We live in a time when the idea that life – including the human body – is the result of a set of mechanisms called evolution clearly prevails in normal science. Darwin’s original idea of evolutionary mechanisms has been replaced by more advanced ones, but they are still mechanisms similar to the laws of physics. Against this is the “intelligent design” view, which is based on the assumption that God, Providence, or perhaps some kind of cosmic consciousness had a definite purpose in the beginning as to what it wanted to happen. That is, how the human body is supposed to look and function, how the bodies of other creatures are supposed to function, what the relationships between them are supposed to be, how the ecosystem is supposed to function, etc. Evolution, then, is really just a mechanism that has been used to implement that plan.
I like reading representatives of intelligent design because of their work with logic. Because of their rigor and the ruthlessness with which they search for the slightest loopholes in generally accepted theories. They do a great job raising the level of discussion and thinking.
However, in recent months I have been forced to study some detailed medical stuff about what works in the human body (or nervous system) and it is quite clear that this cannot be the work of an intelligent designer. Even an average designer could implement the same functions more simply and with less vulnerability to error. It’s not perfect. It’s randomly tacked on.
Which can’t be an argument against religious belief. The latter is a matter of what meaning we attach to our perceptions and how we understand the world around us. But intelligent design theory is only sustainable if we know next to nothing about our own design.