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Specified complexity is a concept proposed by William Dembski and used by him and others to promote intelligent design. According to Dembski, the concept can formalize a property that singles out patterns that are both ''specified'' and ''complex'', in specific senses defined by Dembski. Dembski states that specified complexity is a reliable marker of design by an intelligent agent - a central tenet to intelligent design, which Dembski argues for in opposition to modern evolutionary theory. The concept of specified complexity is widely regarded as mathematically unsound and has not been the basis for further independent work in information theory, in the theory of complex systems, or in biology.〔Mark Perakh, (2005). ''(Dembski "displaces Darwinism" mathematically -- or does he? )''〕〔Jason Rosenhouse, (2001). ''(How Anti-Evolutionists Abuse Mathematics )'' The Mathematical Intelligencer, Vol. 23, No. 4, Fall 2001, pp. 3-8.〕 Proponents of intelligent design use specified complexity as one of their two main arguments, alongside irreducible complexity. 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. 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 theorems the inability of evolutionary algorithms to select or generate configurations of high specified complexity. In intelligent-design literature, an intelligent agent is one that chooses between different possibilities and has, by supernatural means and methods, caused life to arise.〔"no intelligent agent who is strictly physical could have presided over the origin of the universe or the origin of life." - Dembski (The Act of Creation: Bridging Transcendence and Immanence ) Dembski has also said that "intelligent design should be understood as the evidence that God has placed in nature to show that the physical world is the product of intelligence and not simply the result of mindless material forces" (Why President Bush Got It Right about Intelligent Design ) William A. Dembski DesignInference.com, August 4, 2005. Dembski has also said that "Intelligent design is just the Logos theology of John's Gospel restated in the idiom of information theory." (Signs of Intelligence ) A Primer on the Discernment of Intelligent Design. William A. Dembski. Touchstone Journal, Volume 12, Issue 4, July/August 1999.〕 Specified complexity is what Dembski terms an "explanatory filter" which can recognize design by detecting "complex specified information" (CSI). The filter relies on the premise that the categories of regularity, chance, and design are, according to Dembski, "mutually exclusive and exhaustive". Complex specified information detects design because it detects what characterizes intelligent agency; it detects the actualization of one among many competing possibilities. A study by Wesley Elsberry and Jeffrey Shallit states: "Dembski's work is riddled with inconsistencies, equivocation, flawed use of mathematics, poor scholarship, and misrepresentation of others' results."〔 Wesley Elsberry and Jeffrey Shallit, (2003). (Information Theory, Evolutionary Computation, and Dembski's 'Complex Specified Information' )〕 Another objection concerns Dembski's calculation of probabilities. According to Martin Nowak, a Harvard professor of mathematics and evolutionary biology, "We cannot calculate the probability that an eye came about. We don't have the information to make the calculation."〔 Martin Nowak (2005). ( Time Magazine, 15 August 2005, page 32 ) 〕 Critics also reject applying specified complexity to infer design, characterizing this approach as an argument from ignorance. ==Definition== 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Specified complexity」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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