The arguments against Intelligent Design are old and settled. The topic has been endlessly debated. This film doesn’t offer any new information. The most amusing response to I.D. is the 2006 letter from Bobby Henderson to the Kansas School Board. In this letter he explores the logical absurd conclusion that if there is a designer, there are many possible forms that intelligence might take, and he presents his sincerely held belief of what that form is. This letter sparked off a “religion” that is still active and growing.
The science in the film is solid. It doesn’t go off the rails until Intelligent Design is suggested. Esau “floods the zone” with history, cosmology, and astrophysics, replete with impressive scientific jargon that will be impenetrable to most viewers. While you are dazzled with detail, they assert that some vast mind (a designer, a supernatural entity, in fact, a deity) must have created the universe. The primary support for this notion being that the universe exists in a “Goldilocks” state, where it was fine tuned to support life in general, and humans in particular. This ignores the Anthropic Principle, which posits that we observe a “Goldilocks” universe—neither too hot nor too cold—because we could not exist otherwise to observe it. It wasn’t made for us, we evolved to it.
“…the cinematic quality is brilliant. No expense was spared …”
The argument that the “just right” conditions must have been fine tuned ignores the fact that the universe has existed for 14 billion years, which is sufficient time to cycle through vastly diverse arrangements of matter and energy, one of which we are. Ultimately The Story of Everything fails to present a comprehensive case that would sway a skeptic.
Regardless of where you land on the conclusions, The Story of Everything is a beautifully crafted film, clearly made with a substantial budget. The visuals are stunning, including animations of microscopic elements, DNA, planets, and out to the cosmos. The rest of the production quality is equally brilliant. No expense was spared. Many scientists and philosophers are presented, including Neil deGrasse Tyson and Richard Dawkins. Editing, soundtrack, organization of materials, and coherence of the argument are all outstanding and well thought out.
This film will appeal most to those who already believe there’s a cosmic designer, that being their Judeo-Christian deity, though the filmmakers go to great lengths to never spell that out specifically. Those who require evidence-based science will not be swayed. No minds will be changed either way. It is unclear, then, who the debate is aimed at, unless the goal is to provide a well funded, high-gloss reassurance to believers. They will find the validation in the conclusions of The Story of Everything immensely satisfying.
"…the production quality is brilliant"
