DESIGN VS.CHANCE: ALTERNATIVE FRAMEWORKS

FORSCIENTIFIC DATA

Robert C.Newman

[prepared for Christian Legal Society meeting,but never given]

Introduction

Some Definitions

Chance/Randomness ‑ several levels

anythingcan happen

anythingw/in certain law‑boundaries

nomind, but some ordering mechanism

Design ‑ also several levels

workingw/o limitations

variouslimitations: time, materials

A Thought Experiment

Monkeys typing "ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA"

              "Giveenough monkeys enough time..."

Purely random case

              Imagineelectric typewriters: all caps, 33 keys, typing at 3 keys/sec

              24characters, so 33 to 24th power = 3 x 10³⁶ combinations

              Thejob will take 3 x 10²⁸ monkey‑years

Dawkin's guided randomness

              usecomputer network instead of typewriters

              monkeysmake variations on chosen "best case"

jobcompleted in only a few minutes w/ a few monkeys

    (Dawkins uses this forillustration of how natural selection works, but it is really a sample ofdesign w/ limitations)

DesignVersus Chance

The Origin of the Universe

Recent move toward absolute origin at big bang

              chance:fluctuation in vacuum produces universe

              design:God created it

designin inanimate universe?

anthropicprinciple

Quantum Mechanics

Copenhagen interpretation dominant, featuringchance as basic

variousother interpretations

The Origin of Life

    Dawkins: evolution of lifefrom non‑life reasonable if 1 chance in 10 to 20th per planet per billionyears

Calculation for protein of 100 linked amino acids

Langton's self‑reproducing automaton

The History of Life

    Non‑theistic evolution:problem of designing a computer simulation of natural selection to show it willwork

    Various forms of creation (th‑evol,old‑earth & young‑earth creation): minds can produce order, so creationmodel works in this sense

Human History

Design in history?

Suggest Christian model supported by prophecy, transformedlives, changed societies

Bibliography

Barrow, John D.and Frank J. Tipler. TheAnthropic Cosmological Principle. New York: Oxford Univ Press, 1986.

Davies, Paul. Accidental Universe. Cambridge:Cambridge Univ Press, 1982.

Davies, Pauland J. Brown, eds. The Ghost inthe Atom: A Discussion of theMysteries of Quantum Mechanics. New York: Cambridge Univ Press, 1986.

Dawkins, Richard. The Blind Watchmaker. New York: Norton, 1986.

Denton, Michael. Evolution: A Theory in Crisis. Bethesda, MD: Adler and Adler, 1985.

Kellog, S.H. The Jews, or Prediction andFulfilment. New ed. New York: Anson Randolph, 1887.

Pollard, William. Chance and Providence. New York: Scribners, 1958.

Thaxton,Charles B., Walter L. Bradley and Roger L. Olsen, The Mystery of Life'sOrigin. New York: Philosophical Library, 1984.

Urquhart, John. The Wonders of Prophecy. Harrisburg,PA: Christian Publications, n.d.