Tag: suboptimality
The Panda’s Thumb: An Extraordinary Instance of Design?
Optimizing a structure can sometimes come at the cost of certain design constraints.
Does the Panda Argument Hurt the Case for Evolution?
Gould cannot have it both ways: either theology-laden arguments are legitimate within scientific discourse or not.
Does a Suboptimal Panda’s Thumb Fit Better with Evolution than with Intelligent Design?
Just how much does evolution expect suboptimal structures? And just how much does intelligent design expect optimal ones?
Gould’s God-Talk: Is the Panda’s Thumb Incompatible with ID?
Stephen Jay Gould was renowned as a paleontologist, not as a theologian. Yet perhaps his most iconic argument is theological in nature.
Is the Panda’s Thumb Suboptimal?
The basic argument is that “[o]dd arrangements and funny solutions” point to evolution whereas “ideal design” points to a “sensible God.”