What do SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) and the Intelligent Design movement have in common? They both operate under the premise that we are able to meaningfully discern between things which have been intelligently designed by non-humans and things which haven’t been designed at all. Are they correct? If so what is the methodology for reliably and objectively distinguishing between things which are intelligently designed and things which may appear to be but which in fact occur naturally without the involvement of any conscious intent?
If (for example) we were to detect a repeated signal from a far off star expressing the value of Pi to 128 decimal places in binary emitted at the frequency of the Hydrogen line I would suggest that we could very reasonably consider this a sign of intelligent beings. Certainly SETI enthusiasts would consider it as such.
But what
exactly is it that makes this an example of intelligent design? On what basis are we concluding conscious intelligent intent? And should this sort of example give IDists hope that their claims of detecting intelligent design of a more general sort has any validity?
If SETI can spot intelligent design what method are they using and can IDists apply the same methods?