Thread by @EstherOfReilly

Here's an example of an actual "gaps" argument: Derren Brown does... whatever it is Derren Brown does, and a thing happens. You don't know how it happened. You rack your brains and you can't think of anything. What do you think? THIS BE MAGIC. /1

I shall christen this argument "woo of the gaps." I'm perceiving a thing that I can't explain by natural means at the moment, therefore... woo.

Now, let's talk about intelligent design. /2

Here is a very truncated list of a few of the things that we can observe in nature:

1. Nano-machines
2. Code
3. Bio-engineering
4. Processes like metamorphosis that have a beginning and an end goal
5. Irreducibly complex systems

Where else do we see this sort of thing? Oh. /3

To say that intelligent design is "God of the gaps" would be like if you and I visited Stonehenge, and you said "Wonder who made that?" and I said "Really, Builder of the Gaps again?" You would look at me like I was daft, and rightly so. /4

This is not a Generic Thing For Which I Can't Think Of An Explanation At The Moment. This is a network of very, very specific things with very, very specific properties. /5

What's more, we are only scratching the surface. Forget the mind for the moment. We're still trying to understand *the body*. We're still trying to understand the brain. We're on the edge of an ocean with no horizon in sight. /6

If you can look at all the things I've listed, and the many other things I couldn't list, and still classify the thought "Huh, maybe someone made this stuff" as a random, lazy stop-gap, then I cannot help you. I really cannot.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk. /End

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