Well, I don’t define ‘bad design’ out of existence, if that’s what you mean. Some things do imho qualify as ‘bad designs’. In case you do admit of such things, are you then simply wondering if those things should be definitionally limited to technology or artefact rather than organism or nature? Or are you taking the stronger position of claiming that there are not only no bad designs and no good designs, indeed, there are no ‘designs’ properly spoken about at all in biology & genetics/genomics?
If the latter is the case, are you suggesting it would become something like a strange centaur of ‘ethical biology’ if scientists were to consider something typically thought ‘natural’ as in fact ‘designed’? I’m sure you’ve at least tried to ‘put on the hat’ of ‘design thinking’ that involves some mysterious ‘intelligence’ (beyond just complexity) before, right? (There are those who speak of ‘design by evolution’ or ‘evolution by design’, but let us leave that aside for now.) I’m trying to understand your disapproval of using good/bad in front of design if nevertheless at the same time you admit of ‘some’ design in biology as legitimate, proper, etc. Does it help to ask about that this way?
p.s. it seems that some people call it the Cambrian Diversification & other names, to distinguish it from short timescale events like explosions. Promotion of natural theological immediacy & abruptness persists. Perhaps the title of the thread is a bit misleading at the start. ‘The Cambrian Period’ more neutral.