Probability's Nature and Nature's Probability : A Call to Scientific Integrity

Nov, 2010 update (including 52 2010 references) of Mar, 2009 original. The author once believed anyone not accepting the "proven" scenarios for chemical and biological evolution that were ingrained during his science education had the same mentality as someone believing in a flat earth. With continued scientific investigation, paying closer attention to actual data (rather than speculative conclusions), he began to doubt the natural explanations that had been so ingrained in a number of key areas including the origin and fine-tuning of mass and energy, the origin of life with its complex functional information, and the increase in functional complexity in living organisms. It was science, and not religion, that caused his disbelief in the explanatory powers of undirected nature using scientific-sounding concepts that in fact have no known scientific basis. Scientific integrity needs to be restored so that ideas that have no methods to test or falsify are not considered part of science. Too often "possible" is used by scientists without considering that "possible" has a scientific definition within the nature of probability. For example, one should not be able to get away with stating "it is possible that life arose from non-life by ..." or "it's possible that a different form of life exists elsewhere in the Universe" without first demonstrating that it is indeed possible (non-zero probability) using known science. This book reviews the many prevalent scenarios that are widely accepted, but need closer examination of their scientific validity. It will also examine the scientific validity of Intelligent Design (ID) as a model that can be empirically detected and examined. For example, the book uses known science (including Shannon, functional, and prescriptive information principles) to prove that it is impossible (zero probability) for life's complex information system, with thousands of interacting computers in each cell, to have an undirected natural source. The usefulness of the ID model for furthering scientific inquiry is also analyzed. One chapter is devoted to exposing fallacies, presuppositions, and beliefs that attempt to prevent acceptance of ID as "science."