Dali’s Watchmaker

I can’t tell if this is supposed to be a joke so silly that it mirrors the silliness of the watchmaker argument, or if it’s commenting on the fact that if intelligent design really did have such a grand scheme, there wouldn’t be so much suffering.

The former is fine, and the latter makes me feel as if I’m reading into this too much. But either way, I smiled. 🙂

I thought it was finding a watch by the sea shore, not in a desert.

In any case, one fallacy I saw with the watch argument a while back is one is comparing the watch to several very ordinary rocks, sea shells, etc. — and saying since the watch is more complex than the ordinary rocks, sea shells etc. it was designed.

Now what do you compare The Universe to, or the rocks, etc. — Not sure what to call the fallacy but the analogy of comparing a rock to a watch doesn’t hold up.

One of the best retorts against the watchmaker argument is to let the theist draw it to the final conclusion, which is that their God made everything in the universe. Then, point out that if that’s true, then a rock lying in a field is just as much a designed object as a watch, so the original premise – that we can easily discern design or lack of design in objects – turns out to be false.

I think it’s both at the same time. You know, works on multiple levels?