Complexity vs. Simplicity

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- Ishina
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Complexity vs. Simplicity
OP - July 14, 2013, 03:56 PM

Why is complexity used as indication of the truth of intelligent design? In a base sense, shouldn't a thing be simple rather than complex if it was intelligently designed?

Intelligence, as we usually refer to it, drives towards simplicity and efficiency when designing or innovating. Why do some people abandon that idea when concerning the design of universes and lifeforms? There seems to be some kind of fundamental contradiction or hypocrisy to me.

Discuss.

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Complexity vs. Simplicity
Reply #1 - July 14, 2013, 04:16 PM

Complexity is a subjective term. At one time humans thought that natural disasters(Volcanoes, Floods, Tornadoes, plagues) was some complex element that could only be created by Gods. Now that humanity has a better understanding of how natural disasters occur it is no longer considered a supernatural event. The same thing applies to intelligence. What we do not understand we say it is from God, then as soon as we understand it we no longer consider from God anymore. Humans just need to keep searching for the truth instead of settling on pure faith.

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Complexity vs. Simplicity
Reply #2 - July 14, 2013, 04:27 PM

in our daily lives, we find it easy to produce something simple, and we find it harder to produce something complex.
It is probably natural to associate complexity with intention.
Religious people are forever identifying agency and intention in the universe, and concluding that complex things must have been designed is natural for them.

They have no idea about the concept of emergence. We know that complexity can and does arise from simplicity. Evolution is one such example. Evolution explains complexity because it explains it in terms of a few simple rules. God does not explain complexity because God herself is complex. Complexity is the very thing we are trying to explain, and the religious can only 'explain' it by assuming it in the first place. Complexity, therefore complexity.

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