Gpuccio: Functional Information Methodology

I have a 2048 bit gpg key. Okay, maybe the RSA cryptosystem is inefficient, and there are less than 500 bits of FI there. But I could generate a longer key in much the same way. So the 500 bits doesn’t seem much of a limit.

The RSA key itself was mostly produced by a random number generator, with some filtering. Yes, you could say that the random number generator was designed. And you could say that the RSA cryptosystem was designed. Still, the key itself is mostly generated randomly, so does not seem designed.

What it amounts to, is that if you want to consider the role of design, then you have to push the design further back than the FI (functional information).

There are plenty of people at this site who have no problem with saying that there’s design involved in biological organisms. But they see a need to push the design further back than the organisms themselves. For example, they may see the system of evolution as being designed, but they don’t see individual organisms as designed.

As an agnostic, I cannot rule out the possibility that the system of evolution is designed. Possibly there are some atheists, maybe even Richard Dawkins, who might admit that they cannot rule out design at that level. But you cannot have a science of design for design at that level. You can maybe have a philosophy or theology, but not a science.

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