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| Additional Physical Format: | Online version: Perakh, Mark, 1924- Unintelligent design. Amherst, N.Y. : Prometheus Books, 2004 (OCoLC)607070786 Online version: Perakh, Mark, 1924- Unintelligent design. Amherst, N.Y. : Prometheus Books, 2004 (OCoLC)609212587 |
|---|---|
| Material Type: | Internet resource |
| Document Type: | Book, Internet Resource |
| All Authors / Contributors: |
Mark Perakh |
| ISBN: | 1591020840 9781591020844 |
| OCLC Number: | 52091924 |
| Description: | 459 p. ; 24 cm. |
| Contents: | pt. 1. Unintelligent design -- 1. A consistent inconsistency : how William Dembski infers intelligent design -- Design without a designer -- Dembski's explanatory filer -- Probability according to Dembski -- Complexity according to Dembski -- Dembski's treatment of information -- Dembski's design inference -- A free lunch in a mousetrap -- Dembski salvages irreducible complexity -- The explanatory filter revisited -- Dembski suggests a fourth law of thermodynamics -- Dembski and the no free lunch theorems : the "displacement problem" -- Conclusion -- 2. Irreducible contradiction -- Behe calculates probabilities -- Additional remarks on Behe's use of probabilities -- Intelligent design according to Behe -- Complexity as a facade for probability -- Complexity from a layperson's viewpoint -- What is the real meaning of irreducibility? -- Maximal simplicity plus functionality versus irreducible complexity -- Two facets of intelligent design -- Excessive complexity -- Absence of self-compensatory mechanisms -- Conclusion -- 3. A militant dilettante in judgment of science -- Johnson as the leader of design proponents -- Johnson's qualifications as a nemesis of Darwinism -- Johnson sinks a battleship -- Johnson opens minds, or does he? -- How a dilettante discusses information -- Johnson prosecutes Darwin -- The wedge of arrogance -- Conclusion. pt. 2. Mental acrobatics : how religious writers prove the compatibility of the Bible with science -- 4. Verifying the eternal by means of the temporal? : an introduction to the reviews of books asserting harmony between the Bible and science -- 5. A crusade of arrogance -- Ross as a scientist -- Ross and non-Christians -- War on two fronts -- Ross interprets Hebrew -- Some specific incorrect statements in Ross's books -- Conclusion -- 6. The signature of an ignoramus : Canadian preacher Grant Jeffrey proves the Bible's inerrancy -- Jeffrey discusses the Bible code -- Seven times seven -- Arrogance of a religious zealot -- Fools or liars? -- Jeffrey discusses thermodynamics -- Jeffrey calculates probabilities -- Jeffrey counts the population of the earth -- Jeffrey confirms the New Testament's account -- Influence of Jesus as proof of Jeffrey's beliefs -- Conclusion -- 7. Show me proof : a preacher in a skeptic's disguise -- Heeren proves God by sheer logic, or does he? -- Heeren disproves alternative theories -- Heeren reviews the big bang from the Bible's viewpoint -- Heeren proves design, or does he? -- Is the gospel logical? -- Conclusion -- 8. Challenging the challenge : did a book published over twenty years ago indeed prove the harmony between the Torah and science? -- Section 1, "areas of interaction" -- Section 2, "creation and evolution" -- Rabbi Schneerson's "letter on science and Judaism" -- Other articles -- Section 3, "the secular bias" -- Rabbi Schlesinger's "empirical basis for belief in God" -- Section 4, "ethical problems" -- Conclusion -- 9. The end of the beginning : Nathan Aviezer explains how to interpret the Book of Genesis -- Probabilities according to Aviezer -- The case of multiple wins in a lottery -- The sun and the moon -- Aviezer's discussion of the anthropic principle -- Six days or six epochs? -- The paradox of the origin of life -- What Aviezer does not discuss -- Conclusion -- 10. Not a very big bang about Genesis : Gerald Schroeder calculates the duration of the six days of creation -- Schroeder's chronology -- Creation of the world in six days according to Schroeder -- Schroeder's chronology between the first six days and our time -- Schroeder estimates probabilities -- Some specific faults and errors in Genesis and the big bang -- The Bible code example -- Are weight and mass the same? : is kinetic energy proportional to velocity? -- Problems in The science of God -- Change of chronology -- Zero time interval in a light beam -- Diffraction of waves -- Miscellaneous errors -- Problems in The hidden face of God -- 11. A lost chance : Lee Spetner derives nonrandom evolution from the Talmud -- Spetner calculated probabilities -- Spetner discusses randomness -- Spetner discusses information -- What remains? pt. 3. Two bits of a general discussion and one telltale example -- 12. Science in the eyes of a scientist -- Features of good science, bad science, and pseudoscience -- The building blocks of science -- Methods of experimentation -- Data -- Bridging hypotheses -- Laws -- Models -- Cognitive hypotheses -- Theories -- Science and technology -- Science and the supernatural -- Conclusion -- 13. Improbable probabilities : assorted comments on some uses and misuses of probability theory -- Estimation of probability is often tricky -- Some elementary concepts -- Probabilities of events -- Some situations with seemingly unequal probabilities -- Tests without replacement -- Cognitive aspects of probability -- Psychological aspects of probability -- The case of multiple wins in a lottery -- The role of "special" events in probability -- 14. The rise and fall of the Bible code -- A bit of history -- How common are ELSs? -- Was a superhuman mind necessary to create the codes? -- Codes related to Jesus -- The "amazing" predictions discovered by Drosnin and Satinover -- The "simple" calculations of probabilities -- A general look at WRR's paper -- The basic hypothesis -- Unanswered questions -- Statistical methodology used by WRR -- Statistical versus general scientific hypothesis : four statistics calculated by WRR -- The "wiggle room" in WRR's study -- The question of the text -- Conclusion -- Afterword -- Appendix : calculation of probability of winning a lottery by a nonspecified player. |
| Responsibility: | Mark Perakh. |
Abstract:
Reviews trends toward harmonising religion and science. From intelligent design theories to arguments proving the compatibility of biblical stories with scientific data and 'Bible codes' containing
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