intelligence isn’t directed toward elimi-
nating the junk from genomes or removing vestigial structures like the
whale’s pelvis or generating radically new arrangements for mammalian
forelimbs. It’s possible, of course, that although directed toward these
ends, Intelligence is simply unable to bring them about. So any satisfac-
tory principles must differentiate between the bacterial flagellum, blood-
clotting cascade, and similar places where Intelligence shows its prowess,
and the accumulated junk, vestigial structures, and genetic blunders,
where it remains in abeyance....
Why do intelligent designers ignore the basic problem of explaining
the power and direction of the mechanism they invoke, a problem that
strikes at the heart of their theory? Apparently, their preferred perspec-
tive faces a multitude of currently unsolved puzzles about the scope and
direction of Intelligence. Yet, unlike their counterparts in other scientific
ventures, they are reluctant to suggest their strategies for seeking solu-
tions. Their reticence provokes the charge that what they are doing is not
science, but perhaps breaking their silence would be theologically un-
wise. Saying too much might disrupt the harmony between the sanitized
version of intelligent design elaborated in the classroom during the week
and the richer account delivered from the pulpit on Sunday. Moreover,
saying anything that would genuinely respond to the puzzles might be
saying too much.
Yet, I suspect many people would simply reject the terms in which I have
posed the problem. Friends of intelligent design would prefer not to talk
about evolutionary transitions at all. So, they might say, the complex struc-
tures are built from scratch. Intelligence is a creative force that replaces older
types of organisms with new, individually designed species. Conceived
in this way, intelligent design disavows Behe’s acceptance of descent with
modification, drawing bars across the tree of life to mark the places of radi-
cal discontinuity, of events of special creation....
The real situation is that intelligent design-ers oscillate.... Yet however
they wriggle, they find no satisfactory positive doctrine, no set of principles
about Intelligence that can adequately account for the phenomena. This is
why readers hunt through their literature seeking fragments of positive the-
ory in vain. They won’t find it. Because to advance any such theory would
expose the corpse of dead science.97364_ch20_ptg01_423-448.indd 447 15/11/13 12:09 3M
some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materiallyCopyright 201^3 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights,
affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.