"Intelligent Design" is code for creationism, and I don't think anyone's kidding anyone about this.

I used to work with a really nice guy at 3M who was in the cubicle next to mine. He was a creationist, and we had many interesting debates. Like most people convinced of their position regardless of the data, he was immune to any reasoned arguments, but we had fun and his beliefs were no skin off my nose.

I have seen papers hundreds of pages long with detailed arguments "proving" that "intelligent design" was needed for our complex living systems to exist. Most of these were flawed by a severe misunderstanding of thermodynamics and the nature of matter, but the most basic flaw in "intelligent design" is the one usually pointed out by some kid who has not yet learned that logic is not appreciated in modern society.

"If God made everything, then who made God?"

Or to put it more precisely, if the intricate organization of matter or energy requires intelligent design, than the same rules must apply to God, who must, by definition, be a very complex organization indeed.

This usually gets the questioner smacked for being a wiseass, which is probably an improvement over the days when they were burned, but doesn't really address the question.

If the question is addressed, the usual response is, "Well, God was always there." This is pretty feeble as a logical argument, since it makes as much sense to claim that organic life in the universe was "always there" and just panspermed around the galaxies over the eons.

Assuming a science-fictional Arthur Clarke-type outlook that we are the result of more advanced civilizations ("gods") tinkering with our planet just backs the argument up one level. Where did THEY come from then? Maybe the big black magic slabs were "always there."