But, my intent is to determine the maximum values attributable to God based solely on physical evidence, so as to set an upper limit on logic-based discussions about Intelligent Design (and, yes, I see the contradiction in terms there).
The only problem I see there is where you state "based on physical evidence". No physical evidence of God comes to mind. Are we talking about using the design (probably a bad choice of words) of animals, plants, ecosystems? If so how do we determine what about these things is evidence of God?
I argue against neutrality, as well. Here is a relevant snippet from a message posted by Percy in Cavediver's thread that I think provides a good argument for at least a fair measure of power and intelligence:
Percy writes:
If we're correct in believing that human beings are intelligent, then quite obviously intelligence is capable of not only non-optimal designs but even piss-poor designs. The quality of a design is a function not only of the degree of intelligence brought to bear on a problem, but also a matter of practical constraints, of existing technology and expertise, and of available resources in both time and materials.
If we are designed, then it seems to me that whoever designed us is pretty darn intelligent. Given the difficulty we're having designing even just a simple cell, technologically they'd have to be far beyond us. And given that they're doing it on the scale of an entire planet, their resources must be far beyond our own.
The only problem I see in this, is the assumption that the "design" was for intelligence in the first place. It is possible that we only possesses the minimum intelligence possible for our design, or that intelligence is a byproduct of ever increasing community interactions. Something not origanilly warrrented.
We could attribute any given value for God and still fall short of the mark. Or score too high. When it comes down to it it still falls back on the fact that we don't know. We are attributing natural events, emotions, actions, etc. to a supernatural being. However I do like the idea behind this topic so I will try to keep my doubts to a minimum so we can see how this develops.
Edited by Adminnemooseus, : And blank lines.
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