Being as Communion

Bill Dembski is a mathematician and philosopher who is well known for his contributions to intelligent design theory. In this profound study, he provides a metaphysics of information to replace the metaphysics of matter with a more intelligible model. His treatment is detailed and analytical, covering a wide range of themes and a large context. Information implies the primacy of mind and the importance of communion as it passes between organisms. Information also implies a source in intelligence in the widest sense. As he puts it: 'to exist is to be in communion, and to be in communion is to exchange information' - hence the fundamental science 'is a theory of communication rather than an atomistic, reductionistic and mechanistic science of particles and other mindless entities.' This view also suggests a relational and holistic perspective, and while matter entails a bottom-up approach, information is top-down, emerging from a matrix of possibilities. Within this context, intelligent design is the study of patterns and the uncovering of real teleology, which is anathema to scientific materialism.

Philosophically, Dembski regards matter as an abstraction, and within his own view it becomes a medium for dynamic information. Materialism assumes both causal and informational closure, so that only material causes (and energies) can be admitted. He makes a good case for chance as a probabilistic by-product of intelligence rather than mere contingency. Materialists also have to regard consciousness, intelligence and beauty as epiphenomena of matter, and the author shows how hard it is to square the powers attributed to natural selection with the real evolution of information and complexity. For him, intelligence is a causal and creative power, while there is no creativity in natural selection. He criticises the Dawkins weasel algorithm as inherent in the intelligent programmer as the target is specified. This is consistent with his overall argument that intelligence is the ultimate source of information, and in his case that this corresponds to Christian theism. So we finish up with an informational realism where information is the primary stuff of reality and is relational. This view provides a wider and deeper context than scientific materialism. Intriguingly, the author finishes up with a golf analogy where, if God were playing, (S)he would still be subject to certain constraints in terms of rules, hence limiting supernatural powers. This is an important and satisfying philosophical statement promoting a coherent metaphysics of information rather than matter.