I wonder if there's a need to differentiate between Intelligent Design (as a theory of origins put forward by some people in recent years) and design requiring intelligence? Even those who deny ID have to admit that wherever we see human constructs (be they mathematical or material) we all know they were intelligently designed by some human or other.
There are serious problems with ID, as noted by this scientist below, a Christian who questions some aspects of ID himself. He says: "Although the proponents of ID have made valuable contributions to this whole debate, there are a number of problems with ID as a theory of origins. Firstly, it embroils people in a pointless debate over whether or not ID is 'science'. My own view is that ID is an inference drawn from science rather than part of science itself. It is not alone in this respect. There is a vast amount of speculation concerning the nature of reality that, because it is promoted by scientists, is thought to BE science when it is nothing of the kind. One glaring example is the 'multiverse' concept often advanced to 'solve' the riddle of quantum mechanics or to account for the anthropic principle (the fact that our universe is ideally suited for intelligent life). There is not the slightest scientific evidence - or any other kind of evidence if you rule out UFOs - to support the multiverse concept. It can never be more than an inference from scientific data. It might or might not be true, but that is something we shall never know
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"Science leads us to its boundaries where it introduces us to philosophy. For example, it tells us that the laws of nature exist, what those laws are, and what they accomplish. But it can never tell us why they are as they are - for that we need God, turtles or the multiverse (take your pick). ID as an inference from science is just as legitimate as the multiverse and, in my view, much more so. Of course, you are free to define science in such a way as to include its philosophical implications, but if you do you cannot be selective - you must admit ID alongside the multiverse and any other theory that can be neither proven nor falsified by scientific data. Or else you must exclude ALL such theories from your definition of science.
"A second problem with ID is that it lacks any philosophical bedrock, such as the hypothesis of God - the foundation I am striving to establish in this book. Thus ID can be accused of adopting a God-of-the-gaps mentality because it concentrates on the intractability of complex biological systems while leaving the rest of the universe to naturalism. This narrow focus leaves it vulnerable to such accusations and means that it is just as compatible with life from Mars or little green men as with divine creation. I find this rather unsatisfactory."
He then goes on to point out that his 'hypothesis of God' (in his book, below) does not suffer from these objections. It sees intelligent design [without capitals] in everything, from bacteria to battleships, allowing God the freedom to work through law, providence, miracle and the mind of man. Also, it's not an inference from science but rather provides the foundation of science - the law-abiding nature of the universe - but does so without imprisoning God by the laws He has Himself created.
Now, I hope you appreciate this author - and myself - are not ID supporters, yet without saying there is no intelligent design at work in our universe! There is! By the bucketload! We credit an uncreated God with that. However, that does not require us to support ID as the system presented by others. AiH