More Evidence For Intelligent Design

Well, I don't think so. But Dinesh D'Souza likes the argument that the earth must have had an intelligent Designer, as it just happens to be almost perfectly suited to host life. Can't be luck, he says, right?

This LiveScience article claims the earth is just about the right size, with tectonic plates of just the right thickness, to support -- okay, well, they say evolve -- complex life.

This Goldilocks argument doesn't impress me, for a rather simple reason. There are billions of planets out there that are entirely unsuited for life. Guess what? There is no life on such planets, and hence no curious life-forms there marveling at how perfectly-suited their planet is for life.

And, of course, silicon-based life forms can only live on a planet that supports silicon-based life. So silicon-based aliens are going to marvel, naturally, at how wonderfully designed their planet seems to be to support silicon-based life.

A carbon based life form might not fare so well there, but Dinesh D'Souza wouldn't notice, as he happens to live on a planet favoring carbon. And oxygen metabolism. And creatuers made up 70% of water. And etc.

Dinesh D'Souza is right -- it's not luck. It is also, however, not necessarily design, either. It's something like inevitability.

posted by Ace at 06:04 PM

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