I posted this on christiansunite.com a while ago, and I thought I'd toss it in here just for comparison...
Computer programs have shown that it is possible for apparently designed objects to appear that were not explicitly designed by the programmer. This is seen very clearly in the "Langton's Ant" program.
Here's the link:
http://fvdp.homestead.com/files/ant_index.html
The universe in which the ant operates, and the movement of the ant itself, follow incredibly simple rules. These rules are set by the programmer (-> intelligently designed?). After many thousands of steps, however, the movement of the ant begins to construct a highway that was NOT set or included in any way by the programmer; it is a result of the ant randomly discovering
a successfully self-replicating pattern.
In my opinion, we can consider our universe to be a very large program with very complex rules that has organised itself in a similar manner to Langton's Ant because it has been running for so many billion years. Perhaps God is just another programmer? In any case, I also think that this is good proof that abiogenesis can occur, and that evolution is not quite so unbelievable as some people imagine it to be. It's possible that it's all a result of the universe becoming more and more organised.
Before anyone decides to start flaming me, remember I said it's just my opinion ok?
And I'd like to know what everyone else thinks.
The Rock Hound
{A note from Adminnemooseus - Also available is the topic
Design With No Designer. It was started by MrHambre, currently has 47 messages, and was last posted to on 9/24/03}
[This message has been edited by Adminnemooseus, 09-30-2003]