No Free Lunch Why Specified Complexity Cannot Be Purchased without Intelligence,9780742512979

No Free Lunch Why Specified Complexity Cannot Be Purchased without Intelligence

by
ISBN13: 9780742512979
ISBN10: 0742512975
Format: Hardcover
Pub. Date: 2001-12-18
Publisher(s): Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
List Price: $79.00

Rent Book

Select for Price
Add to Cart
There was a problem. Please try again later.

New Book

We're Sorry
Sold Out

Used Book

We're Sorry
Sold Out

eBook

We're Sorry
Not Available

Buy from our Marketplace starting at $20.90

How Marketplace Works:

  • This item is offered by an independent seller and not shipped from our warehouse
  • Item details like edition and cover design may differ from our description; see seller's comments before ordering.
  • Sellers much confirm and ship within two business days; otherwise, the order will be cancelled and refunded.
  • Marketplace purchases cannot be returned to eCampus.com. Contact the seller directly for inquiries; if no response within two days, contact customer service.
  • Additional shipping costs apply to Marketplace purchases. Review shipping costs at checkout.

Summary

Darwin's greatest accomplishment was to show how life might be explained as the result of natural selection. But does Darwin's theory mean that life was unintended? William A. Dembski argues that it does not. As the leading proponent of intelligent design, Dembski reveals a designer capable of originating the complexity and specificity found throughout the cosmos. Scientists and theologians alike will find this book of interest as it brings the question of creation firmly into the realm of scientific debate. The paperback is updated with a new Preface by the author.

Author Biography

William A. Dembski is associate research professor in the conceptual foundations of science at Baylor University and senior fellow with the Discovery Institute's Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture in Seattle.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
x
Preface xi
The Third Mode of Explanation
1(44)
Necessity, Chance, and Design
1(2)
Rehabilitating Design
3(3)
The Complexity-Specification Criterion
6(9)
Specification
15(3)
Probabilistic Resources
18(4)
False Negatives and False Positives
22(6)
Why the Criterion Works
28(2)
The Darwinian Challenge to Design
30(4)
The Constraining of Contingency
34(3)
The Darwinian Extrapolation
37(8)
Another Way to Detect Design?
45(80)
Fisher's Approach to Eliminating Chance
45(4)
Generalizing Fisher's Approach
49(6)
Case Study: Nicholas Caputo
55(3)
Case Study: The Compressibility of Bit Strings
58(4)
Detachability
62(5)
Sweeping the Field of Chance Hypotheses
67(4)
Justifying the Generalization
71(12)
The Inflation of Probabilistic Resources
83(18)
Design by Comparison
101(9)
Design by Elimination
110(15)
Specified Complexity as Information
125(54)
Information
125(4)
Syntactic, Statistical, and Algorithmic Information
129(4)
Information in Context
133(4)
Conceptual and Physical Information
137(3)
Complex Specified Information
140(5)
Semantic Information
145(2)
Biological Information
147(2)
The Origin of Complex Specified Information
149(10)
The Law of Conservation of Information
159(7)
A Fourth Law of Thermodynamics?
166(13)
Evolutionary Algorithms
179(60)
Methinks it is Like a Weasel
179(5)
Optimization
184(3)
Statement of the Problem
187(5)
Choosing the Right Fitness Function
192(4)
Blind Search
196(3)
The No Free Lunch Theorems
199(4)
The Displacement Problem
203(4)
Darwinian Evolution in Nature
207(5)
Following the Information Trail
212(12)
Coevolving Fitness Landscapes
224(15)
The Emergence of Irreducibly Complex Systems
239(72)
The Causal Specificity Problem
239(7)
The Challenge of Irreducible Complexity
246(6)
Scaffolding and Roman Arches
252(2)
Co-optation, Patchwork, and Bricolage
254(2)
Incremental Indispensability
256(5)
Reducible Complexity
261(6)
Miscellaneous Objections
267(4)
The Logic of Invariants
271(8)
Fine-Tuning Irreducible Complexity
279(10)
Doing the Calculation
289(22)
Design as a Scientific Research Program
311(70)
Outline of a Positive Research Program
311(3)
The Pattern of Evolution
314(11)
The Incompleteness of Natural Laws
325(3)
Does Specified Complexity Have a Mechanism?
328(5)
The Nature of Nature
333(10)
Must All Design in Nature Be Front-Loaded?
343(4)
Embodied and Unembodied Designers
347(6)
Who Designed the Designer?
353(2)
Testability
355(10)
Magic, Mechanism, and Design
365(16)
Index 381(23)
About the Author 404

An electronic version of this book is available through VitalSource.

This book is viewable on PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and most smartphones.

By purchasing, you will be able to view this book online, as well as download it, for the chosen number of days.

Digital License

You are licensing a digital product for a set duration. Durations are set forth in the product description, with "Lifetime" typically meaning five (5) years of online access and permanent download to a supported device. All licenses are non-transferable.

More details can be found here.

A downloadable version of this book is available through the eCampus Reader or compatible Adobe readers.

Applications are available on iOS, Android, PC, Mac, and Windows Mobile platforms.

Please view the compatibility matrix prior to purchase.