Tom English: Review of Evolutionary Informatics (Marks et al)

Tom English has a very good series and review of Evolutionary Informatics at the Skeptical Zone. This is worth reading closely.

Evo-Info review: Do not buy the book until…
Evo-Info 1: Engineering analysis construed as metaphysics
Evo-Info 2: Teaser for algorithmic specified complexity
Evo-Info sidebar: Conservation of performance in search
Evo-Info 3: Evolution is not search
Evo-Info 4: Non-conservation of algorithmic specified complexity

From the first article:

I have all sorts of fancy stuff to say about the new book by Marks, Dembski, and Ewert. But I wonder whether I should say anything fancy at all. There is a ginormous flaw in evolutionary informatics, quite easy to see when it’s pointed out to you. The authors develop mathematical analysis of apples, and then apply it to oranges. You need not know what apples and oranges are to see that the authors have got some explaining to do. When applying the analysis to an orange, they must identify their assumptions about apples, and show that the assumptions hold also for the orange. Otherwise the results are meaningless.

Well said. This is precisely what we saw here at Peaceful Science in extended discussions with ID leaders.

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The “ID leaders” appear to be Dembski, Marks and Ewert. I know that Winston has posted here at PS, but I am not aware that either Dembski or Marks has posted here.

So are you talking about the exchange with Winston Ewert? Because that exchange seemed to be about something completely different.

The relevant “extended discussions” that have taken place here at Peaceful Science with “ID leaders” need a tag so that they can easily be found.

Winston Ewert did a great job when he was here talking about the Dependency Graph: Winston Ewert: The Dependency Graph of Life. I’m talking about Eric.

The discussion with Eric is the “extended discussions with ID leaders” you were talking about in the OP? None of which involved Dembski,.Marks, or Ewert?

Those are (some of) the public discussions @Mung. A lot happens in the world that you do not know about. :smile:

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