The $5,000,000 ID Research Challenge

That sounds like more of a historical question than a scientific one. "Could it happen?" is easier to detemine in the lab than "Did it happen?"But I think IDists are far from conceding that it could happen. Their desired outcome is that intelligence is necessary but our intelligence is insufficient. Any research they did would be shooting themselves in the foot.

Suppose we create life in the lab using our intelligence. Knowing that it "could" happen either by intelligence or by evolution, how would you tell which way it "did" happen?

And exploration is about going there to see what you can find, not just sitting in your armchar dreaming about what "might" be there. Five million dollars would buy a pretty nice Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria but IDists don't seem to be interested in leaving the dock.Edited by ringo, : Splling.

Are they doing that though? Are they doing anything active?The OP asks for concrete experiments to test ID and offers a hypothetical $5 million to pay for the research. So far, we haven't exactly seen a plethora of proposals.The people who believe so firmly in ID, whether they're "religious" or not, don't seem very eager to test their faith.

I expect them to behave like scientists, if they want to be treated like scientists. If you offered five million dollars to real scientists, you'd be up to your ears in proposals. If IDists spent a fraction of their propaganda budget on actual research....

You seem to have lost the plot. This discussion is about YOU - i.e. the "people of faith" - finding data for YOUR conclusion. It's about YOU being offered money to find that data. The question is, Why are you more interested in ranting than in testing YOUR own conclusions?

No I didn't. I wanted to know why you're unwilling to test your beliefs and opinions. There is no problem between science and religion. Some religious people want to create a problem but they don't want to put any real effort into it.

You've got a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem there. Before science can invent the machinery to do the test, you have to be specific about what you want to test. For the umpteenth time, that's what this thread is all about - for you to propose specific tests and specific equipment to do the tests with. If you need a machine to detect "design waves" then tell us what their properties are and we'll put the lab boys and girls to work on it.

How is that research into ID? How would it help determine whether ID is true or false?

So what you're saying is that we "aren't ready yet" to do any research into ID. You're affirming that ID is not science; in fact, it's only specualtion that ID might possibly some day become science.I think most people would agree with that assessment - and it explains why there are no research grants for ID.

That sounds OK to me. You seem to be thinking of somebody else. What I've been asking you is how your proposed research would point to God. Would your "God detector" be able to distinguish between, say, a god and a technologically-advanced alien lifeform?

What legitimate science does is explore potentials. What I'm not getting from you is any specifics about how your suggestions will point in the direction of "God".You'e basically just saying, "Go out and look for stuff." What we want in this thread is something more specific.Columbus wouldn't have gotten any funding if he had proposed just sailing around until he found something interesting. He had to specify what he was looking for, where he expected to find it and how he planned to go about getting there.That is what we want from you. Not just, "Look around and you'll find God," but, "I think God is at location X. I propose to go there by following route Y which will cost Z dollars."Tell us what route Y is.

If the hardware could have originated spontaneously - and we have no reason to think it couldn't - then the "software" would have automatically originated at the same tme.So what do you actually want to do with the research grant?Edited by ringo, : Splling.

What's the difference between living and non-living?

If you have proof that objects fall with no help from pink unicorns, please show us.I don't think you can. Of course, your first objection might be that there is no evidence that pink unicorns even exist....