David J. Turell here reviews Unintelligent Design, by Mark Perakh, Emeritus Professor of Physics at California State University, Fullerton. According to Turell, "Unintelligent Design is a full-frontal assault on the writings of a broad group of well-known writers whom Perakh feels are creationists. The book is primarily a point-by-point 'scientific' refutation of the assertions in those books. Well-known authors include Michael Behe, William Dembski and Gerald Schroeder, whose book, The Hidden Face of God, was recently reviewed here favorably. Despite its aggressive tone and style Unintelligent Design is an important addition to the science and religion debate. Those interested in the field should read it."

Dr. David J. Turell, a retired physician, lives on a paint horse breeding ranch in Texas with his wife, Susan. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., he practiced Internal Medicine in Houston, Texas for over 30 years. Originally an agnostic, his book, Science Vs. Religion: The 500-Year War, Finding God in the Heat of the Battle, 2004, is the conclusion of his personal search for spiritual truths.

--Editor

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Book Review: Unintelligent Design by Mark Perakh (Prometheus Books, Amherst, N.Y. 2004, 460 pgs., bibl, index, ISBN 1-59102-084-0) reviewed by David J. Turell, M.D.

Mark Perakh was born in Russia in 1924, educated to the Russian degree equivalent to a western Ph.D. in 1949, and a Doctor of Sciences degree in 1967. He taught and performed research at Russian universities, until emigrating to Israel in 1973 where he taught and did research at Hebrew University in Jerusalem until 1978. After 1978 he came to the United States and worked for commercial corporations, performing practical physics research. In 1985 he became a full professor at Cal. State U., Fullerton, retiring with Emeritus status in 1994. He has published four books and almost 300 scientific articles.

Unintelligent Design is a full-frontal assault on the writings of a broad group of well-known writers whom Perakh feels are creationists. The book is primarily a point-by-point 'scientific' refutation of the assertions in those books. Although he presents his purpose in writing the book in a preface, at the end of his book he feels compelled to reiterate his viewpoint. He implies that the United States, as an over-religious country, allows full reign to a vast market for creationist books, which become best sellers, while atheistic books are few and far between. He justifies his one-sided assault by assuming that errors in "naturalism" have been adequately covered by creationist commentary, and therefore he need not bother. He does not understand the attempt to reconcile science with the Bible, and ascribes it to "the lack of bravery necessary to face the possibility that there is no supernatural purpose in our life and death means the complete disappearance of an individual conscience." He is obviously in the same camp with Stephen Jay Gould that science and religion are 'separate magesteria.' In his "Afterword" he presents himself not as an atheist or an agnostic, both religious faith and atheism being "irrational," but as neutral. Not entirely neutral: "Predicting the future is an unrewarding job, and therefore I would not dare to insist that no rational proof of God's existence or nonexistence will ever be found, though I suspect that, unfortunately, this may be the case." Still, all in all, an important read.

Atheists praise atheistic books and believers praise religious books. There is almost no middle ground, essentially no books for agnostics. In a sense, Unintelligent Design purports to be that book, according to Perakh, without being that book. Not wishing to appear entirely negative, I admit I agree with a fair number of the author's observations. On the other hand, no matter how brilliant a scientist he appears to be, and I suspect he is brilliant, I find off-putting his self-serving examples of his 'brilliance', in which he endlessly pursues some scientific subject that is really off the point at hand, and his snide remarks, and his technique of pointing out an author's lack of knowledge when that missing information is of no consequence to the author's point of view. The book is written in the style of an attack-dog. Destroying a writer's credibility is easier than wining a debate by logic. And in using that technique some information he presents is out-and-out wrong, just as he accuses other authors of inaccuracies.

Some examples of the attacks: Against Hugh Ross, an old-earth creationist, Perakh changes the history of the Hebrew language, to challenge Ross' interpretation of the Torah containing a limited working vocabulary of words with variable meanings. Perakh disagrees, and states the Torah contains 14,691 different words, when it is well known that a working vocabulary of 2,750 words will interpret 95 percent of the five books. Ancient Hebrew was very limited, requiring referral to other similar Semitic languages to be sure of word-root meanings. It fell into disuse in the Middle Ages and modern Israel revived a language, which had a working vocabulary of about 10,000 words. Perakh quotes a modern Israeli dictionary as having 70,000 entries, 50 years after the start of Israel, as if to reinforce his point. It appears that Perakh does not understand the complexities of the scholarship involved in investigating the interpretation of the ancient texts. There are other ways to try to refute Ross' approach.

An attack on Michael Behe takes the form of a subterfuge: Perakh spends over two pages describing a mathematical form of 'irreducible complexity' found in the 'algorithmic theory of probability (ATP)', "of which Behe was apparently unaware" and which Perakh admits is "something quite different from what Behe means by his term." Perakh concludes his mathematical discussion, "ATP has established that irreducible complexity is just a synonym for randomness," and therefore, "if a system is irreducibly complex, it is not a product of design." In his further discussion Perakh notes that Dembski's definition of complexity also "is very different ...than the definition of complexity in ATP." If Perakh admits that Behe and Dembski are using a different definition, why compare apples and oranges and conclude they are wrong? Perakh’s subterfuge provides a 'non-answer' to Behe and Dembski.

In criticizing Gerald Schroeder, Perakh is literally vicious. On page 38 of The Hidden Face of God Schroeder presents an equation, hv=mc^2, combining deBroglie's wave theory equation (E=hv) with Einstein's famous E=mc^2 . His point is to present to the non-physicist, lay reader, the concept of quantum mechanics in which quantum expressions of energy can be both particles and waves. Perakh pounces: "Obviously lacking the proper understanding of these two equations, and seeing the same letter E on the left side of both, Schroeder mechanically combined [the two equations] into one," which Perakh then describes as an "absurdity." Perakh claims that this equation "is not the only error in Schroeder's new book." "Since Schroeder's insufficient competence in physics, which is his professional field, is obvious, what credibility can be given to his lengthy discourse on molecular biology, which is not his professional field? Moreover, what credibility can be given to his general thesis asserting the alleged harmony between the Bible and science?" Contrast this excerpt with Thomas P. Sheahen's review of The Hidden Face of God on this web site. Sheahen with a Ph.D. in physics from M.I.T. undoubtedly saw the same equation, and understood, as I did, what Schroeder was doing.

The book is divided into three sections. In Part One, Perakh offers his refutation of Intelligent Design. Dembski, Behe, and Johnson are the authors discussed. Phillip Johnson is found in the Chapter, A Militant Dilettante in the Judgment of Science, to give just one example of the tone that pervades the book. Part Two covers those authors who have presented material showing their impression of a concordance between the Bible and science. The total list includes Hugh Ross, Grant Jeffery, Fred Heeren, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, the seventh Lubavitcher Rabbi, Nathan Aviezer, Gerald Schroeder, and Lee Spetner. In Part Three Perakh does provide a fine discussion of the scientific method and some pertinent aspects of probability theory. There is then a long, and in my opinion unnecessary, refutation of the validity of the 'Bible codes'. It seems as if Perakh had to take on everybody.

Despite the tone of the book, and my obvious reservations, I still suggest that Unintelligent Design is an important addition to the science and religion debate. And despite its aggressive tone and style those interested in the field should read it. It represents the worldview of a scientist whose life was spent primarily in commercial practical scientific research, basically a commitment to scientific reductionism.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
This discussion list, ANTHROPOS, is hosted by Metanexus Online . The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of Metanexus or its sponsors.

Metanexus welcomes submissions between 1000 to 3000 words of essays and book reviews that seek to explore and interpret science and religion in original and insightful ways for a general educated audience. Previous columns give a good indication of the topical range and tone for acceptable essays. Please send all inquiries and submissions to editor@metanexus.net. Metanexus consists of a number of topically focused forums (Anthropos, Bios, Cogito, Cosmos, Salus, Sophia, and Techne) and periodic HTML enriched composite digests from each of the lists.

Copyright notice: Except when otherwise noted, articles may be forwarded, quoted, or republished in full with attribution to the author of the column and "Metanexus: The Online Forum on Religion and Science". Republication for commercial purposes in print or electronic format requires the permission of the author. Copyright 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 by Metanexus Institute.

To unsubscribe from this list: Send an email message to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.METANEXUS.NET. In the body of your email, write: UNSUB ANTHROPOS. This method requires verification by an email sent to your address.

Published   2004.12.08