Specified complexity: Difference between revisions

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{{Intelligent Design}}

'''Specified complexity''' is a creationist argument introduced by [[William Dembski]], used by advocates to promote the [[pseudoscience]] of [[intelligent design]]. According to Dembski, the concept can formalize a property that singles out patterns that are both ''specified'' and ''complex'', where in Dembski's terminology, a ''specified'' pattern is one that admits short descriptions, whereas a ''complex'' pattern is one that is unlikely to occur by chance. Proponents of intelligent design use specified complexity as one of their two main arguments, alongside [[irreducible complexity]].

Dembski argues that it is impossible for specified complexity to exist in patterns displayed by configurations formed by unguided processes. Therefore, Dembski argues, the fact that specified complex patterns can be found in living things indicates some kind of guidance in their formation, which is indicative of intelligence. Dembski further argues that one can rigorously show by applying [[No free lunch in search and optimization|no-free-lunch theorems]] the inability of evolutionary algorithms to select or generate configurations of high specified complexity. Dembski states that specified complexity is a reliable marker of design by an [[intelligent designer|intelligent agent]]—a central tenet to intelligent design, which Dembski argues for in opposition to [[evolution|modern evolutionary theory]]. Specified complexity is what Dembski terms an "explanatory filter": one can recognize design by detecting "complex specified information" (CSI). Dembski argues that the unguided emergence of CSI solely according to known [[physical laws]] and chance is highly improbable.<ref>Olofsson, P., "Intelligent design and mathematical statistics: a troubled alliance", ''Biology and Philosophy'', (2008) 23: 545. {{doi|10.1007/s10539-007-9078-6}} ([https://web.archive.org/web/20180120070714/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8def/d6c4582d252e55d8b4a188ccdb9bff6453c3.pdf pdf], retrieved December 18, 2017)</ref>