I listened to an interview by Lex Fridman yesterday while out buying Valentine’s Day chocolates for the family.* He’s talking with Columbia University astronomer David Kipping:

The design-detection brainstorming continues from this point in the interview for another several minutes. Watch and see if the logic sounds familiar. 😉

Now, if you need a sobering counterpoint, a slap in the cheek right back to the challenges we face in the ID community, start a few minutes earlier, here:

I’ve never heard such a concise account of the principal methodological difficulties of inferring an unconstrained intelligence as a TESTABLE cause:

1. Unbounded explanatory capability
2. Unbounded avoidance capacity
3. Incomplete physical understanding of the universe

Kipping actually uses the phrase “God of the gaps” in this third context.

But, to end on an encouraging note: after all this bad news about the problems with inferring intelligent causes, that’s exactly what Kipping and Fridman do AFTER the bad news. Namely, discuss how design (intelligent causation) could be detected. 

The fact is, that ancient puzzle is JUST TOO INTERESTING to let the difficulties stand in the way.

*Belgian Chocolatier Piron of Evanston, Illinois. These chocolates should be illegal, really. SO creamy and delicious. Don’t blame me if you develop an addiction. You were warned.