Watchmaker fallacies

William Paley’s rather famous teleological “Watchmaker” argument advocating Intelligent Design goes something like this:

[S]uppose I found a watch upon the ground, and it should be inquired how the watch happened to be in that place, I should hardly think … that, for anything I knew, the watch might have always been there. Yet why should not this answer serve for the watch as well as for [a] stone [that happened to be lying on the ground]?… For this reason, and for no other; namely, that, if the different parts had been differently shaped from what they are, if a different size from what they are, or placed after any other manner, or in any order than that in which they are placed, either no motion at all would have been carried on in the machine, or none which would have answered the use that is now served by it (Paley 1867, 1).

Okay, it goes exactly like that…so what’s the problem with the argument?

An obvious one. But Paley’s mistake was both simple, and an easy one to make. He assumed the possibility of an eternal universe, where a rock could have conceivably existed forever.

We now believe that we cannot assume the stone was always there, any more than we can assume the watch always existed.

In his defense, insufficient scientific evidence existed during his lifetime, for William Paley to assume that the universe once had a beginning and the stone could not have always been there.

However, contemporary scientific evidence called “red shift” and “cosmic background radiation” allows modern day scientists to assure us with some degree of certainty that this universe, allegedly “fine-tuned” for life, has not always existed.

There was a beginning, and no justification to assume the universe has always existed in its current state.

If the current scientific consensus is correct, the rock hasn’t always been there. But Paley didn’t know about the Big Bang theory, making his mistake an honest one.

Yet according to biologist Richard Dawkins, the real problem with Paley’s argument for Design is a counterargument that he called The Blind Watchmaker.

Mr. Dawkins wrote,

But of course any God capable of intelligently designing something as complex as DNA/protein replicating machine must have been at least as complex and organized as the machine itself. Far more so if we suppose him additionally capable of such advanced functions as listening to prayers and forgiving sins. To explain the origin of the DNA/protein machine by invoking a supernatural Designer is to explain precisely nothing, for it leaves unexplained the origin of the Designer. You have to say something like “God was always there”, and if you allow yourself that kind of lazy way out, you might as well just say “DNA was always there”, or “Life was always there”, and be done with it.

The logical fallacy committed by Mr. Dawkins is far more egregious and virtually impossible to justify, because he happens to be well aware of the Big Bang.

Surely Mr. Dawkins must know that you can’t just as well say “DNA was always there” or “Life was always there”, because there wasn’t always there.

Life, or DNA, could not have existed prior to the existence of the universe that contains it. Nor does chaos does not randomly organize itself into useful information. Not ever, that we can prove. Therefore, we should not assume it.

Elegant code and intelligent code does not write itself or spontaneously come into existence. Furthermore, life cannot evolve until it exists.

Now he’s certainly not stupid. So why is Mr. Dawkins pretending to be this dense?

Apparently in order to placate his fan base of fawning atheists, Mr. Dawkins doesn’t actually have to be clever; sounding clever is obviously sufficient to sell claptrap like that found in his book The God Delusion.

The only possible way Mr. Dawkins can maintain his charade of speaking with authority on matters existential is to deny rather clear and incontrovertible evidence that a supernatural realm probably exists.

It is also rather clear, from reading his books, that Mr. Dawkins asserts himself to be a strict materialist.

However, strong evidence of supernatural phenomena can easily be found in well-documented cases of corroborated veridical NDE events, notably found in the extraordinarily experience of Pam Reynolds, which comes complete with detailed medical records.

Therefore, Mr. Dawkins can only manage to perpetuate such a convoluted and irrational argument by demonstrating his willingness and determination to remain ignorant of any real truth.

In stark contrast, “the lazy way out” as Mr. Dawkins describes my conclusions based on the Big Picture argument found in my book Counterargument for God took more than five years of research and writing, plus a lifetime of experience, to complete.

If only Mr. Dawkins was as lazy as me, his logic wouldn’t be so easy to eviscerate.

I must go wherever the evidence leads me because I only care about one thing: the real truth, not winning a popularity contest, or winning an argument against a person who clearly and willingly limits his own intelligence.

The unbiased reader will be left to decide whether my counterargument to Mr. Dawkins’ atheism is more solidly supported by logic and scientific evidence than the best argument he has offered.

Sadly, more than likely, the biased atheist won’t read my book, even if I offer it to them for free, and the electronic copy only costs three dollars.

The body of evidence needed to see the Big Picture overwhelmingly supports a rational belief in a supernatural Creator.

Only a blind fool doesn’t see it.