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Thursday, November 3, 2005

Intelligent Design and Finding New Ideas

By Mike Edenburn
For the Journal
    FROM THE EXECUTIVE'S DESK: Why is intelligent design wrong in science class? Is intelligent design an insidious plot to brainwash America's students? Will it "dumb down" America's future scientific and technological workforce and be bad for business because we will lose our ability to innovate and compete in the global market?
    Winthrop Quigley's (column) in the Albuquerque Journal's Business Outlook section on Oct. 27 asserted that these things would be the result of mentioning intelligent design in the classroom. Is Mr. Quigley's concern unfounded alarmism? Can considering the possibility of intelligent design in the classroom actually enhance science in America and be good for business?
    Mr. Quigley's description of ID as a proposition is appropriate. I might expand on it a little by describing intelligent design as the "proposition" that scientifically derived empirical evidence suggests that design by an intelligent agent is the best current explanation for the origin of a variety of natural systems, particularly in biology, and that natural laws and chance alone, the basis for the theory of evolution, are not adequate to explain these observations.
    Will the consideration of ID "dumb down" America's students? Certainly not! In biology, students study the classification of plants and animals, their similarities and differences, where they fit into the ecological system, how they function, how they reproduce, how they are constructed from cells, how the cell functions, the role of genetics, how DNA codes for protein construction and other processes, and a variety of other very interesting topics. These are the facts of biology, and they will be the same whether the origin of biological systems was purely material or whether intelligent design played a role. Nearly all that has practical importance in biology can be learned and understood without reference to origins, and origins is only a small part of biological study.
    If our students learn the facts of biology well, they will not be dumbed down, but will be productive members of a scientifically competent workforce. Studying the scientific basis of the origins controversy may, in fact, be beneficial by promoting critical thinking since critical thinking is the foundation for innovation. Innovation is good for business. Mr. Quigley's concern about dumbing down is exaggerated and alarmist, and his prediction that ID will negatively impact business is not realistic.
    There are more reasons why considering the possibility of intelligent design in the classroom might actually enhance science in America and be good for business. Several areas of science, not to mention engineering, regularly rely on a design paradigm. Where would archaeology be without a design paradigm? Until recently, the roughly 98 percent of DNA that was not involved in coding for proteins was called "junk" DNA, indicating that biologists believed that it had no purpose. The current evidence is that at least some of this "junk" DNA is involved in coordination and control functions. A design paradigm may have led researchers to look for purpose in "junk" DNA sooner and may yet lead to the discovery of other DNA functions. By the way, use of the term junk DNA is dying out. An exciting new field of study in biology that is making remarkable progress is called systems biology. Researchers in that field approach biological systems as designed or engineered systems. They do not necessarily consider the design to be by an intelligent agent; but they do their work from a design paradigm; and they are using that paradigm because it works.
    New understanding and innovation in the biochemical industry could be enhanced by considering the possibility of intelligent design since innovation usually comes from looking at things in different ways and adopting new paradigms. Some of the greatest scientific discoveries in history have come from thinking outside the box, and those have been good for business.
    The Journal welcomes essays on issues from New Mexico business owners and managers. Length should be kept to about 600 words. Please contact business editor Mike Murphy at (505) 823-3830, e-mail at mmurphy@abqjournal.com, or fax at (505) 823-3994.
   
   
    NAME: Mike Edenburn
    TITLE: Mechanical engineer, former systems analyst at Sandia National Laboratories for 35 years, member of New Mexico Intelligent Design Network
   
   
   
    From the Executive's Desk