The problem that Lewis runs into is the use of "accident". Accident, as used in english, means that there was an uninteded outcome. For instance, "I accidently spilled the milk" suggests that I was not intending to spill the milk.
The universe is quite different. There is no "intention" in anything that the universal laws do. This is the distinction between random and accident. Randomness is the absence of intention, or the absence of a goal oriented system. Are lottery numbers accidental, or are they random? Is the characteristics of a solar system accidental, or is it random? I would argue that random is a much more accurate term.
From the CS Lewis quote:
quote:
I see no reason for believing that one accident should be able to give me a correct account of all the other accidents. It’s like expecting that the accidental shape taken by the splash when you upset a milkjug should give you a correct account of how the jug was made and why it was upset.’
But you can give an account if a process is random. For instance, if two dice are randomly rolled, then you should be able to predict the total of the two dice will be 7 more than any other number over 10,000 rolls.
Moving to the milkjug, it is the contention of many IDers and others that they can detect information from the random shape of the milk on the floor. THey claim that the analogous milk spillage is designed. How can we tell the difference between an intentionally spilled milk jug and an accidentally spilled milk jug? I don't see a way to do it.
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