'''Intelligent design''' (ID) is a [[theory of evolution]] which asserts that [[God]] guided the process of [[evolution]]. The basis of ID is the observation that some differencs between species are too complex to have come about without having been designed ([[irreducible complexity]]).
ID's acceptance of the fossil record distinguishes it from [[Sudden Creationism]] and represents one point of agreement with [[Darwinian evolution]].
Although ID accepts the [[fossil record]], thus agreeing that [[evolution]] did occur, it disagrees with the view that Natural Selection causes new species to come into being. It is only after a new species has come into being that it is subject to the weeding out process of Natural Selection, maintains ID, not before. This is the chief difference between ID and Darwinian evolution, and apparently an irreconcilable one.
Unlike Darwinian evolution, which says new species arise due to various random forces such as DNA transcription errors, chemicals, or radiation, ID propenents argue that new species arise only (or chiefly) by an intelligent force.
Natural Selection is sometimes defined as being both (a) the cause whereby new species arise and (b) the weeding out process whereby only successful variations propagate; or only (b). ID rejects (a) and accepts (b).
<b>Comparison between ID and Darwinian evolution</b>
The scientific view of [[evolution]] is based on two premises. Variations occur in the genetic makeup of organisms, and through the process of [[Natural selection]], the most fit of those variations survive while the others die out.
Intelligent Design accepts much of the scientific theory, but differs in the role of God in causing the variations.
It accepts that fact that there has been evolution, i.e., species have changed and diverged over time from earlier forms of life to the forms which exist today. It does not necessarily accept that there is [[speciation]], the creation of more than one species out of a single species. It accepts the [[fossil record]] as an accurate representation of the history of the evolution of species, and accepts that analysis of the fossil record gives accurate and useful results. It accepts that there is a process of [[natural selection]], and it accepts the scientific view of how it works. Once the variation has been caused due to deliberate acts of God, the survival or [[extinction]] of a newly arisen species is believed to then be subject to natural selection.
Where it departs from the commonly accepted biological view is in the belief that the variations which are subsequently acted upon by Natural Selection are not random, but guided by the hand of God. In the scientific view, these variations are random and usually small. In the Intelligent Design viewpoint, these small, random variations exist but are not the explanation for speciation. Instead, speciation occurs when God steps in and causes the variation to occur.
Unlike Darwinian evolution, which says new species arise due to various random forces such as DNA transcription errors, chemicals, or radiation, ID propenents argue that new species arise only (or chiefly) by an intelligent force.
They point to complex biological structures such as the [[eye]], saying that such structures could not have possibly have developed due purely to random chance. Symbiotic relationships, such as plants who can only be pollinated by a specific species of insect, which in turn can only reproduce by using the plant, could not have arisen -- a typical chicken-and-egg problem.
Adherents of ID consider their idea that God causes speciation a viable scientific hypothesis. Scientists generally consider it unscientific, because it is not falsifiable and so merely a philosophical or religious idea outside the realm of science.
These ideas distinguish ID from [[Sudden Creationism]], which denies completely the existence of evolution.
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<b>Responses of the scientific community to ID</b>
The main three responses of scientists have been to ignore ID, to claim it's wrong because Darwinian evolution is a fact, and to call ID unscientific, because it is not falsifiable and so merely a philosophical or religious idea outside the realm of science.
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