# What are the arguments for intelligent design?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-arguments-for-intelligent-design/595929>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 11, 2011, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-arguments-for-intelligent-design/595929 "2011-09-11T10:57:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-arguments-for-intelligent-design/595929/81 "2011-09-13T07:20:24Z")

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Joking aside, I’ve participated (well, on the sidelines) in debates where the cephalopod eye came up as an example of superior design.

The ID proponents’ response? Words to the effect: Although the cephalopod eye does look more logically designed than the vertebrate eye, we can’t possibly grasp all of the design constraints, so it’s impossible to declare the human eye inferior.

So, in a nutshell, ID states: We definitely can discern when something is designed, but we definitely can’t discern whether one thing is better designed than another. Ridiculous.

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**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-arguments-for-intelligent-design/595929/82 "2011-09-13T21:28:02Z")

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> [@Der\_Trihs](#):
>
> Of course, one of the many flaws in that argument is that the components of a plane are designed to be hooked together intelligently; not thrown together like that. Life on the other hand is full of components that self assemble. In other words, when it comes to life we see the equivalent of whirlwinds assembling planes all the time.

Case in point: [virus capsids](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-8MP7g8XOE)

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