# Unintelligent Design **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 12, 2005, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligent-design/330773 "2005-11-12T22:34:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligent-design/330773/21 "2005-11-14T02:19:45Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > I can think of a whole bunch of additional stuff that doesn’t sound very intelligent to me. (Although I cannot hope to match the rhetoric of the OP.) And, of course, the good old air pipe opening that should never be obstructed by solids right next to the pipe for taking in solids. ---
**Author:** ![polljoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3be4f8/32.png) [@polljoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/polljoe)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligent-design/330773/22 "2005-11-14T18:12:36Z")
Darwin and intelligent design both got it wrong. There is no tendency toward perfection. There is evolution, but not as survival of the fittest, just as survival of the adequate. ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligent-design/330773/23 "2005-11-14T19:49:30Z")
Please read Darwin prior to applying all Victorian anthropo-centric thought to his work. ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligent-design/330773/24 "2005-11-14T20:45:36Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Plus, this allegedly omnipotent being had to _rest_ on the 7th day. That doesn’t sound omnipotent to me… But if you listen to the intelligent designers, he technically also rested on the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and every day since. Bascially, he sat His lazy arse down and never got up again. Huh! Who voted him God anyway? mm ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligent-design/330773/25 "2005-11-14T21:28:21Z")
My effin’ back is proof that I was not designed intelligently: oh, sure, make me 10 stone and 5’11", and then stand that upright so that all that weight teeters precariously on a vertically stacked S-bent column of bony jigsaw pieces, and place the fulcrum just above my pelvis. Then make me walk, run, bend over and carry heavy TV’s, and wonder why I have to strap it up and apply Deep Heat so often. And _why_ is my penis not prehensile? ---
**Author:** ![Engineer\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9fc29f/32.png) [@Engineer\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engineer_Dude)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligent-design/330773/26 "2005-11-16T16:07:24Z")
It was also intelligent of God to create ozone, to shield us from the horrible UV rays. Unfortunately, it appears kind of short-sighted of Him to make it so that one free chlorine atom (from chloroflourocarbons, which, otherwise, would be a dream come true) can destroy 100,000 molecules of ozone. [geek stuff] In case anyone’s curious about how that’s possible, the cycle is: Cl + O3 —\> ClO + O2 ClO + O —\> Cl + O2 As you can see the free Chlorine atom is both the beginning and the end result of the cycle. The net cycle is O + O3 —\> 2O2. The free chlorine atom can continue destroying ozone until it finds a different place to chemically react. [/geek stuff] ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligent-design/330773/27 "2005-11-16T16:40:14Z")
Yeast infections. Yegads. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligent-design/330773/28 "2005-11-16T19:24:52Z")
Sure, I’d like to have stonger knees and thicker skin, but mainly what I’d change would be to move the penis from between the legs. Yes, I’d move from there to the end of the index finger. Also, I’d move the vagina from between the legs and onto the woman’s shoulder. (tap, tap) excuse me, Miss? ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligent-design/330773/29 "2005-11-16T22:07:27Z")
But see, we were created perfect. All of our many problems are just a result of Original Sin. This is why we dies in childbirth. It’s also the reason there are nettles. Yes of course this is science, why do you ask? ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligent-design/330773/30 "2005-11-17T02:23:15Z")
> [@betenoir](#): > > But see, we were created perfect. As I see it, “intelligent design” is not synonymous with “perfect design”. Humans design all sorts of things, yet few, if any, can be considered perfect. While the bar may well be set higher for supposedly-omnipotent designers, I don’t see that one can divine (heh…) anything one way or the other about any possible Divine Designer by observing how organisms are put together. If one concludes that a given design is “crap”, then it must be crap whether designed by an intelligence or accumulated selection. And yet, the organism functions. It is for this reason I tend to stay away from value judgments regarding “good” or “bad” design with respect to living things. Organisms have to perform a variety of functions, and any given part of an organism will likely have to perform different tasks. Compromise is inevitable, thus _no_ design can be truly perfect. Some designs may well be better than others, but even those which folks deem inferior seem to have worked well enough for the species in question that the species exists (or existed, as the case may be) – regardless of the source of that design. Humans persist, despite back problems, tonsilitis, and ruptured appendices, for example. Anyone who has read my previous posts should know my position regarding Intelligent Design, so the above is not meant to represent even tacit acceptance of the idea. I simply object to the idea that observed designs can be objectively determined to be “good” or “bad”, especially given the fact that they _work_. Nor can, or should, such a determination be used as evidence or proof either for or against an ‘intelligence’ being involved. As for the a literal interpretation of Genesis – or even simple observation of nature – yeah, I agree that it does paint God as less than Omnipotent. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligent-design/330773/31 "2005-11-17T02:30:00Z")
> [@Slithy Tove](#): > > Sure, I’d like to have stonger knees and thicker skin, but mainly what I’d change would be to move the penis from between the legs. Yes, I’d move from there to the end of the index finger. > > Also, I’d move the vagina from between the legs and onto the woman’s shoulder. > > (tap, tap) excuse me, Miss? _turns around and slaps **Slithy Tove** _ You _masher_! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2005, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligent-design/330773/32 "2005-11-30T21:37:05Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Obviously God’s never worked the Japanese, who won’t put up with that kind of crap. Best line of the OP ---
**Author:** ![Tupug\_Anachi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@Tupug\_Anachi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tupug_Anachi)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2005, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligent-design/330773/33 "2005-11-30T22:20:56Z")
::Begins taking down names for the _Handbasket Express_ :: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2005, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligent-design/330773/34 "2005-11-30T23:23:26Z")
> [@ryobserver](#): > > And the entire mammalian eye is inefficiently designed anyway, with the wrong part of the retinal cells forward. Octopi have eyes that are set up the more efficient way. What’s more, any decent programmer knows that it’s better to standardize on one way of doing something instead of having it done two different ways in two different places. So you’d think an intelligent designer would use one design for all animals’ eyes, one design for [wings](http://science.howstuffworks.com/bat1.htm), one design for the tail of swimming creatures, et cetera. Come to think of it, an air-breathing creature that can only move in the water (like a dolphin or whale) seems like a bad design decision, too. > [@](#): > > The sinuses. The “drain hole” is at the top, where it would work if we walked on all fours. Worse yet, they [serve no purpose as far as we can tell](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_302.html), and create a lot of problems. > [@Darwin's Finch](#): > > even those which folks deem inferior seem to have worked well enough for the species in question that the species exists (or existed, as the case may be) But there are a lot of species that didn’t make it, which seems awfully inefficient. Why wouldn’t an intelligent designer just design the desired species from the get-go, instead of making some that will eventually die out? ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2005, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligent-design/330773/35 "2005-11-30T23:57:52Z")
> [@Engineer Dude](#): > > [geek stuff] > > In case anyone’s curious about how that’s possible, the cycle is: > > (1) Cl + O[sub]3[/sub] —\> ClO + O[sub]2[/sub] > (2) ClO + O —\> Cl + O[sub]2[/sub] > > As you can see the free Chlorine atom is both the beginning and the end result of the cycle. The net cycle is O + O[sub]3[/sub] —\> 2O[sub]2[/sub]. The free chlorine atom can continue destroying ozone until it finds a different place to chemically react. > > [/geek stuff] Sorry for the hijack. Where does the “O” on the left side of equation (2) come from? I thought oxygen never existed in single atoms, because it was one of the so-called BrINClHOF elements\*, and if there were any single atoms around, they would quickly pair off into O[sub]2[/sub] molecules. Is it just that the Cl bonds more readily with the O than another O does? For that matter, Cl is diatomic too, so how can you have a free Cl floating around? \*I don’t think this is an official chemistry term. My teacher referred to all diatomic elements (bromine, iodine, nitrogen, chlorine, hydrogen, oxygen, fluorine) as “BrINClHOF,” pronounced like the name of imaginary renowned Russian scientist Prof. Brinkelhov. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2005, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligent-design/330773/36 "2005-12-01T00:07:51Z")
The whole “worship no gods before me” and having to believe in him to get into heaven are just too petty for someone who’s omnipotent. Sounds like God has some design flaws, too. If I was God, I’d be all like “I don’t give a shit what or who you believe in, you’re coming to Papa when you’re done anyway”. Actually, if I was God, I’d make oral sex a form of greeting and smite all the moneychangers and make damn sure the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest. I can’t think of anything else right now, but I’d certainly undertake some of the design changes suggested above. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2005, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligent-design/330773/37 "2005-12-01T01:07:57Z")
[This thread about food allergies](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=347227) is another great example of poor design. I suppose we were warned not to eat the shellfish, but _nowhere_ in the Bible are we warned about eggs, peanuts, or anything else that can cause fatal allergic reactions. The designer got a pretty cool and useful design for teeth when s/he designed [sharks](http://www.fathom.com/course/21701777/session1.html)- why not give all animals with teeth the ability to replace lost teeth throughout life? ---
**Author:** ![pirate\_pete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/eada6e/32.png) [@pirate\_pete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirate_pete)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2005, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligent-design/330773/38 "2005-12-01T01:38:55Z")
Funny, it always strikes me – as a believer in an mostly extinct religion – how few of the problems people bring up with respect to more common theisms would apply to a Gnostic worldview. Suppose \*El \*, or _Adonai_, or any other of the names he gives himself, is not God at all, and that the history books of the OT are a diabolic fiction. (For instance, it is not God that sends bears to maul 42 youths for mocking Elisha’s baldness (2 Kings II.23-24)). Now read Christ’s words again. And look at the world a little, too. Make more sense? \ ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2005, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligent-design/330773/40 "2005-12-01T02:48:04Z")
> [@Candid](#): > > I never thought I would live to see this much bull\*\*\*\* packed so tightly. Are the rest of you flunked philosophy majors like Tuckerfan? Next time I drive by Starbucks and see your little group sitting around in those stupid couches, I’m going to wait around the corner till you leave and mow you down in the parking lot. Bet you are all Liberals too. Save the rainforest! Save the animals! Let the gays marry! Oh your intelligent retort has shown me the error of my ways! :rolleyes: You know, I actually spent a good deal of tme crafting the OP, there were a number of really cheap shot type comments that I could have taken, but didn’t, since I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t “in your face offensive” to anyone. One would think that if the issue was so near and dear to you, you would spend at least as much effort in crafting a response which could shoot holes in all my statements. After all, if you are so superior in thought as you think yourself to be, it should be easy for you to refute my comments one by one, without resorting to insults and threats of bodily harm. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2005, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligent-design/330773/41 "2005-12-01T02:50:17Z")
Oh, and after what the Starbucks in NYC did on 9/11, I’ll **never** give them a dime of my money. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligent-design/330773.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligent-design/330773.md?page=3)