Kirk Durston offers a scientific method for design detection

Can this definition be applied in practice?

– Design application: the application of intelligence to first principles in physics to produce a desired effect (e.g., a smartphone).

– Design derivation: the reverse engineering of a complex effect back to first principles of physics for the purpose of discovering the design process and application (e.g., one company or country reverse-engineering the technology of another company or country).

– Design detection: the analysis of effects to determine which required intelligence to produce and which could be produced by nature (e.g., searching for the acoustic signature of a submarine amidst the natural background noise of the ocean).

From the three categories noted above, a possible definition of intelligent design can be formulated as follows:

“Intelligent design: an effect that required an intelligent mind to produce.”

Kirk Durston, “A Scientific Method for Design Detection” at Evolution News and Science Today

See also: Kirk Durston: What do we do when Darwinism looks less like science all the time

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