What do people generally mean when they use the word evolution? Today that debate rages with heated intensity among academics, especially since the advent of a modified theory of evolution in the natural world called Intelligent Design, or simply ID. On the face of it ID seems to be a rather innocuous, common sense sort of approach to physical science, the development of life, and even the cosmos. After all, everything around us seems to exhibit certain intelligent patterns that are difficult to explain by theories of randomness, just as a visitor from outer space to our planet might observe automobiles, computers, and skyscrapers and realize that they are very different in structure and form from ordinary rocks, hills, and trees. Even assuming that humanity had gone extinct, our interplanetary alien would rightly assume that some intelligent agent played a part in developing these artifacts just as anthropologists infer that the presence of cave paintings and sharpened tools are sure indicators of ancient cultures. And our alien would be correct in his assumptions because we already know that intelligent human life is the only reason that cars, computers, and skyscrapers happened to come into existence. Continue reading →