Robert Shapiro on Behe and ID

Michael Behe took quite a flogging in Dover. Particularly embarrassing was the revelation that the “peer review” by one scientist of Darwin’s Black Box that Behe himself has described as more rigorous than the process journal submissions go through turned out to be a ten minute phone conversation. PZ Myers closed his blog entry on the matter by saying he’d “love to hear what Shapiro had to say about that book.”

Dr. Robert Shapiro is another scientist who reviewed DBB. Reading PZ’s closing line, I started wondering myself. So I emailed Dr. Shapiro and asked him what he thought of DBB, and Behe’s ideas, and he has been kind enough to give me permission to reprint his response, unedited and in full, here. Thank you, Dr. Shapiro.

Dear Mr. Evans,

I felt that Professor Behe’s book has done a better job of explaining existing science than others of its kind. I agree with him that conventional scientific origin-of-life theory is deeply flawed. I disagreed with him about the idea that one needed to invoke intelligent designer or a supernatural cause to find an answer. I do not support intelligent design theories. I believe that better science will provide the needed answers.

Sincerely yours, Robert Shapiro

In an email to me concerning this post, Matt Inlay points out that had Behe’s submission been to a scientific journal Dr. Shapiro’s review would have forced Behe to either change his conclusion of ID, or remove it entirely.