The Evolution of Specified Complexity

algorithmic coding functions, American Scientific Affiliation, bookkeeping, Cambridge University Press, Charles Thaxton, Conservation of Information, crystals, Dembski’s Theorem, Discovery Institute, Evolution, improbability, information, Intelligent Design, laws of nature, Leslie Orgel, mathematics, My Personal History with Information (series), No Free Lunch, Noam Chomsky, Paul Nelson, philosophers, probabilities, R. A. Fisher, Rob Koons, Roger Olsen, specified complexity, statistical inference, Stephen Meyer, The Design Inference, The Mystery of Life’s Origin, The Origins of Life, University of Chicago, University of Notre Dame, University of Texas, Walter Bradley, Whitworth College, William A. Dembski, William Shakespeare, Wolfgang Smith
Wolfgang Smith’s excitement about conservation of complex specified information or specified complexity was not widely shared. Source
Read More

Discovering a Design Argument Based on Biological Information

A. E. Wilder-Smith, Biochemical Predestination, biochemistry, cassette tapes, Charles Thaxton, Chemistry, Dean Kenyon, Energy, Foundation for Thought and Ethics, Gary Steinman, information, Intelligent Design, Jon Buell, Lake Thun, Man’s Origin — Man’s Destiny, mathematics, My Personal History with Information (series), Of Pandas and People, origin of life, Philosophical Library, Roger Olsen, San Francisco State University, Switzerland, Technology, The Creation of Life, The Mystery of Life’s Origin, University of Chicago, University of Helsinki, Walter Bradley
Charles Thaxton, along with Walter Bradley and Roger Olsen, wrote what arguably was the first official book of the intelligent design movement. Source
Read More

Darwin’s Black Box, 30 Years On: A Seminal Contribution to Biology

A Mousetrap for Darwin, Baylor University, biochemistry, biology, Brown University, bubonic plague, Charles Thaxton, Congress, Darwin's Black Box, Douglas Axe, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, faculty, injectisome, Intelligent Design, Irreducible Complexity, James Shapiro, Jonathan Wells, Journal of Molecular Biology, Kenneth Miller, Lehigh University, Michael Behe, Michael Denton, motorcycles, mousetrap, naturalists, non-theistic evolution, Pajaro Dunes, Paul Nelson, protein evolution, Roger Olsen, San Francisco, Seattle Pacific University, Southern Methodist University, Stephen Meyer, T3SS, The Mystery of Life’s Origin, theistic evolution, Type 3 Secretory System, University of Chicago, Walter Bradley, Yersinia pestis, __featured1
It makes sense to think that the T3SS didn’t evolve into the bacterial flagellum, but that the bacterial flagellum shed some protein parts to become a T3SS.  Source
Read More

Post-Darwin, Too, Maxwell Drew a Remarkable Design Inference

amino acids, British Association, Cambridge University, cancer, Cavendish Laboratory, Cecil J. Monro, Charles Darwin, Charles Thaxton, configurational entropy, cosmology, Daniel Silver, Encyclopedia Britannica, Evolution, fine-tuning, history of science, Intelligent Design, James Clerk Maxwell, Lord Kelvin, Maxwell’s demon, molecules, Origin of Species, pain, pangenesis, physics, poetry, Punishment, Red Lions, science stopper, thermodynamics, Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism
So far we detect significant prescience about intelligent design in Maxwell’s thought. He all but uses the phrase himself. Source
Read More

Robert Marks Remembers ID and Tech Pioneer Walter Bradley

Baylor University, car mats, Charles Thaxton, chemical evolution, coconuts, Colorado School of Mines, Dignity Coconuts, Discovery Institute, Douglas Axe, Engineering, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Jay Richards, materials, mosquitoes, origin of life, Philippines, Robert J. Marks II, Roger Olsen, Stephen Meyer, Technology, Texas A&M University, The Mystery of Life’s Origin, Walter Bradley, weapons, William Dembski
In 1984, three scientists dared to probe the mystery of life’s origin by putting the prevailing theories of prebiotic and chemical evolution to the test. Source
Read More

Protein Designers Explore Sequence Space

A. E. Wilder-Smith, amino acids, Centre for Genomic Regulation, chance, Charles Thaxton, earthquakes, Evolution, Ewen Callaway, Francis Crick, Illustra Media, intelligence, Intelligent Design, James F. Coppedge, No Free Lunch, primordial soup, proteins, Roger Olsen, sequence hypothesis, The Design Inference, The Mystery of Life’s Origin, Walter Bradley, wind, Wistar Institute
They may call it evolution, but it is all about intelligent design and artificial selection, not Darwinism. Source
Read More

Specified Complexity Made Simple: The Historical Backdrop

Charles Thaxton, complex specified order, English, Evolution, Francis Crick, information theory, Intelligent Design, Jason Rosenhouse, Leslie Orgel, letters, On Protein Synthesis, Paul Davies, random order, repetitive order, Roger Olsen, specified complexity, Specified Complexity Made Simple (series), The Design Inference, The Mystery of Life’s Origin, Walter Bradley, Wikipedia, William Dembski
What happened to change the fortunes of specified complexity in the mainstream scientific community? The intelligent design movement happened. Source
Read More

Missing the Point: Codes Are Not Products of Physics

"survival of the fittest", alanine, amino acids, Charles Thaxton, code, codons, Darwinian evolution, DNA, double helix, Energy Code, Escherichia coli, Evolution, genetic code, Horst H. Klump, information, Intelligent Design, Jens Völker, Kenneth J. Breslauer, Masayori Inouye, materialists, mind, Molecular Darwinism, natural selection, PNAS, probability, proteins, Quarterly Review of Biophysics, Roger Olsen, Rutgers University, Second Law of Thermodynamics, serine, Signature in the Cell, Stephen Meyer, The Mystery of Life’s Origin, thermodynamics, Walter Bradley
Elaborate schemes to explain the origin of the genetic code from the laws of physics and chemistry miss the whole point about codes. Source
Read More

Sorry, Origin-of-Life Researchers, But Bubbles Are Not Cells

Aleksandr Oparin, Alexander Marras, Ann Gauger, Argonne National Laboratory, bubbles, Charles Thaxton, Chemistry, coacervates, Darwinian theory, Dean Matthew Tirrell, Elena dos Santos, Encyclopedia Britannica, Evolution, Frankenstein, Geppetto, Illustra Media, Intelligent Design, Marxists, Nature (journal), Nature Communications, origin of life, Penn State, Pinocchio, replication, RNA, RNA world, Sam Sholtis, Sidney Fox, Signature in the Cell, Stephen Meyer, The Mystery of Life’s Origin, University of Basel, University of Chicago
Oparin is back. Some origin-of-life researchers are using his coacervate theory without giving him credit or realizing they are retreading dead-end ideas. Source
Read More