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Intelligent Designer Identified!
Topic Started: Jun 28 2006, 10:34 AM (709 Views)
ngc1514
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No, I haven't tracked down the actual identify, but offer these as an attempt to learn that vital information.

Seems to me that the identity of the Intelligent Designer can be discerned by a close study of his creation. The Id'ers themselves are not openly admitting that the god of Genesis and the ID are one and the same. They can't because such an admission would show ID and creationism are equal.

So, in the spirit of free scientific inquiry, who, or more appropriately what, might the designer be?

My first thought that, since a huge proportion of the earth's biomass is made up of plants, the designer was likely a plant. And since the earth's main form of life for most of its history was blue-green algae - pond scum - the odds were pretty good that the intelligent designer closely resembled this same pond scum.

But, it's tough to imagine pond scum in any sort of creative role. It mainly serves as food for other creations. The same can be said for many plants and I next thougt that the plants were made specifically to feed the later designs.

We know that there are far more species of insects than any other sort. More than half the known species in the world are insects and even JBS Haldane commented
Quote:
 
If one could conclude as to the nature of the Creator from a study of his creation it would appear that God has a special fondness for stars and beetles.
since half the insect species are beetles.

While the idea of the intelligent designer being a beetle - albeit a big, brainy one - may be repugnant to us naked apes, the odds would appear to be in its favor. Keep that in mind the next time you squish a roach under your shoe!

I'm still not really happy with either choices of pond scum or dung beetle as the designer and thought that my search criteria might be at fault. Rather than quantity, quality might be a better ruler.

Using that ruler I think we can now safely say the Intelligent Designer of us all is a crustacean; and not just any crustacean, but a crustacean of the order Stomatopoda.
Specifically, a Mantis Shrimp!

Check out these specifications:

1. Powerful enough to break double pane glass in an aquarium;
2. A striking acceleration of 10,200g;
3. A striking speed of 23 meters per second (that's about 52MPH if my calculations are correct
4. And a striking force of 1500 newtons. More than enough force to break dual paned fish tanks.

But most convincingly are the Mantis Shrimp's eyes! I'll take this straight from the Wikipedia article on Mantis Shrimp:

Quote:
 
Mantis shrimp appear in a variety of colours, from rather dull browns to stunning neon. They are the only animals with hyperspectral colour vision. Their eyes - both mounted on mobile stalks and constantly moving about (apparently independently of one another) - are similarly variably coloured, and are considered to be the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom. They permit both serial and parallel analysis of visual stimuli. The compound eye is made up from up to 10,000 separate elements and are of the apposition type. Each eye consists of two flattened hemispheres separated by six parallel rows of highly specialised ommatidia called the midband. This divides the eye into three regions: the dorsal and ventral hemispheres and the midband. This is a design which makes it possible for them to see objects with three different parts of the same eye, in other words; each individual eye possesses trinocular vision and depth perception. The upper and lower hemispheres are used primarily for recognition of forms and motion, not color vision, like the eyes of so many other crustaceans.

It is the six-rowed midband that is the really unique part of the three regions. Rows 1-4 are specialised for colour vision, from ultra-violet to infra-red. The optical elements in these rows have 8 different classes of visual pigments and the rhabdom is divided into 3 different pigmented layers (tiers), each adapted for different wavelengths. The three tiers in rows 2 and 3 are separated by colour filters (intrarhabdomal filters) that can be divided into four distinct classes, two classes in each row. It is organised like a sandwich; a tier, a colour filter of one class, a tier again, a colour filter of another class, and then a last tier. Rows 5-6 are segregated into different tiers too, have only one class of visual pigment (a ninth class), are specialised for polarisation vision and can see different planes of polarised light; perhaps they are even able to detect circularly polarised light. A tenth class of visual pigment is found in the dorsal and ventral hemispheres of the eye.

The midband only covers a small area on about 5-10° of the visual field at any given instant, but as mentioned, the eyes are mounted on stalks. This is also the case for other groups of crustaceans, but in mantis shrimps the movement of the stalked eye is unusually free, and can be driven in all possible axes, up to at least 70°, of movement by eight individual eyecup muscles divided into six functional groups. By using these muscles for scanning the surroundings with the midband, they can add information about forms, shapes and landscape which can not be detected by the upper and lower hemisphere of the eye. They can also track moving objects using large, rapid eye movements where the two eyes are moving independently. By combining different techniques, as those mentioned and saccadic movements, the midband can cover a very wide range of the visual field in front of the mantis shrimp.

Some species have at least sixteen different photo-receptor types who are divided into four classes (their spectral sensitivity is further tuned by colour filters in the retinas), twelve of them for colour analysis in the different wavelengths (including four which are sensitive to ultraviolet light) and four of them for analysing polarised light. By comparison, humans have only three visual pigments. The visual information leaving the retina seems to be processed into numerous parallel data streams leading into the central nervous system, greatly reducing the analytical requirements at higher levels.


Hyperspectral vision, ability to see and respond to uv and polarized light. Sixteen different photo-receptor sites. This guy is amazing and, according to Wikipedia, intelligent as well.

I think we can safely say the Intelligent Designer is a crustacean! Remember that next time you order scampi or lobster.
Posted ImageEric
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cmoehle
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Chris - San Antonio TX
One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in bed he had been changed into a monstrous verminous bug. He lay on his armour-hard back and saw, as he lifted his head up a little, his brown, arched abdomen divided up into rigid bow-like sections. From this height the blanket, just about ready to slide off completely, could hardly stay in place. His numerous legs, pitifully thin in comparison to the rest of his circumference, flickered helplessly before his eyes.

"What's happened to me," he thought....


--Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis, (1916)



"The Id'ers themselves are not openly admitting that the god of Genesis and the ID are one and the same. They can't because such an admission would show ID and creationism are equal."

Ask Alan--right, Alan, it depends on what hat you're wearing.
Politics is the art of achieving the maximum amount of freedom for individuals that is consistent with the maintenance of social order.
--Barry Goldwater
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abradf2519
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Funny! Not taking the bait though....No pun intended!

Alan
Milan, New York, USA
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teryt
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ngc1514
Jun 28 2006, 04:34 PM
Seems to me that the identity of the Intelligent Designer can be discerned by a close study of his creation.  The Id'ers themselves are not openly admitting that the god of Genesis and the ID are one and the same.  They can't because such an admission would show ID and creationism are equal.



False dilemma.

I think one reasonably would look at whatever the highest order of life that was available, to get the clew - did I take the bait?
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cmoehle
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Chris - San Antonio TX
"False dilemma."

As a double entendre, that sums up ID quite well actually.
Politics is the art of achieving the maximum amount of freedom for individuals that is consistent with the maintenance of social order.
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teryt
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As the an example of the highest order of living thing on the planet, I have something intelligent to say:

Nah - Huh!


:coffee:
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roscoe
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Thats a lot of newtons.
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teryt
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Yeah, I really like them, but don't get them much these days as the DW doesn't care for them. I could go through a whole box, with milk, in a sitting.
My Boast is Christ :pray:
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ngc1514
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teryt
Jul 1 2006, 11:23 AM
False dilemma.

I think one reasonably would look at whatever the highest order of life that was available, to get the clew - did I take the bait?

Highest order of life? That must be some sort of ID concept, because it sure ain't evolutionary!

How about a clew[sic] (althought I'm not sure what the corner of a sail has to do with this?) on how you would define "highest order of life?" Life expectancy? Biomass? How long it has survived in recognizable form? Bio-diversity? Environmental diversity?

Homo sapiens don't come in first in any of those criteria.

Posted ImageEric
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ngc1514
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teryt
Jul 2 2006, 11:22 AM
Yeah, I really like them, but don't get them much these days as the DW doesn't care for them. I could go through a whole box, with milk, in a sitting.

Physics isn't one of your strong suits, either, eh?

Posted ImageEric
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cmoehle
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Chris - San Antonio TX
When it comes down to it evolution is about genetic alleles, and they what survive. We are just temporary carriers.
Politics is the art of achieving the maximum amount of freedom for individuals that is consistent with the maintenance of social order.
--Barry Goldwater
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ngc1514
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cmoehle
Jul 2 2006, 06:02 PM
When it comes down to it evolution is about genetic alleles, and they what survive. We are just temporary carriers.

Human beings, plants and animals are just gene's reproductive systems.
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teryt
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ngc1514
Jul 2 2006, 09:43 PM
teryt
Jul 2 2006, 11:22 AM
Yeah, I really like them, but don't get them much these days as the DW doesn't care for them.  I could go through a whole box, with milk, in a sitting.

Physics isn't one of your strong suits, either, eh?

Yeah, I try not to wear them around Phoenix, especially in the summer time. DW did get me in a tie a couple weeks back for a business meeting. As it turns out, I was overdressed.
My Boast is Christ :pray:
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teryt
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ngc1514
Jul 2 2006, 09:43 PM
teryt
Jul 1 2006, 11:23 AM
False dilemma.

I think one reasonably would look at whatever the highest order of life that was available, to get the clew - did I take the bait?

Highest order of life? That must be some sort of ID concept, because it sure ain't evolutionary!

How about a clew[sic] (althought I'm not sure what the corner of a sail has to do with this?) on how you would define "highest order of life?" Life expectancy? Biomass? How long it has survived in recognizable form? Bio-diversity? Environmental diversity?

Homo sapiens don't come in first in any of those criteria.

Common now, we both know . . . I suppose if you don't think we are the most intelligent, that's fine. At least we have clarity on that point.

Then again, maybe you made that assessment based upon your dialog with me! (I just love good self-deprecating humor; {then again, maybe that wasn't good} beats others to the punch.) :pound:
My Boast is Christ :pray:
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teryt
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ngc1514
Jul 2 2006, 11:34 PM
cmoehle
Jul 2 2006, 06:02 PM
When it comes down to it evolution is about genetic alleles, and they what survive. We are just temporary carriers.

Human beings, plants and animals are just gene's reproductive systems.

This reminds me of my dad when he was a young Marine. He said back then his "whole being was just one big delivery system for [his] penis." :floorrollin:
My Boast is Christ :pray:
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