what is an "intelligent designer"? If we are talking about God then we really cant use a term like "intelligent" since it is relative to us. Our intelligence as we know it is ultimately dependant on our reality. That means that if the world where to have other properties (like other laws etc) or if our bodies had a different form we would not have the same thinking/mind/intelligence ( a better word would be consciousness).
So the question is hard to answer. But an plausible answer would be yes. If we had the "controls" for evolution and were smart enough we would probably have gone trough the same develpoment. The comparison to plane models is a nice one and describes how we humans work and how Evolutionary algorithms are used in AI research. Given certain problems and circumstances we tend to work in that way using Occams Razor as an principle. Also since the world seem to have "accidents" the work sometimes "hops" to a completely new state.
At the same time the answer to the question is no. God would probably not design a thing like that since he dont/cant have the same kind of consciousness adn intelligence as we do.
In any case i still hold it plausible that there is some kind of entity that has created the universe but in that case he is akin to be the god of Plato, "the unmovable mover" that started the universe and after that only can watch (never intervene). Kind of like AI science today where we can create advanced networks that we dont know how they work or by what rules. We can only watch the end result or terminate it (hopefully.. in Terminator mankind could not
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By the same resoning there couldnt be a understandable after world since our "spirit" or "ghost" is incorporeal and thus could never have the same consciousness and thus the same intelligence.
Not saying that god or spirits could be more intelligent. Its just that they would be intelligent in the way we know it.
In light of this there could really exist other "beings" that where conscious in ways we cant understand and therefore doesnt know of. A rock could be more "intelligent" than we are for all means.
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as a side remark i can say that "intelligence" is a bad word for describing the mental state that we mean by the use of the word. A bacteria culture can be said to have an intelligent behavior but i dont really think they have a mental state. Perhaps "intelligence" is an inherent "state" or "attribute" in the universe and we all(viruses, bacteria, animals, plants, man etc) are different expressions of that.
Or like one of the species in Babylon 5 explains it; "We are the Universe's way of figuring out itself"
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As i see it atheism is a equally strange standpoint as devout beliving. Since neither can be sure that there arent/are a God existing.
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