Yale computer science professor David Gelernter expresses doubts about Darwinism
How did life begin?
I had to learn about David Gelernter when I was doing my Masters in computer science. We studied his book âMirror Worldsâ. A few weeks ago, I blogged about his impressions of the difficulty in forming a simple protein by chance â something that naturalistic mechanisms would have to do in order to avoid intelligent agency as a cause in nature. He found it very unlikely. But thereâs more!
Recently, my friend Terrell sent me a video featuring Peter Robinson (who hosts the splendid Uncommon Knowledge show out of Stanford University), and three interesting people. First, there was Dr. Stephen C. Meyer, who is one of my two favorite thinkers. Iâve blogged on his work about the origin of life and the Cambrian explosion here many times. Then, there was Dr. David Berlinski, a secular Jewish professor of mathematics, who has studied origins issues. And then Dr. David Gelernter, who teaches computer science at Yale University, and is a legend in computer science research.
Hereâs the video: (H/T Terrell)
Here is an article by Jennifer Kabbany in The College Fix about the video.
She writes about his recent Claremont Review of Books article, as well as the interview above:
In May, the Claremont Review of Books published a column by Gelernter headlined âGiving Up Darwin.â In it, he explained how his readings and discussions of Darwinian evolution and its competing theories, namely intelligent design, have convinced him Darwin had it wrong.
In particular, he cited Stephen Meyerâs 2013 book Darwinâs Doubt as well as The Deniable Darwin by David Berlinski. The professor expanded on his views in an interview with Stanford Universityâs Hoover Institution that was published last week.
Gelernter stops short of fully embracing intelligent design, both in his essay and during his interview. He said in his interview he sees intelligence in Earthâs design, and has no quarrel with ID proponents, but notes the world a mess, its suffering far outweighs its goodness.
âMy argument is with people who dismiss intelligent design without considering, it seems to me â itâs widely dismissed in my world of academia as some sort of theological put up job â itâs an absolutely serious scientific argument,â Gelernter said during his interview. âIn fact itâs the first and most obvious and intuitive one that comes to mind. Itâs got to be dealt with intellectually.â
I found this part the most interesting, since we are seeing so much intolerance from the secular left, whenever anyone disagrees with their dogma:
Gelernter said he likes many of his colleagues at Yale, that they are his friends, but when he looks at âtheir intellectual behavior, what they have published â and much more importantly what they tell their students â Darwinism has indeed passed beyond a scientific argument as far as they are concerned. You take your life in your hands to challenge it intellectually. They will destroy you if you challenge it.â
âNow, I havenât been destroyed, I am not a biologist, and I donât claim to be an authority on this topic,â Gelernter added, âbut what I have seen in their behavior intellectually and at colleges across the West is nothing approaching free speech on this topic. Itâs a bitter, fundamental, angry, outraged rejection [of intelligent design], which comes nowhere near scientific or intellectual discussion. Iâve seen that happen again and again.â
Gelernter acknowledges âI am attacking their religion and I donât blame them for being all head up, it is a big issue for them.â
Dr. Gelernter cited three arguments in his article: the origin of life, and the Cambrian explosion, and genetic entropy. In the first two problems, there is a problem of huge amounts of biological information coming into being. We know that software engineers can write code like that, but there is no Darwinian mechanism for writing that much code and that short of a time period. The third problem shows that Darwinian mechanisms not only donât produce functional code â they actually break it down.
Iâve covered both of the arguments before on this blog, but if you really want the details, you should pick up the books that convinced Dr. Gelernter: Dr. Stephen C. Meyerâs âSignature in the Cellâ and âDarwinâs Doubtâ. Each book tackles one of the arguments. For the third problem, a good book is Dr. Michael Beheâs âDarwin Devolvesâ. Even if you just read something about each book, then youâll know about the arguments for intelligent causes being the best explanation for the history of life on this planet.
Original Blog Source: http://bit.ly/2ZF1Sll
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!