Re: [asa] Random Design

Mathematical? Well, to an extent, and yet here is my favorite example of
a beautifully (but not infinitely) fractal vegetable, a Romanesco
cauliflower (or broccoli) <http://www.fourmilab.ch/images/Romanesco/>.
JimA [Friend of ASA]

Jon Tandy wrote:

>True, I guess I'm thinking of fractals as mathematical models for real
>things, but I think it also applies as a mathematical or statistical model.
>
>>From Wikipedia (Fractal):
>"Because they appear similar at all levels of magnification, fractals are
>often considered to be infinitely complex (in informal terms). Natural
>objects that approximate fractals to a degree include clouds, mountain
>ranges, lightning bolts, coastlines, and snow flakes. "
>
>The argument goes (in informal terms), "this thing appears extremely
>complex, so therefore it must have been designed". But fractal designs
>aren't explicitly designed structures. It is true that there are underlying
>rules or techniques by which fractals of various designs are constructed,
>but the process of actually creating it is based on random or deterministic
>processes that have no further inherent design involved. This might be
>analogous to "intelligent design" inherent in nature, which leads to vast
>complexity through natural ("random") processes with limited or no further
>intervention.
>
>And the real things that fractals are used to model, such as coastlines, are
>in many cases formed by a set or series of random processes. Again this
>comes back to what is the definition of "complex", which seems to be rather
>subjective. I also failed to take into account the ID concept of
>"irreducible complexity", which they might hold as not having any
>applicability to simply "complex" structures as I've suggested.
>
>Jon Tandy
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On
>Behalf Of Dehler, Bernie
>Sent: Friday, February 08, 2008 3:25 PM
>To: _American Sci Affil
>Subject: RE: [asa] Random Design
>
>
>As I understand it, a fractal is not a physical thing but a visual of a
>mathematical equation. You could say the same for cones and other things
>that can be mathematically-visually graphed...?
>
>...Bernie
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On
>Behalf Of Jon Tandy
>Sent: Friday, February 08, 2008 1:09 PM
>To: '_American Sci Affil'
>Subject: [asa] Random Design
>
>Would fractals be another, non-biological, example of Random Design? Are
>fractals are a good counter-argument to the idea that "random processes
>can't produce complex structures with the appearance of design"?
>
>Jon Tandy
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On
>Behalf Of Loren Haarsma
>Sent: Friday, February 08, 2008 2:59 PM
>To: _American Sci Affil
>Subject: [asa] seminar on God, randomness & evolution: Fri. Feb. 15, 3:30
>
>
>
>For the Grand Rapids, MI, area:
>
>The next Christian Perspectives in Science seminar at Calvin College is
>
> Friday, February 15, 3:30 PM in Science Building room 110.
>
>Speaker: Richard Colling, Professor of Biology, Olivet Nazarene
> University; author of the book "Random Designer"
> (http://www.randomdesigner.com)
>
>Title: Randomness, Purpose, God, and Evolution: Can they go together?
>
>Abstract:
> The history books of life -- fossils and DNA -- reveal a most remarkable
>creation story. Over unfathomable eons of prescribed life and death cycles,
>
>single-celled life has advanced as a divine, majestic, and interconnected
>web.
>Filling every niche of our dynamic ever-changing planet, evolutionary
>creation
>has miraculously culminated in sentient beings capable of self and
>God-awareness -- us! As Christians desiring to remain faithful and
>culturally
>credible in our claim that God is the creator and that all truth is God's
>truth, we are challenged to work together across faith boundaries seeking
>ways
>to effectively integrate knowledge from science into a dynamic and coherent
>faith. This talk introduces a new creation "logos" -- Random (Equal
>Opportunity) Design. Simple, but ultimately profound, random design reflects
>a
>God-ordained and sustained paradigm of astonishing creative genius that
>produces an integrated network of unrivaled biological development. The
>talk
>includes defining appropriate definitions of randomness, the importance of
>adequate information/dot development, examples of randomness generating
>remarkable biological order, and a call to expand traditional views of
>scripture and science to accommodate a bigger, more profound God.
> ====
>http://www.calvin.edu/~lhaarsma/ChrPerspSciSeminarPage.html)
>
>
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Received on Fri Feb 8 17:36:47 2008