Intelligent Design

(Here's my first response to the comments on my last entry. I'll start with Glasnost's comment and then cover the next one on my next entry...)


I don't accept intelligent design as proof of the existence of God (also called the Clockmaker Hypothesis). In his comment Glasnost mentioned that the "earth in its perfect orbit and perfect distance from the sun could not exist unless some intelligence had organized it in some way." Other people talk about the tilt of the earth (23.5º) and composition of the atmosphere to show that God must have designed earth to sustain life.

Well...

Let's say all life is wiped out by a mysterious virus called Flatulus humanus. The earth continues spinning at 23.5º, in its same orbit and distance from the sun. Then a couple of hydrogen-breathing aliens come zipping by in their UFO and notice the earth. They see that it's tipped at 23.5º and 91 million miles from the sun. Does one alien turn to the other alien and say, "That planet proves that God exists"...?

No. The tilt of the earth and its distance are arbitrary! They only matter to us because we happen to live on an earth with just such a tilt. The only way you can say the earth is perfect if you first make two assumptions:

1. Humankind is the purpose of the universe.
2. Humans absolutely need an earth tipped 23.5º and 91 million miles from the sun.

This is a pretty anthropocentric view of the universe. It's the same view held by the Medieval Catholic church.