Darwins Black Box

Behe argues that the complexity of cellular biochemistry argues against Darwin's gradual evolution.

Textbooks and other popular venues commonly present science as a progressive "brick-by-brick" accumulation of knowledge and facts. Despite its hallowed history and familiar ring, this depiction is nowadays rejected by most specialists. There currently are two competing models of the scientific enterprise: reductionism and antireductionism. Neither provides an accurate depiction of the productive interaction between knowledge and ignorance, supplanting the old metaphor of the "wall" of knowledge. This book explores an original conception of the nature and advancement of science. Marco J. Nathan's proposed shift brings attention to a prominent, albeit often neglected, construct--the black box--which underlies a well-oiled technique for incorporating a productive role of ignorance and failure into the acquisition of empirical knowledge. The black box is a metaphorical term used by scientists for the isolation of a complex phenomenon that they have deliberately set aside or may not yet fully understand. What is a black box? How does it work? How do we construct one? How do we determine what to include and what to leave out? What role do boxes play in contemporary scientific practice? Nathan's monograph develops an overarching framework for thinking about black boxes and discusses prominent historical cases that used it, including Darwin's view of inheritance in his theory of evolution and the "stimulus-response model" in psychology, among others. By detailing some fascinating episodes in the history of biology, psychology, and economics, Nathan revisits foundational questions about causation, explanation, emergence, and progress, showing how the insights of both reductionism and antireductionism can be reconciled into a fresh and exciting approach to science.

The scientist who has been dubbed the “Father of Intelligent Design” and author of the groundbreaking book Darwin’s Black Box contends that recent scientific discoveries further disprove Darwinism and strengthen the case for an intelligent creator. In his controversial bestseller Darwin’s Black Box, biochemist Michael Behe challenged Darwin’s theory of evolution, arguing that science itself has proven that intelligent design is a better explanation for the origin of life. In Darwin Devolves, Behe advances his argument, presenting new research that offers a startling reconsideration of how Darwin’s mechanism works, weakening the theory’s validity even more. A system of natural selection acting on random mutation, evolution can help make something look and act differently. But evolution never creates something organically. Behe contends that Darwinism actually works by a process of devolution—damaging cells in DNA in order to create something new at the lowest biological levels. This is important, he makes clear, because it shows the Darwinian process cannot explain the creation of life itself. “A process that so easily tears down sophisticated machinery is not one which will build complex, functional systems,” he writes. In addition to disputing the methodology of Darwinism and how it conflicts with the concept of creation, Behe reveals that what makes Intelligent Design unique—and right—is that it acknowledges causation. Evolution proposes that organisms living today are descended with modification from organisms that lived in the distant past. But Intelligent Design goes a step further asking, what caused such astounding changes to take place? What is the reason or mechanism for evolution? For Behe, this is what makes Intelligent Design so important.

Three Days Before the Sun explores our origin, purpose and destiny in an eternity of time and an infinity of space! The "holes" and "flaws" acknowledged by Darwin in his evolution theory are precisely targeted with academic precision in a format designed for the general public. The scrupulously documented title dismantles the chance hypothesis, point-by-point, as a lawyer presents evidence to a jury. The 296-page, illustrated title comes salted with homey colloquialisms, methodically exposing unproven assumptions. But more than an exposé of flawed conjecture masquerading as science. Three Days Before the Sun offers a generic Christian glimpse of the raging origins controversy. The book compliments the faith of Christian communities who believe the Genesis account of the creation miracle while asserting the Creator of the universe is the Author of science.

Why is there something rather than nothing? Was there a beginning to our universe, or was it always there? Everything around us winds down; was the universe wound up? Is there evidence of design in our universe, or was it the result of dumb luck? Are there other universes besides ours? Is life common in our universe? Did life on earth start spontaneously from inanimate matter? Is there evidence of intelligence in the living cell? Is there enough evidence for evolution? Did all life have a universal common ancestor? Does thinking emerge from brain complexity? Does the self exist, or is it just an illusion? Can science explain our consciousness? Can the soul or self be separated from the body? Is there any evidence for an afterlife? Is there any positive evidence for the existence of God, or is it all inferred? Is proposing the existence of a creator pseudoscience? Does survival of the fittest imply a malevolent creator? Why all this pain and suffering in life? Is there any meaning to life? Do heaven, hell, and purgatory exist; where are they? Is God a Reality? is a lifetime study of these questions by a scientist.

After a substantial author's preface recounting the author's life-journey with the question of science and design in nature, An Informed Cosmos pulls together essays that jointly cover the core arguments for a scientific theory of intelligent design. Along with a foreword by philosopher of science and leading design theorist Stephen C. Meyer, and a wide range of recommended resources, An Informed Cosmos offers an informed overview of the contemporary case for intelligent design.

In this book a team of expert academics trained in mathematics, engineering, philosophy, physical anthropology, physics, astrophysics, biology and more investigate the prospects for intelligent design. Edited by William Dembski.