The Intelligent Design theorists don't seem to understand that (1) their effort to describe biological structures in strictly engineering terms capitulates to what materialists have said for generations, namely, that life operates according to nonspooky mechanical principles; and (2) their influence in propagandizing the view of the human body as a machine will probably help to erode resistance to proposals for re-engineering human biology.
In other words, the Intelligent Design idea has the unintentional effect of desacralizing the human body.
I hope that happens quick. There are systems in my body that need some re-engineering, lest I die even sooner than the average Englishman.
Today's post, Recognizing Intelligence was originally published on 07 November 2008. A summary (taken from the LW wiki):
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This post is part of the Rerunning the Sequences series, where we'll be going through Eliezer Yudkowsky's old posts in order so that people who are interested can (re-)read and discuss them. The previous post was Back Up and Ask Whether, Not Why, and you can use the sequence_reruns tag or rss feed to follow the rest of the series.
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