INTELLIGENT DESIGN EVIDENCE
Special Evidence: Specified Complex Information
Special Evidence: Specified Complex Information
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Based on the probability of certain arrangements or components of a whole, Dembski
explains his idea in an essay entitled Explaining Specified Complexity.
Briefly, Dembski states:
Living organisms exhibit vast amounts of information content similar to that in a
computer program. In fact, information is defined as “the attribute inherent in and
communicated by one of two or more alternative sequences or arrangements of
something (as nucleotides in DNA or binary digits in a computer program) that
produce specific effects."[1]
The idea that the information in a computer program or in DNA could possibly be
formed in an unspecified manner by unintelligent causes is a matter for
mathematicians and statisticians, all of whom report back numbers that, in the time
available in our universe, make such an occurrence by unguided processes effectively
impossible.
DNA is one example of specified complex information in living organisms, reflecting a
purposefulness that cannot be reduced to matter alone. As intelligent design theorist
Phillip E. Johnson explains:
Very simply, there is no known unguided, purposeless process (including Darwinism)
that can make non-repetitive, specified sequences of matter, particularly the long,
detailed sequences of DNA, comparable in quantity and quality to an entire set of
encyclopedias. [3]
The information content of DNA is many, many times more complex and specified than
a Shakesearean sonnet. Just as no scientist would suggest that Shakespearean
sonnets were the work of unintelligent causes (even if the author were unknown), the
presence of specified, complex information in DNA is equally dispositive of intelligent
causes in living systems. The question of the cause of Specified Complex Information
is critical to the origins science debate. If “evolution” means “change over time,” then
there is no controversy. However, if “evolution” is defined as “a natural, unguided,
information-producing process capable of creating Specified Complex Information,”
then virtually no one would be an evolutionist based on the evidence. The evidence
overwhelmingly suggests an intelligent cause. However, the question of the source of
Complex Specified Information is secondary, and not necessarily a scientific question.
But to rule out intelligent causes for Specified Complex Information based on the
supposed inability for science to detect the source (e.g., as due to a conflict between
"science" and "religion") is to make a category mistake. As Dembski states, “The
proper contrast is between natural causes on the one hand and intelligent causes on
the other.” Dembski elaborates:
For more on the importance of biological information, see, Stephen C. Meyer, The
Origin of Biological Information and the Higher Taxonomic Categories, Proceedings of
the Biological Society of Washington. Meyer argues, citing numerous studies by other
scientists, that no current materialistic theory of evolution can account for the origin of
the information necessary to build novel animal forms. Proposing intelligent design as
an alternative explanation, arguing that new life forms such as those exhibited in the
Cambrian explosion can only be attributed to a “remarkable jump” in complex
specified information. No known material cause exists for such a jump.
Footnotes:
1. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition: 1996 (Springfield, MA: Merriam-
Webster. Inc.)
2. Phillip E. Johnson, Wedge of Truth, p. 53.
3. Atheist and Darwinist Richard Dawkins states that each nucleus of plant or animal cells contains
a digitally coded database larger, in information content, than all 30 volumes of the Encyclopedia
Britannica put together." Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker, (New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
1996) p. 17-18, (emphasis added).
4. Dembski, Intelligent Design, p. 106.
explains his idea in an essay entitled Explaining Specified Complexity.
Briefly, Dembski states:
- Life is both complex and specified. The basic intuition here is straightforward. A
single letter of the alphabet is specified without being complex (i.e., it conforms
to an independently given pattern but is simple). A long sequence of random
letters is complex without being specified (i.e., it requires a complicated
instruction-set to characterize but conforms to no independently given pattern).
A Shakespearean sonnet is both complex and specified.
Living organisms exhibit vast amounts of information content similar to that in a
computer program. In fact, information is defined as “the attribute inherent in and
communicated by one of two or more alternative sequences or arrangements of
something (as nucleotides in DNA or binary digits in a computer program) that
produce specific effects."[1]
The idea that the information in a computer program or in DNA could possibly be
formed in an unspecified manner by unintelligent causes is a matter for
mathematicians and statisticians, all of whom report back numbers that, in the time
available in our universe, make such an occurrence by unguided processes effectively
impossible.
DNA is one example of specified complex information in living organisms, reflecting a
purposefulness that cannot be reduced to matter alone. As intelligent design theorist
Phillip E. Johnson explains:
- The important thing about DNA is not the chemicals but the information in the
software, just as the important thing about a computer program or a book is the
information content and not the physical medium in which that information is
recorded.[2]
Very simply, there is no known unguided, purposeless process (including Darwinism)
that can make non-repetitive, specified sequences of matter, particularly the long,
detailed sequences of DNA, comparable in quantity and quality to an entire set of
encyclopedias. [3]
The information content of DNA is many, many times more complex and specified than
a Shakesearean sonnet. Just as no scientist would suggest that Shakespearean
sonnets were the work of unintelligent causes (even if the author were unknown), the
presence of specified, complex information in DNA is equally dispositive of intelligent
causes in living systems. The question of the cause of Specified Complex Information
is critical to the origins science debate. If “evolution” means “change over time,” then
there is no controversy. However, if “evolution” is defined as “a natural, unguided,
information-producing process capable of creating Specified Complex Information,”
then virtually no one would be an evolutionist based on the evidence. The evidence
overwhelmingly suggests an intelligent cause. However, the question of the source of
Complex Specified Information is secondary, and not necessarily a scientific question.
But to rule out intelligent causes for Specified Complex Information based on the
supposed inability for science to detect the source (e.g., as due to a conflict between
"science" and "religion") is to make a category mistake. As Dembski states, “The
proper contrast is between natural causes on the one hand and intelligent causes on
the other.” Dembski elaborates:
- Intelligent causes can do things that natural causes cannot. Natural causes
can throw scrabble pieces on a board but cannot arrange the pieces to form
meaningful words or sentences. To obtain a meaningful arrangement requires
an intelligent cause. Whether an intelligent cause operates within or outside
nature (i.e., is respectively natural or supernatural) is a separate question
entirely from whether an intelligent cause has operated.[4]
For more on the importance of biological information, see, Stephen C. Meyer, The
Origin of Biological Information and the Higher Taxonomic Categories, Proceedings of
the Biological Society of Washington. Meyer argues, citing numerous studies by other
scientists, that no current materialistic theory of evolution can account for the origin of
the information necessary to build novel animal forms. Proposing intelligent design as
an alternative explanation, arguing that new life forms such as those exhibited in the
Cambrian explosion can only be attributed to a “remarkable jump” in complex
specified information. No known material cause exists for such a jump.
Footnotes:
1. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition: 1996 (Springfield, MA: Merriam-
Webster. Inc.)
2. Phillip E. Johnson, Wedge of Truth, p. 53.
3. Atheist and Darwinist Richard Dawkins states that each nucleus of plant or animal cells contains
a digitally coded database larger, in information content, than all 30 volumes of the Encyclopedia
Britannica put together." Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker, (New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
1996) p. 17-18, (emphasis added).
4. Dembski, Intelligent Design, p. 106.
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