social issues: Intelligent (?) Design

Stumbled across this quote from Neal Stephenson's The Confusion (vol. 2 of the Baroque Cycle, an intriguing and aptly-named historical fiction trilogy of sorts):

"Monads and atoms are both infinitely small, yet everything is made out of them; and in considering how such a paradox is possible, we must look to the interactions among them. ... We're obliged to explain the things we see ... solely in terms of those interactions."

"Solely, Doctor?"

"Solely, your highness. For if God made the world according to understandable, consistent laws -- and if nothing else, Newton has proved that -- then it must be consistent through and through, top to bottom. If it is made of atoms, then it is made of atoms, and must be explained in terms of atoms; when we get into difficulty, we cannot simply wave our hands and say, 'At this point there is a miracle,' or 'Here I invoke a wholly new thing called Force which has nothing to do with atoms.'"

I am reminded, too, of the old maps that left uncharted areas labelled 'Here there be dragons.

Anyway. Submitted for your consideration.