Theistic Evolution and Popperians: Messages on the Moon
I thought of a couple of new problems for the Popperians who think
any good explanation must be falsifiable, and that theistic evolution
is not. Suppose we found a giant gold tablet on the Moon with one
of the following two messages etched on it:
Message 1. “I did not interfere with the natural process of evolution
in the slightest, and the values of the constants of physics are
purely accidental. Nor did any other intelligent designer exist. I
know, because I was watching. The Intelligent Design advocates are
wrong. Signed, God.”
Or the message might be Message 2 instead:
Message 2. “I did interfere with the natural process of evolution and
chose the values of the constants of physics very carefully. The
Intelligent Design advocates are right. But this is the last such
message I will leave you, so don’t expect to find any new evidence on
the subject. Signed, God.”
Message 1 clearly falsifies theistic evolution, so it is a useful
refutation to show to many anti-ID people.
Message 2 clearly falsifies atheistic evolution. That is not
interesting in itself, since we know of many things that could do that
(though most of them also falsify theistic evolution; e. g., the
discovery of fossil human footprints mingled with dinosaur
footprints). What is more interesting is how it affects one’s view of
Intelligent Design. Does it prove the theory? Popperians would say
not, because it leaves the issue of the falsifiability of the theory
unchanged.
Actually, it does worse than that: Message 2 says that we will not be
able to falsify the theory of Intelligent Design, because no new
evidence will arise. So on receiving Message 2 the Popperian will
say: “Now we really know the Intelligent Design is an unscientific
theory. There is no way to refute it, or disprove it by scientific
research. No study of it will make it into a peer-reviewed journal,
because every study will be inconclusive. We cannot possibly teach
Intelligent Design in a science class.”
I can come to the Popperians rescue, though. Even after Message 2,
there is still a way to falsify Intelligent Design. Suppose we find
Message 2A somewhere else on the Moon:
Message 2A: “Sorry about Message 2. I lied. Intelligent Design
actually is false, and I just wanted to tease the Popperians. Signed,
God.”
January 13th, 2006 at 6:02 pm
I don’t see why you think Message 2 would create problems for Popperians at all. I don’t find anything unreasonable in continuing to regard ID as unscientific even given Message 2. It could well be true, but it still wouldn’t be amenable to scientific methods.