Wedgie’s World: Stung not bitten

ID cannot really withstand the scrutiny of critical peer review

More accurately, it cannot withstand an hour or two of reflection by anyone with an advanced high school or undergraduate-level understanding of evolutionary biology.

One need never have opened a scientific journal to realize that “intelligent design theory” is a crock of crap floated onto the faithful by a group of ignorant and paranoid charlatans with an explicitly religious agenda.

The Scorpion and the Frog is indeed a relevant story. The Scorpion is religious fundamentalism riding on the back of rationality and science. In this case, the story has a happy ending because long before the scorpion was able to raise its sting, the frog submerged itself, using its powerful legs and knowledge of the swamp currents to swim far far away, leaving the scorpion to drown and sink slowly to the bottom, where it will eventually become food for worms and plankton and other creatures that don’t pretend to be more clever than they really are.

GWW Wrote:

The Scorpion and the Frog is indeed a relevant story. The Scorpion is religious fundamentalism riding on the back of rationality and science.

I am glad that the analogy was not lost on the reader :-)

Desperately Evading the Toughest Questions about Intelligent Design: A Review of Dembski’s The Design Revolution Posted by Jeffrey Shallit on April 7, 2004 12:58 AM

Dembski’s Curious Incompetence With Quotations Posted by Jeffrey Shallit on April 3, 2004 03:28 AM

see also amazom reviews

ID: “Intelligent (?) Drivel”, August 20, 2004 Reviewer: R. C. MELIA “Pilgrim” (Covina, Ca)

I recently saw a portion of the author’s discussion about ID (and this book) on CSPAN, and thought I would see what it was about … might be interesting … it wasn’t!!! The book was a total struggle to get through. “Disappointed” doesn’t even come close to my reaction. Long before I finished the book I couldn’t help but draw many many conclusions, some of which I found the author trying to refute as I read later chapters. I have never read any critiques, or otherwise, about ID or the author, so my response is soley from his own words.

Such a disappointment, August 16, 2004 Reviewer: AZMedPhys (Scottsdale, AZ USA) - I began this book with an open mind, hoping to encounter some persuasive arguments for the point of view that Darwinian evolution is incomplete. Unfortunately, Dembski assumes what he purports to demonstrate, that living things are so complicated and well-suited to their environment that they simply must have been designed. He argues that since we cannot detail the evolutionary processes that produced life and its complexity, we must admit the possibility, indeed the likelihood, that a Designer created key elements through direct innovation, bypassing gradual processes.

A Disappointing Response, June 4, 2004 Reviewer: Taner Edis (Kirksville, MO United States) Disclaimer: I have published criticisms of Dembski’s work. But that’s all the more reason for me to be interested in a book advertised as answering tough criticisms brought against ID. So I’m bothered by the way Dembski has avoided what I would consider the more substantial scientific challenges to ID.

Evading Both the Toughest and the Easiest Questions, February 28, 2004 Reviewer: Mark Perakh (Escondido, CA USA) - See all my reviews This new book by William Dembski is of course what could be expected - a muddled and unsubstantiated attempt to bolster a conceptual set overwhelmingly rejected by scientists. Since I cannot provide here a detailed rebuttal of all the inconsistencies and plain errors which abound in Dembski’s new opus, I will only point out that the subtitle of that book should more properly be replaced by “Evading Questions About Intelligent Design.” To illustrate my assertion, note, for example, the following fact: Dembski’s previous book was titled “No Free Lunch.” This title referred to the “No Free Lunch theorems” proven by David Wolpert and Willian Macready. David Wolpert, who certainly is the foremost authority on his theorems, published a review of Dembski’s book tellingly titled “Wlliam Dembski’s Treatment of No Free Lunch Theorems Is Written in Jello.” Dembski never responded to Wolpert’s critique. Neither did he so in this new book, thus evading a question posited by Wolpert. The strong critique of Dembski’s ideas by Thomas Schneider merited in the reviewed book the following passage: “Evolutionary biologists regularly claim to obtain specified complexity for free or from scratch. (Richard Dawkins and Thomas Schneider are some of the worst offenders in this regard)” If this statement is an “answer to a tough question” it is news to me. There are many other critics of intelligent design and/or of Dembski’s ideas who asked questions, both tough and easy, but their names do not even appear in the Index of Dembski’s book. Here is an incomplete list of such names: Eli Chiprout, Taner Edis, Ellery Eels, Branden Fitelson, Philip Kitcher, Mark Perakh, Massimo Pigliucci, Del Ratzsch, Jason Rosenhouse, Jeffrey Shallit, Niall Shanks, Christopher Stephenson, Erik Tellgren, Richard Wein, and Matt Young. (I apologize for also including myself - I have no reason to omit myself, and I am in good company on that list). This list could be continued. Therefore those readers who may be attracted by the rave editorial reviews and accolades heaped on Dembski’s book by his cohorts must be warned: the subtitle of Dembski’s book is deceptive - it better be replaced with “Evading Questions About Intelligent Design.” As to the alleged Design Revolution promised by Dembski, let us wait and see. To my mind Intelligent Design theory, rather than generating a revolution in science, will land in the same place where the theory of phlogiston, the Blondlot’s N-rays, and Velikovsky’s great discoveries already reside.

Avoiding the toughest questions about intelligent design, August 1, 2004 Reviewer: ID Critic “IDC” (USA)

While initially hopeful that this book would finally address scientific criticisms raised, it seems that Dembski has chosen to avoid dealing with the toughest questions.

For instance, Wesley Elsberry has presented the challenge of the ‘algorithm room’. Inside a black box there is either a computer or a human who is going to solve the traveling salesman problem. After suitable time, the answer is presented. Since evolutionary computing can be used to find the solution, this example is to show that algorithms can in fact create ‘complex specified information’, contrary to Dembski’s claims. If the observer however cannot distinguish between the apparant ‘complex specified information’ generated by the algorithm versus the ‘real’ ‘complex specified information’ generated by the intelligent designer then Dembski’s approach to inferring design is fundamentally flawed.

Or the devastating critique by fellow intelligent design proponent Del Ratsch which remains to this date unaddressed

Del Ratzsch wrote in his book “Nature, Design and Science”

“So typically, patterns that are likely candidates for design are first identified as such by some unspecified (“mysterious”) means, then with the pattern in hand S picks out side information identified (by unspecified means) as releavant to the particular pattern, then sees whether the pattern in question is among the various patterns that could have been constructed from that side information. What this means, of course, is that Dembski’s design inference will not be particularly useful either in initial recognition or identification of design.”

Other shortcomings, and they are not trivial, include avoiding to explain why when calculating probabilities of events, Dembski uses two different methods depending on whether the event was human caused or not. When it is known that a human has caused the event, Dembski ignores the history of the events and assumes that the events are equiprobable and independent thus inflating the probabilities leading to a ‘successful’ design inference. But when calculating the probabilities for non-intelligent events, Dembski uses the causal history thus deflating the probabilities. In other words, the outcome is determined by the method chosen.

In other words, the ‘toughest questions’ are avoided. And for good reason because the real tough questions show that Dembski’s Design inference is fundamentally flawed and useless.

For instance: “no false positive”. Dembski argues that his approach does not generate “false positives”, in other words whenever it detects design it does so 100% reliably. Dembski has to argue this since his approach is one of elimination, or appeal to ignorance and thus any possibility of a false positive would render his method useless.

Dembski’s opinion on “false positives” seems to have evolved over time. From an initial claim of reliability and “no false positives” via an admission that if the filter erroneously attributes design, it is useless to acceptance of “false positives”, the “Explanatory Filter” evolved from reliable to useless.

In 1996 Dembski argued:

“I argue that the explanatory filter is a reliable criterion for detecting design. Alternatively, I argue that the Explanatory Filter successfully avoids false positives. Thus whenever the Explanatory Filter attributes design, it does so correctly.” From: The Explanatory Filter: A three-part filter for understanding how to separate and identify cause from intelligent design. An excerpt from a paper presented at the 1996 Mere Creation conference, originally titled “Redesigning Science.” In 1999 he states “On the other hand, if things end up in the net that are not designed, the criterion will be useless.” From: Dembski, William, 1999. Intelligent Design: The Bridge Between Science & Theology. P 141.

and in 2001 “Now it can happen that we may not know enough to determine all the relevant chance hypotheses. Alternatively, we might think we know the relevant chance hypotheses, but later discover that we missed a crucial one. In the one case a design inference could not even get going; in the other, it would be mistaken. But these are the risks of empirical inquiry, which of its nature is fallible. Worse by far is to impose as an a priori requirement that all gaps in our knowledge must ultimately be filled by non-intelligent causes.” From: Dembski, William, 2001. No Free Lunch, Rowman & Littlefield, p 123

Seems that Dembski’s argument evolved from ‘no false positives’ to ‘false positives are inevitable’ but if that is the case then the design inference is useless per Dembski’s own words.

Or Dembski’s initial reliance of the No Free Lunch theorems which he used to claim that evolutionary processes cannot generate complex specified information. Dembski’s appeal to these theorems was ill founded and erroneous.

In 1999:

“It follows that the vast majority of fitness functions on the phase space that coincide with our original fitness function on the target but reshuffle the function on the partition elements outside the target will not land the evolutionary algorithm in the target (this result is essentially a corollary of the No Free Lunch theorems by Wolpert and Macready). Simply put, the vast majority of fitness functions will not guide E into the target even if they coincide with our original fitness function on the target (see Appendix 8).” Why Evolutionary Algorithms Cannot Generate Specified Complexity, Metanews, Nov 1999

In 2001:

“The title of this book, No Free Lunch, refers to a collection of mathematical theorems proved in the past five years about evolutionary algorithms. The upshot of these theorems is that evolutionary algorithms, far from being universal problem solvers, are in fact quite limited problem solvers that depend crucially on additional information not inherent in the algorithms before they are able to solve any interesting problems. This additional information needs to be carefully specified and fine-tuned, and such specification and fine-tuning is always thoroughly teleological. Consequently, evolutionary algorithms are incapable of providing a computational justification for the Darwinian mechanism of natural selection and random variation as the primary creative force in biology. The subtitle, Why Specified Complexity Cannot Be Purchased without Intelligence, refers to that form of information, known as specified complexity or complex specified information, that is increasingly coming to be regarded as a reliable empirical marker of purpose, intelligence, and design.” From: Introduction to No Free Lunch 10-01-2001

and

The Design Inference laid the groundwork. This book demonstrates the inadequacy of the Darwinian mechanism to generate specified complexity. Darwinists themselves have made possible such a refutation. By assimilating the Darwinian mechanism to evolutionary algorithms, they have invited a mathematical assessment of the power of the Darwinian mechanism to generate life’s diversity. Such an assessment, begun with the No Free Lunch theorems of David Wolpert and William Macready (see section 4.6), will in this book be taken to its logical conclusion. The conclusion is that Darwinian mechanisms of any kind, whether in nature or in silico, are in principle incapable of generating specified complexity. Coupled with the growing evidence in cosmology and biology that nature is chock-full of specified complexity (cf. the fine-tuning of cosmological constants and the irreducible complexity of biochemical systems), this conclusion implies that naturalistic explanations are incomplete and that design constitutes a legitimate and fundamental mode of scientific explanation.

And Dembski’s reversal: Given my title, it’s not surprising that critics see my book No Free Lunch as depending crucially on the No Free Lunch theorems of Wolpert and Macready. But in fact, my key point concerns displacement, and the NFL theorems merely exemplify one instance (not the general case). The basic idea behind displacement is this: Suppose you need to search a space of possibilities. The space is so large and the possibilities individually so improbable that an exhaustive search is not feasible and a random search is highly unlikely to conclude the search successfully. As a consequence, you need some constraints on the search - some information to help guide the search to a solution (think of an Easter egg hunt where you either have to go it cold or where someone guides you by saying “warm” and “warmer”). All such information that assists your search, however, resides in a search space of its own - an informational space. So the search of the original space gets displaced to a search of an informational space in which the crucial information that constrains the search of the original space resides. I then argue that this higher-order informational space (“higher” with respect to the original search space) is always at least as big and hard to search as the original space.

And for fun check out the Guillermo Gonzalez contribution

answering critics effectively, February 23, 2004 Reviewer: Guillermo Gonzalez (Ames, IA United States)

Some people collect coins, dolls, or cars. Dembski collects objections to ID. It must have been easy to collect objections. He has written several books, dozens of articles on paper and on the internet, and he has given probably hundreds of talks. Each of these venues attracts both supporters and opponents of ID. Most opponents have the full backing of academic institutions. In fact, some opposition comes in the form of official edicts from high above. And yet, support for ID continues to grow, even as its opponents grow more vocal.

That’s what it’s all about? Support… Not really scientific support but political and religious support…

No doubt, one reason for the great success of ID in recent years is Dembski’s openness to dialogue with his most staunch opponents. Dembski and others in the ID movement are very open to receiving criticism and admitting where they might be mistaken. The academic community should pay close attention to how IDers handle criticism; they might have a thing or two to learn.

This is hilarious. If anything Dembski has shown is his unwillingness to admit that he was wrong. Indeed, the academic community can learn a lot about how Dembski and ID handles criticism. Time to document this…

I think Dembski does a masterful job of answering objections to ID in “Design Revolutions”. The opposition is back to square one. While it is hard to choose a “best” chapter of the 44, my personal favorite is “Peer Review”. It contains some real horror stories.

Is Gonzalez referring to Meyer 2004 paper :-) Why is Dembski still avoiding dealing with the algorithm room for instance or the real criticisms raised by various people and instead focuses on some strawmen?

Perhaps his recent return to theology may help understand why? Or perhaps

“I’ve just gotten kind of blase about submitting things to journals where you often wait two years to get things into print,” he says. “And I find I can actually get the turnaround faster by writing a book and getting the ideas expressed there. My books sell well. I get a royalty. And the material gets read more.”

- -William Dembski in The Chronicle of Higher Education Dec. 21, 2001

Or read the passage about using critics:

Critics and enemies are useful. The point is to use them effectively. In our case, this is remarkably easy to do. The reason is that our critics are so assured of themselves and of the rightness of their cause. As a result, they rush into print their latest pronouncements against intelligent design when more careful thought, or perhaps even silence, is called for. The Internet, especially now with its blogs (web logs), provides our critics with numerous opportunities for intemperate, indiscreet, and ill-conceived attacks on intelligent design. These can be turned to advantage, and I’ve done so on numerous occasions. I’m not going to give away all my secrets, but one thing I sometimes do is post on the web a chapter or section from a forthcoming book, let the critics descend, and then revise it so that what appears in book form preempts the critics’ objections. An additional advantage with this approach is that I can cite the website on which the objections appear, which typically gives me the last word in the exchange. And even if the critics choose to revise the objections on their website, books are far more permanent and influential than webpages.