Intelligent Design the Future

Survive. Reproduce. Repeat. Is that all we're here for? Some people make this claim, including noted evolutionary biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins. But does it match up with the scientific evidence? On this ID The Future, we're sharing selections from a recent talk by geologist Dr. Casey Luskin on the origin and uniqueness of human beings. You’d be hard-pressed to find another lecture that accomplishes what Casey does here in 30 minutes: review the fossil history of hominids and humans to show the large, unbridged gap between the two, bust the myth that humans are 99% genetically similar to chimps, demonstrate the plausibility of intelligent design to explain the Big Bang origin of the genus Homo, and argue that the human race is unique and unparalleled in its moral, intellectual, and creative abilities.

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We were saddened to learn of the recent loss of our friend and colleague Tom Gilson. You may have heard Tom occasionally hosting episodes of the podcast. And if you're a long-time listener, you've been listening to his work regularly. For several years, Tom sound engineered this podcast, taking raw audio files and producing a polished finished product. His reliable, professional work, coupled with his extensive knowledge of the arguments for intelligent design, made him an ideal candidate to work with. On this ID the Future from the archive, Tom offers honest advice to opponents of intelligent design on how to improve their persuasive strategy.

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On this ID The Future, enjoy the second half of an intimate conversation between philosopher of science and bestselling author Stephen Meyer and one of his dearest friends and longest-standing colleagues: Dr. David Berlinski. In Part 2, Berlinski discusses the books he has written, his career in teaching, and some of his memorable experiences critiquing the Darwinian paradigm. Don't miss the first half of the conversation, available in a separate episode. Learn more about Dr. Berlinski at davidberlinski.org.

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On this ID The Future, philosopher of science and bestselling author Stephen Meyer invites us to join him for an intimate conversation with one of his dearest friends and longest-standing colleagues: mathematician, writer, and thinker Dr. David Berlinski. The occasion for the exchange was a recent gathering of Discovery Institute supporters and colleagues in Cambridge, England. In Part 1, Berlinski shares the harrowing story of how his parents survived the Holocaust and immigrated to New York, how he learned mathematics, and when he began to take an interest in the mathematical challenges to Darwinian evolution.

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On today’s ID the Future from the archive, veteran radio host Michael Medved interviews biologist Michael Behe about Behe’s visually stunning YouTube series, Secrets of The Cell. Behe summarizes one of the key messages of the video series, namely that everything from the life-essential blood clotting system to a myriad of crucial protein structures in our bodies increasingly appear to be far beyond the reach of blind evolutionary mechanisms to build. Instead they appear to be the work of planning and purpose, which is the purview of mind. Learn more about Behe's series and the compelling evidence for intelligent design.

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At Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, we love connecting teachers and students with ID resources and encouraging them to follow the evidence wherever it leads. On today's ID The Future, you'll hear from a group of 10th grade biology students at a private school in North Carolina as they share their experience of learning about the evidence for intelligent design. Their teacher is a graduate of our CSC summer seminar program, where she learned in depth about the scientific evidence for intelligent design. Inspired to bring what she learned to her students, she used the Discovering Intelligent Design textbook with her 10th grade science class to offer a more complete and compelling biology course.

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Let's talk about your digits. No, not your phone number - your fingers and toes, those dangling things on the ends of our hands and feet! Ever wondered how they form during embryonic development? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes back Dr. Jonathan McLatchie to discuss the incredible process of apoptosis that shapes our fingers and toes, and why the operation is better explained by intelligent design than a stepwise evolutionary process.

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On today’s ID the Future out of the vault, Stairway to Life co-author Rob Stadler and host Eric Anderson delve deeper into Challenge to Origin of Life: Energy Harnessing, an episode of the Long Story Short intelligent design video series. Could the first cell have been much simpler than any current cell, making it easier for it to emerge through blind natural forces on the early Earth? Stadler and Anderson surface one big problem with that idea: in experiments to make relatively simple cells even simpler, the cells inevitably become less robust and adaptable. These simpler cells must be coddled to survive. But the first cell on earth would have been anything but coddled. Tune in to learn more!

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The urge to help people kill themselves has intensified in recent decades, even to the point of pushing the reluctant towards death. How did we reach this place? On this ID The Future, historian and author Dr. Richard Weikart joins veteran radio and podcast host Dr. Jerry Newcombe to discuss how the evolutionary ethic has undermined the value of human life, the topic of his latest book, Unnatural Death: Medicine’s Descent From Healing to Killing.

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How much do you know about intelligent design? How would you define the term? And are you prepared to defend intelligent design to friends, family, or associates who may be critical of the theory? On this episode of ID The Future, Dr. Casey Luskin brings to bear decades of experience as an attorney and ID theorist on the front lines of the evolution debate to give you the basics you’ll need to confidently discuss and defend intelligent design with others.

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On this ID The Future out of the vault, Origin-of-life specialist Rob Stadler joins host Eric Anderson to discuss a special problem facing all naturalistic origin-of-life scenarios: energy harnessing. To be viable, a cell must have sophisticated machinery, including ATP synthase, to turn raw energy into constructive energy. But how could prebiotic chemicals harness raw energy on the way to evolving into a viable self-reproducing cell without first having the sophisticated machinery to harness raw energy and convert it to useful work? Are the energy sources that have been proposed for chemical evolution realistic? Rob Stadler explains. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

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Zombies are make-believe, but zombie science is very real — and it threatens not just science but our whole culture. On this ID The Future, we’re sharing a conversation between Dr. Jonathan Wells and Hank Hanegraaf on the Hank Unplugged Podcast. This interview originally aired in 2018 shortly after Dr. Wells published Zombie Science, his highly anticipated follow-up to Icons of Evolution. With the recent passing of Dr. Wells, Hank and his team have re-released the interview with some words of tribute to this icon of the intelligent design movement. Enjoy this hour-long conversation as Dr. Wells unpacks more icons of evolution and explains how to defeat zombie science.

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In 2004, Smithsonian Institute scientist Dr. Richard Sternberg was cancelled for daring to publish a paper by Dr. Stephen Meyer supportive of intelligent design in a peer-reviewed journal. On this ID The Future, writer and teacher Daniel Witt joins us to reflect on the controversy. Witt explains the rhetorical strategies Darwinists have used to deride intelligent design. He also reports on an encouraging trend of scientists willing to stand up to the censors and bullies who get in the way of pursuing the evidence where it leads.

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On this ID the Future from the vault, philosopher of science Paul Nelson concludes his talk with host Andrew McDiarmid on what it takes to converse effectively with scientists who are trapped in a naturalistic framework — that is, researchers who draw their conclusions from naturalism’s authority rather than following the evidence wherever it leads. Nelson urges us to keep the third party in the conversation: nature herself. Dr. Nelson explains how.

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In June 1860, just seven months after Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, three men hotly debated the merits of Darwin's argument at a meeting of the British Association. Biologist Thomas Henry Huxley and botanist Joseph Hooker defended Darwin's theory. English bishop, speaker, and writer Samuel Wilberforce critiqued it. And though he was a man of the cloth, Wilberforce did not build a theological case against Darwin. Rather, he evaluated the argument for natural selection on scientific grounds, exposing its "loose statements and unfounded speculations" by weighing it "in the simple scales of logical examination." On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid treats you to excerpts from Wilberforce's powerful critique, published as a review a month after the debate in Quarterly Review.

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Imagine a large area with gentle rolling hills and valleys, or perhaps a rugged terrain complete with steep mountains and impassible gullies. Now imagine those scenes plotted out in a three-dimensional graph. What your picturing may look similar to the virtual fitness landscapes biologists generate to visualize the variation in population for some species. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes Dr. Brian Miller to discuss evolutionary fitness landscapes and how they bolster the conclusion of design in living things. Dr. Miller also discusses how fitness landscapes relate to the work of bio-engineer Stuart Burgess and to the arguments made by Dr. Stephen Meyer about epigenetic information at the heart of life.

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How often do we get to have a respectful conversation with someone who disagrees with us? On this ID the Future out of the archive, philosopher of biology Paul Nelson continues sharing with host Andrew McDiarmid about pursuing intelligent design theory in a science culture committed to naturalism. "In the bouncing of opinions off each other and the exchange of views," says Nelson, "truth should emerge." But how do you communicate with scientists and thinkers trapped in a framework of naturalism? Dr. Nelson explains.

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Rolex is well-known the world over for crafting high-quality, innovative time-pieces. But did you know they also award funds to people with innovative ideas in science and technology? On this ID The Future, Texan engineer, writer, and self-taught scientist Forrest M. Mims recounts his experience of winning a Rolex Award for Enterprise in 1993 for his innovative proposal to track the ozone layer through a worldwide ground-based network that utilized his own homemade ozone instruments. Mims discusses the work that led to the honor, the memorable trip to Switzerland to collect the award, and how the Rolex Award propelled his career in science.

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Dr. Stuart Burgess has been studying the arrangement, design, and shape of vertebrate limbs and joints for years. He shares what he learns with engineers working in the field of biomechanics. On this ID The Future, Dr. Burgess discusses his new paper on multi-functioning animal joints with host Dr. Brian Miller.

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Dr. Jonathan Wells was a true giant of the intelligent design research community. As we mourn his recent passing, we also celebrate anew his considerable contributions to the arguments for intelligent design and the debate over evolution. On this episode of ID The Future out of the vault, Dr. Wells continues a conversation with Tom Woodward on The Universe Next Door. Dr. Wells explains more of the icons of evolution he details in his popular book and why much of what we hear about evolution is wrong. Listen in as they discuss Darwin's finches, four-winged fruit flies, humans with tails, and more. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation.

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f the sun didn't power the photosynthesis of green plants, we wouldn't be breathing right now. And without the finely tuned properties of water, Earth would be a frozen, lifeless wasteland. Coincidence? Or is something else at work? On this episode of ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid continues his ongoing series with Dr. Jonathan McLatchie unpacking the many features of our planet and the cosmos that allow for advanced life like ours to exist. Here, the discussion turns to the life-friendly properties of sunlight and water.

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In his book Darwin’s Black Box, biochemist Michael Behe writes that in order to understand the barriers to evolution, we have to “bite the bullet of complexity.” On this episode of ID The Future, Dr. Jonathan McLatchie is back to help us do just that! In the latest installment of an ongoing series, Dr. McLatchie talks with host Andrew McDiarmid about the remarkable properties of carbon and other non-metal atoms.

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We were saddened to learn of the recent passing of Dr. Jonathan Wells, a true giant of the intelligent design research community. As we mourn his passing, we are also celebrating anew his considerable contributions to the argument for intelligent design and the debate over evolution. On this episode of ID the Future out of the vault, Dr. Wells begins a conversation on The Universe Next Door with Tom Woodward to talk about his popular book Icons of Evolution. This is Part 1 of a two-part interview.

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The culture of death wrongly interprets the term compassion to mean “to get rid of” rather than its true meaning, “to suffer with.” On this episode, host Eric Anderson welcomes hospice physician Dr. Howard Glicksman to the podcast to discuss physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia, the subjects of Dr. Richard Weikart's recent book Unnatural Death: Medicine's Descent From Healing to Killing.

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On this episode, we’re pleased to share a recent conversation between astronomer Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez and author and teacher Dr. Ken Boa on the Explorers Podcast. The topic is Dr. Gonzalez’s passion for astronomy and the wonders of the cosmos. Dr. Gonzalez explains how he developed a passion for astronomy at an early age and how it fueled his career. He also discusses his book The Privileged Planet and his recent young adult novel The Farm at the Center of the Universe.

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On this episode of ID the Future out of the vault, we bring you the last of three short interviews with MIT-trained physicist Dr. Lee Spetner. We were saddened to learn of the recent passing of Dr. Spetner at 91 years old, and we’re sharing these conversations in tribute to his significant contributions to the evolution debate. Host Ira Berkowitz interviews Dr. Spetner in Jerusalem. Together they explore key arguments from Spetner’s books Not by Chance and The Evolution Revolution. Here, Spetner challenges the idea of convergent evolution and explains his non-random evolutionary hypothesis. This is Part 3 of a three-part interview. Listen to Part 1 and Part 2. Dig Deeper

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On this episode of ID The Future, we’re bringing you the concluding half of a 2019 interview between Daily Wire host Ben Shapiro and philosopher of science Dr. Stephen C. Meyer. The conversation is now five years old, so it's a good time to dust it off and share it with those who may have missed it or forgotten about it. In Part 2, Shapiro and Meyer discuss the origin of life and the origin of information. They also touch on the evidence for fine-tuning in the universe and the problems with the multiverse. This is Part 2 of a two-part interview.

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On this ID The Future, we bring you the first half of Daily Wire host Ben Shapiro’s 2019 interview with philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer on The Ben Shapiro Sunday Special. This exchange happened five years ago now, and we thought it was a good time to put it out there again for those who may not have heard it yet or don’t remember it. Dr. Meyer considers this one of the best interviews he’s done on the subject of his second solo book Darwin’s Doubt. Shapiro was very well-prepared and asked great questions, resulting in a thought-provoking and thoroughly engaging hour-long conversation. We’ve got the first half of it for you today, followed by the concluding half in Read More ›

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On this episode of ID the Future from the vault, we bring you the second of three short interviews with MIT-trained physicist Dr. Lee Spetner. We were saddened to learn of the recent passing of Dr. Spetner at 91 years old, and we’re sharing these conversations in tribute to his significant contributions to the evolution debate. Host Ira Berkowitz interviews Dr. Spetner in Jerusalem. Together they explore key arguments from Spetner’s books Not by Chance and The Evolution Revolution. Here, Spetner takes on natural selection, discussing what it can and cannot do. He also explores aspects of population genetics and the constraints the Earth’s history imposes on evolving new species. This is Part 2 of a three-part interview. Listen to Read More ›

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Many of us have enjoyed a colorful twilight or a stunning sunset. But how often do we think about the science behind these memorable conditions? Forrest Mims has been measuring the Earth's atmosphere for more than 30 years. On this episode of ID The Future, Mims shares with us some of the secrets he's learned from his long-term research. Mims has forged a distinguished scientific career despite having no academic training in science. He is an instrument designer, science writer, and independent science consultant. Mims has published over 60 books, including his latest: Maverick Scientist: My Adventures as an Amateur Scientist.

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On this episode of ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid reads an exclusive excerpt from the newly revised, rewritten, and updated twentieth anniversary edition of The Privileged Planet. In 2004, astronomer Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez and author Dr. Jay Richards issued a daring hypothesis: that a pattern exists between the requirements for advanced life in the universe and the requirements for fruitful scientific discovery. They argued that this pattern was more conspiracy than coincidence. Now, twenty years later, a new edition of The Privileged Planet brings fresh analysis, new supporting evidence, and a completely revised text. In this episode, McDiarmid reads the Foreword to the 2024 Edition and the Introduction to the book.

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On this episode of ID the Future from the vault, we bring you the first of three short interviews with MIT-trained physicist Dr. Lee Spetner. We were saddened to learn of the recent passing of Dr. Spetner at 91 years old, and we're sharing these conversations in tribute to his significant contributions to the evolution debate. Host Ira Berkowitz interviews Dr. Spetner in Jerusalem. Together they explore key arguments from Spetner’s books Not by Chance and The Evolution Revolution.

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In 2004, Dr. Jay Richards and Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez published a bold hypothesis: not only is Planet Earth well-suited for advanced life like ourselves, it’s also finely tuned for scientific discovery. Materialists call it a cosmic coincidence, but the array of evidence Richards and Gonzalez marshal in support of their argument suggests otherwise. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid sits down with Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez to discuss his newly revised, rewritten, and updated twentieth anniversary edition of The Privileged Planet.

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In 2004, Dr. Jay Richards and Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez published a bold hypothesis: not only is Planet Earth well-suited for advanced life like ourselves, it's also finely tuned for scientific discovery. Materialists put this down to cosmic coincidence, but the array of evidence Richards and Gonzalez marshal in support of their argument suggests otherwise. On this episode of ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid speaks with Dr. Jay Richards about his work on a revised, rewritten, and updated 20th anniversary edition of The Privileged Planet.

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On this ID the Future episode out of the vault, science historian Michael Flannery concludes his conversation with host Michael Keas about his book Intelligent Evolution: How Alfred Russel Wallace’s World of Life Challenged Darwin. Wallace was co-founder with Charles Darwin of the theory of evolution by random variation and natural selection. Unlike Darwin, however, he saw teleology or purpose as essential to life’s history, and a teleological view as essential to the life sciences. According to Flannery, Wallace’s views on the nature of the cell, the special attributes of humans, the irreducible nature of life, and the fine tuning of the universe hold up well today. He and Darwin disagreed on much of this, yet they maintained a mutual Read More ›

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In 1936, Albert Einstein wrote that "the fact that [the world] is comprehensible is a miracle." But why is the universe comprehensible to us? And is it an evolutionary fluke or a hallmark of design? On this episode of ID The Future, we’re sharing a recent conversation between Dr. Jonathan Witt and author and teacher Dr. Ken Boa. The topic is Dr. Witt's book A Meaningful World: How the Arts and Sciences Reveal the Genius of Nature. In this discussion, Dr. Witt and Dr. Boa discuss the meaning and purpose inherent in our comprehensible universe, with examples from mathematics, literature, architecture, and more.

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For 25 years, Dr. John D. Wise considered Darwinian evolution the most plausible explanation for life's origin and development. But as he studied the latest evidence in molecular biology, genetics, astronomy, and other fields, he began to realize that modern science was confirming many of the predictions and arguments of intelligent design. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid talks with professor and author Dr. John D. Wise about his surprising journey from atheism to Christianity.

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On this episode of ID the Future out of the vault, science historian and host Michael Keas talks with fellow science historian Michael Flannery about his book Intelligent Evolution: How Alfred Russell Wallace’s World of Life Challenged Darwin. Flannery tells of Darwin’s involvement in the Plinian Society, a “freethinkers” group at Edinburgh University in Scotland where he studied medicine as a teenager. It was there that he first encountered radical philosophical materialism, the worldview that laid the philosophical foundation for his work in evolution. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

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On this episode of ID The Future, we’re sharing the second half of an interview between philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer and author and radio/podcast host Justin Brierley. The interview delves into the main arguments of Dr. Meyer’s most recent book Return of the God Hypothesis, but it also serves as an update on the status of intelligent design and the growing interest in design arguments in both academia and the public square. In part 2, Meyer refutes the multiverse hypothesis and explains why naturalistic theories of the origin of life fall short. We are grateful to Justin Brierley for permission to share this interview on ID The Future. Catch more of Brierley's interviews at justinbrierley.com.

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On this episode of ID The Future, we’re sharing the first half of an interview between philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer and author and radio/podcast host Justin Brierley. The interview delves into the main arguments of Dr. Meyer’s most recent book Return of the God Hypothesis, but it also serves as an update on the status of intelligent design and the growing interest in design arguments in both academia and the public square. In Part 1, Meyer and Brierley discuss the current status of intelligent design. They also jump into some of the discoveries Meyer lays out in his book. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 next!

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On today’s ID The Future out of the vault, host Robert Crowther welcomes philosopher of science Paul Nelson to explore an intriguing tension in the thinking of famous scientist and science popularizer Carl Sagan. Though Sagan was a committed Darwinist and agnostic, he embraced certain ideas consistent with the theory of intelligent design. Could Sagan's methods for detecting extra-terrestrial intelligence be used to make design inferences in the natural world? Listen in as Dr. Nelson discusses this intriguing idea.

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A confluence of conditions conspired to bring metals to Earth and make them accessible to humans. Can a Darwinian process take the credit? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid concludes a two-part conversation with Dr. Eric Hedin, professor emeritus of physics and astronomy at Ball State University in Indiana. Dr. Hedin describes the conditions within ourselves and the conditions within our environment that were finely tuned to allow for our successful utilization of metals. He also speaks to what our use of metals reveals about the moral character of human nature, and why metals remain vital to us today. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Don't miss Part 1!

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Humans have successfully utilized metals for millennia, and trace amounts of metals are crucial to our survival. Is that coincidence or something more? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid begins a two-part conversation with Dr. Eric Hedin, professor emeritus of physics and astronomy at Ball State University in Indiana. Dr. Hedin tells the fascinating story of the origin of metals, the finely tuned set of conditions that allow for our use of metals, and the crucial role metals play in our survival. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 next!

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On this ID the Future out of the vault, host Andrew McDiarmid sits down with historian and philosopher of science Michael Keas to discuss a recent article at Times Higher Education, “My Precious! How Academia’s Gollums Guard Their Research Fields.” The article looks at how scientific progress is being impeded by a culture in which scientists jealously guard their research instead of sharing it. Keas says the problem seems to have gotten worse in recent years but isn’t a new one. He illustrates with the story of Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler.

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On this episode, Dr. Richard Weikart reads selections from his new book Unnatural Death: Medicine’s Descent From Healing to Killing. Dr. Weikart is Emeritus Professor of History at California State University Stanislaus and a Senior Fellow with the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture. He is author of From Darwin to Hitler, Hitler’s Ethic, Hitler’s Religion and The Death of Humanity. Dr. Weikart begins with a portion from the book’s Introduction, which sets the stage and defines some key terms used in the book. Weikart concludes with an excerpt from Chapter 3: Euthanasia Meets Eugenics, where he gets into the influence of Darwinism on eugenics ideology and how it shaped attitudes toward euthanasia and assisted suicide in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

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If we believe there is no qualitative distinction between animals and humans, are we more likely to protect human life or devalue it? On this episode of ID The Future, host Eric Anderson talks to historian Dr. Richard Weikart about his latest book, Unnatural Death: Medicine's Descent From Healing to Killing, now available from Discovery Institute Press. The book is a wide-ranging history of euthanasia and assisted suicide from Ancient Greece to today. How did we get to the point we are at today, and how do we turn the tide to promote the sanctity of human life? Tune in to find out.

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On this episode of ID the Future out of our vault, biophysicist Kirk Durston completes a three-part series on three categories of science: experimental, inferential, and fantasy science. Fantasy science makes inferential leaps so huge that virtually none of it is testable, either by the standards of experimental science or by those of the historical sciences, which reason to the best explanation by process of elimination. This is Part 3 of a three-part interview.

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Materialist philosopher Bertrand Russell once wrote that "only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair, can the soul’s habitation…be safely built.” But is this worldview of scientific materialism in line with what science has revealed to us in the last century? On this episode of ID The Future, we’re pleased to share a recent conversation between Dr. Melissa Cain Travis and author and teacher Dr. Ken Boa on the Explorers Podcast. The topic is beauty, harmony, and truth in the sciences. We are grateful to the producers of the Explorers Podcast for permission to re-broadcast this conversation.

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On this episode, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes astrophysicist Guillermo Gonzalez back to the program to read and discuss his poem "Totality: A Celestial Theater," written to commemorate the total solar eclipse that occurred in April 2024. You may already be familiar with Gonzalez's popular book The Privileged Planet, co-authored with Dr. Jay Richards, unpacking the arguments for our privileged place in the cosmos. You might also have heard about his new young adult novel The Farm at the Center of the Universe, co-written with Dr. Jonathan Witt. But you likely didn't know this accomplished scientist and author is also a poet! Listen as Gonzalez discusses and then reads his poem aloud.

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On this episode of ID the Future from the archive, host Andrew McDiarmid continues a three-part conversation with biophysicist and philosopher Kirk Durston. The topic is Durston’s article series unpacking three types of science: (1) experimental science, (2) inferential science, and (3) fantasy science. In this second of three episodes, Durston recaps the three types but focuses on inferential science. He explains how it involves, in the historical sciences, abductive reasoning, which is making an inference to the best explanation. He also explains how such reasoning, rooted in observation, can be used effectively as we consider the best explanation for the origin of biological information. This is Part 2 of a three-part conversation. Listen to Part 1. Look for Part Read More ›

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Can artificial intelligence be applied to the scientific theory of Darwinian evolution to help us evaluate its strengths and weaknesses? On this episode of ID The Future, host Casey Luskin concludes his conversation with two distinguished PhD scientists who are asking tough questions of Neo-Darwinism: Olen Brown, Professor Emeritus of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Missouri, and David Hullender, Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Texas, Arlington. In Part 2, Luskin discusses the latest paper from Brown and Hullender arguing that AI has strong but unrealized potential both for assessing and also solving major problems with the prevailing naturalistic account of life's origins. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation.

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If there's anything left to salvage from the Neo-Darwinian theory of life's origins, it must first be rescued from dogma. On this episode of ID The Future, host Casey Luskin begins a conversation with two distinguished PhD scientists who are asking tough questions of Neo-Darwinism: Olen Brown, Professor Emeritus of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Missouri, and David Hullender, Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Texas, Arlington. Luskin unpacks three recent scientific papers written by Brown and Hullender warning that Neo-Darwinism must be updated if it has any hope of surviving as a theory. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

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On this episode of ID the Future out of the vault, host Andrew McDiarmid begins a three-part conversation with biophysicist and philosopher Kirk Durston. The pair discuss Durston's article series about three types of science — (1) experimental science, which is generally very trustworthy, with some exceptions; (2) inferential science, which can be trustworthy but often takes huge leaps into the doubtable and dodgy; and (3) fantasy science, which is essentially science fiction masquerading as actual science. This is Part 1 of 3. Look for Parts 2 and 3 the next two Fridays!

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Are we to credit an unguided evolutionary process for the gift of sleeping and waking? Or are these intricate systems further evidence of design? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid concludes his conversation with Dr. Eric Hedin on the intelligent design of sleep. In Part 2, the pair dig deeper into the purpose of sleep and why it’s so essential to living organisms. They also look at why it’s unlikely that a gradual Darwinian process can be credited for the origin of sleeping and waking, and why intelligent design is a better explanation. This is Part 2 of a two-part discussion.

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We’re asleep an average of about 26 years of our life! Most people have a sense that sleep is important, but many of us aren't sure exactly why. Why is sleep so crucial to survival? And how did the processes of sleep emerge in living things? Could a gradual Darwinian process be responsible, or are the systems involved another instance of intelligent design? On this episode, host Andrew McDiarmid begins a conversation with Dr. Eric Hedin about the origin and intelligent design of sleep. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 next!

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On this ID the Future from the archive, intelligent design pioneer William Dembski unpacks one of his chapters in The Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith: Exploring the Ultimate Questions about Life and the Cosmos, which Dembski co-edited with Joseph Holden and episode host Casey Luskin. Dembski discusses why intelligent design better explains the latest scientific evidence better than blind material processes can. He also talks about ID's cultural implications.

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Five years ago, Yale University professor of computer science David Gelernter wrote that he was bidding farewell to neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory. Why would he take such a bold step? What convinced him that the neo-Darwinian paradigm no longer satisfied the scientific evidence? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid marks the fifth anniversary of Gelernter's important essay by reading it aloud in full. If you’ve read the essay, this will likely be a good refresher on Gelernter’s arguments. If you haven’t read it yet, by all means enjoy!

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The biochemical revolution of the last century has revealed powerful evidence of design in living things. Now, scientists are beginning to realize the benefits of studying designed systems through an engineering lens. On today's episode, Dr. Emily Reeves discusses the intersection of biology and engineering with Fred Williams and Doug McBurney, hosts of the Real Science Radio podcast. In this 45-minute chat, Dr. Reeves explains the importance of using engineering principles to understand biological systems. This interview originally aired on Real Science Radio.

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On today’s ID the Future out of the vault, radio host Michael Medved sits down with bestselling science author Stephen Meyer to discuss the Marvel movie Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Medved isn’t wild about the film, but he uses it as a springboard to dive into what he calls “the madness of the multiverse”—namely, the proposals in physics and cosmology for the idea that our universe is just one of many universes. Meyer explains some of the early motivations among twentieth-century physicists and cosmologists for proposing such an exotic theory. Then he turns to what he says is the main driver for interest in the multiverse in our day—a desire to explain away something that is deeply puzzling on the grounds of atheism: that the laws and constants of physics and chemistry are exquisitely fine tuned for life.

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Ready to dip a toe in the ocean of biological ingenuity? Dr. Jonathan McLatchie is back, this time to discuss with host Andrew McDiarmid the engineering elegance and irreducible complexity of the process of bacterial cell division. You may wonder why we should care about something so minuscule as bacterial cells. After all, something so insignificant and unseen has little bearing on our daily lives. But if we've learned anything in the biological revolution of the 20th century, it's that consequential things often come in very small packages. And if even the simplest forms of life exhibit stunning complexity and engineering prowess, all the more do we! And that complexity and design demands an adequate explanation. Here, McLatchie describes the remarkable process of cell wall breakage and re-synthesis that allows cell division to take place and explains why it's a big problem for Darwinian evolution.

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Vitalism is the age-old idea that living things possess a vital force – some fundamental element that generally does not exist in non-life. As a Darwinian paradigm took hold of the natural sciences in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, vitalism fell out of favor. But as writer and teacher Daniel Witt reports, a willingness to flirt with vitalism seems to be growing in certain scientific circles.

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On this episode of ID the Future from the vault, biochemist and author Michael Denton and host Eric Anderson conclude their conversation about Denton's book The Miracle of the Cell, and about his epiphany of the many remarkable ways that nature’s chemistry is fine-tuned for life. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation.

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Do living things evolve right before our eyes? Perhaps the most common evidence put forward to support evolutionary theory is the observation that organisms can adapt. But is this adaptability really a hallmark of a gradual Darwinian process? Or is it evidence of intelligent design? On this ID The Future, host Eric Anderson speaks with Dr. Emily Reeves about the adaptability of the humble guppy fish, a new icon of evolution heralded by biologists as proof positive of Darwinian evolutionary processes at work. In this episode, Dr. Reeves uses guppies to discuss why the adaptability of organisms is actually powerful evidence of design. She also explains how biologists can improve their abilities as scientists by learning more about engineering.

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If you enjoy the work of Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, including our books, videos, articles, and research, you may wonder how you can get involved. Options include signing up for our weekly newsletter Nota Bene, joining the Discovery Society, and attending our events. But in the last few years, a new way to promote intelligent design at the local level has been, well, growing. It’s called Roots. On this ID The Future, Daniel Reeves, our Director of Education and Outreach, introduces us to this network of grassroots supporters promoting intelligent design in their local communities.

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On this episode of ID the Future from the archive, host Eric Anderson begins a conversation with biochemist Michael Denton about Denton’s 2020 book The Miracle of the Cell, part of his continuing Privileged Species series exploring nature’s fine tuning for life. New research keeps unveiling ever more ways in which this fine tuning exists, from the cosmos to the atoms of the periodic table, and even to the subatomic level of quantum tunneling. Says Denton: "The miracle of the cell completes the overall fitness paradigm that unites galaxies with atoms in a vast web of fitness for life." This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

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Are we common or rare? You can be on either side of the question and still be excited about the search for habitable planets capable of harboring life. On this episode of ID the Future, host and amateur astronomer Eric Anderson concludes his two-part conversation with Bijan Nemati, professional astronomer and expert on exoplanet search technology, to review the history of exoplanet research and share key details about upcoming NASA missions. Nemati is currently one of the lead scientists for the coronagraph instrument on the Roman Space Telescope, slated to launch within the next few years, and is also closely involved in early planning for the next-generation Habitable Worlds Observatory, which will be focused specifically on identifying signs of life on a small selection of exoplanets. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Don't miss Part 1!

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One of the most exciting areas of space research is the search for Earth-like planets around other stars. Since the first discovery some 30 years ago, thousands of exoplanets have been identified and catalogued, but the vast majority bear little resemblance to Earth and would not be conducive to even simple life, much less large organisms such as ourselves. However, during the same 30 years, planet-hunting technology has also vastly improved. Where do things stand today, and what can we expect over the next decade as the hunt continues? On this episode of ID the Future, host and amateur astronomer Eric Anderson begins a two-part conversation with Bijan Nemati, professional astronomer and expert on exoplanet search technology, to review the history of exoplanet research and upcoming NASA missions. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 next!

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On today’s ID the Future from the vault, distinguished British physician and author David Galloway explains why he’s convinced that the human fetal circulatory system is irreducibly complex and therefore beyond the reach of a blind gradualistic evolutionary process. In this second half of his conversation with host and fellow physician Geoffrey Simmons, Galloway also mentions some molecular machines that he’s convinced are irreducibly complex and point decisively to intelligent design. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation.

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For decades we were told that non-coding regions of our DNA are littered with evolutionary junk. But in recent years, numerous discoveries have revealed that function is the rule, not the exception, in the genome. On this episode of ID The Future, Casey Luskin reflects with host Jonathan McLatchie about his recent debate over junk DNA with Rutgers University evolutionary biology professor Dr. Daniel Stern Cardinale, known as Dr. Dan online. Luskin breaks down the main points he made in his debate as well as Dr. Dan's responses. He and McLatchie conclude with a reminder of why intelligent design is a far superior approach to studying the genome than an evolutionary approach.

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Does a scientific worldview require atheism? Or are scientific discoveries of the last century pointing back to a God hypothesis? On this ID The Future, Piers Morgan sits down with "one of the most controversial philosophical minds on the planet," Dr. Stephen Meyer, for a lively and wide-ranging discussion about the scientific arguments for intelligent design and the problems with atheism. We are grateful to the producers of Piers Morgan Uncensored for permission to re-post this interview on ID The Future.

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Today’s ID the Future from the archive brings onto the show Scottish physician David Galloway, author of the 2021 book Design Detected and former president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. In his conversation with guest host and fellow physician/author Geoffrey Simmons, Galloway describes how he found himself in the evolution/design controversy and eventually presented his doubts about Darwin to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 next week!

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On this ID The Future marking the anniversary of President Ronald Reagan's death, we're delighted to share Discovery Institute Vice President Dr. John West's recent conversation with radio host Michael Medved discussing Reagan’s deeply personal argument for intelligent design. During remarks given at a National Prayer Breakfast event in 1988, Reagan shared his argument for intelligent design in unscripted, humorous fashion. But as Dr. West explains, Reagan’s commitment to intelligent design went much deeper than a few off-the-cuff laugh lines. Reagan fought against atheism and materialism in his diplomacy as president and even in his role as a father.

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On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes comedian and author Evan Sayet to the podcast to discuss the failure of the atheist origin myth, his journey from liberalism to conservatism, and the role of humor in the scientific debate. His latest book, Magic Soup, Typing Monkeys, and Horny Aliens From Outer Space, takes a cuttingly humorous approach to dismantling the origin myths promoted by atheists to explain away the evidence for design in life and the universe. Philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer calls Sayet's book “a rambunctious romp...With his trademark humor, Sayet exposes the absurdities of the materialist superstition of our age.” Come for the laughs, stay for the serious scientific discussion!

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On this episode of ID the Future from the archive, host Andrew McDiarmid continues his conversation with Robert Waltzer, chair of the department of biology at Belhaven University and co-author of Evolution and Intelligent Design in a Nutshell, on three big problems faced by naturalistic evolutionary theory. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Find more episodes at www.idthefuture.com!

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On this ID The Future, host Eric Anderson and Dr. Casey Luskin unpack the myth of junk DNA and how it has hindered the progress of science.

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Is there evidence of purpose in the universe? Or is life just a collection of accidental processes that did not have us in mind? On a weekend visit to his grandparents' farm, Isaac is caught between two very different worldviews. He must choose for himself which makes the most sense. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid reads an excerpt from The Farm at the Center of the Universe, a new young adult novel from astrobiologist Guillermo Gonzalez and author Jonathan Witt.

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On this episode of ID the Future from the vault, biologist and professor Robert Waltzer talks with host Andrew McDiarmid about Waltzer’s chapter in the Discovery Institute Press volume Evolution and Intelligent Design that clarifies some key terms in the evolution/ID conversation.

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There's a wealth of books covering the arguments for intelligent design, and yet one type of book has so far been missing - a young adult novel. That changes with the release of The Farm at the Center of the Universe, a new teen novel from astrobiologist Guillermo Gonzalez and author Jonathan Witt, now available from Discovery Institute Press. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid sits down with Gonzalez and Witt to discuss how the book came about and what readers can hope to gain from it.

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International interest in intelligent design is growing. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes back Dr. Brian Miller, this time to discuss his recent participation at a conference on science and faith in Guadalajara and to explain how intelligent design is making inroads internationally.

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Today’s ID the Future from the vault dives into the controversial realm of artificial intelligence (AI). Will robots or other computers ever become so fast and powerful that they become conscious, creative, and free? Will AI reach a point where it leaves humans in the dust? To shed light on these and other questions, host Casey Luskin interviews computer engineering professor Robert J. Marks, head of the Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence.

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The Big Bang theory changed how we understand our universe. But who do we have to thank for it? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid concludes his conversation with esteemed cosmologist Jean-Pierre Luminet, who sets the record straight on the real heroes of the Big Bang Theory with his new book The Big Bang Revolutionaries, available now from Discovery Institute Press. In Part 2, Dr. Luminet sheds more light on chief architect George Lemaitre, as well as Alexander Friedmann and George Gamow. He also discusses how the Big Bang model stands up to scrutiny today. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation.

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The discovery that the universe had a beginning was one of the most remarkable achievements of 20th century science, sparking a cosmological paradigm shift and a radical new way to understand our world. But the three scientists most responsible for the big bang revolution are largely unknown to the public and underestimated by other scientists in their field. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid begins a conversation with esteemed cosmologist Jean-Pierre Luminet, who sets the record straight on the real heroes of the Big Bang Theory with his new book The Big Bang Revolutionaries, available now from Discovery Institute Press. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 next!

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On a classic episode of ID the Future from the vault, host Dr. John West continues his conversation with Dr. Bill Dembski as they discuss Dr. Dembski's 2014 book Being as Communion: A Metaphysics of Information. Listen in as Dr. Dembski explains 3 central points at the heart of his book: the Tang problem, the problem of no, and transposition. Tang?! What does a breakfast drink have to do with information theory? Tune in to find out!

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It's one of the rock stars of intelligent design. ID theorists make a fuss over it and rightly so. But even non-ID scientists admit to getting an "awe-inspiring feeling" from the "divine beauty" of the humble bacterial flagellar motor. And why not? It's a marvel of engineering that originated long before human engineering existed. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid asks Dr. Jonathan McLatchie to remind us why this tiny nano-machine is such a big deal.

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What do you get when you combine the fundamentals of chemistry with intelligent design concepts, taught by an experienced, enthusiastic instructor in an innovative online learning environment? You get Discovery Institute Academy's High School Chemistry, a two-semester, virtual, synchronous, and lab-based course which integrates the fundamentals of chemistry with intelligent design concepts topics where applicable. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid catches up with course instructor Kristen Marais to discuss the successes of the first year and what makes the class unique.

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If information, not matter, is the basic stuff of reality, how would this change the way we look at the world? On a classic episode of ID the Future from the vault, Center for Science and Culture Managing Director John West sits down with mathematician and philosopher Dr. Bill Dembski to discuss his 2014 book Being as Communion: A Metaphysics of Information. Building on his previous books making a case for intelligent design, Being as Communion presents a metaphysical framework for an informational world that can accommodate intelligent design. In Part 1, Dembski defines information and explains why it's more important than matter.

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On this ID The Future, we're pleased to bring you a longer-form conversation between philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer and Rice University chemist and professor Dr. James Tour about Sir Isaac Newton and his influence on modern science. Dr. Meyer explains why the scientific revolution occurred when and where it did. He also describes Newton's singular contributions to science and his lasting legacy. This interview originally aired on The Science and Faith Podcast. We are grateful to Dr. Tour for permission to share it.

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While the West reeled from America's stock market crash of 1929, another crisis was brewing in the field of cosmology. One of the most ambitious scientific theories in history--that the universe had a beginning--was beginning to take shape, ushering in a new cosmological paradigm. But the real heroes of the Big Bang revolution have been largely forgotten. A new book from Discovery Institute Press amends the record and tells the remarkable story. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid reads an excerpt from The Big Bang Revolutionaries, by distinguished astrophysicist Jean-Pierre Luminet.

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On this ID the Future from the archive, Baylor University computer engineering professor Robert J. Marks hosts Ola Hössjer of Stockholm University and Daniel Díaz of the University of Miami to discuss a recent research paper the three contributed to the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, “Is Cosmological Tuning Fine or Coarse?" Although it's no easy question to answer rigorously, the paper sheds new light on just how finely tuned our universe--and our existence--actually is. In this conversation, Marks, Hössjer, and Díaz unpack the long answer.

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Classifying organisms is an important function of biology. But if phylogenetics is ultimately based on a floundering theory of origins, how helpful is it to our understanding of living things? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid and paleoentemologist Gunter Bechly unpack some of the major problems with arachnid phylogeny and its implications for the common descent hypothesis.

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A Washington Post headline recently declared that a "monumental experiment suggests how life on earth may have started." The reality, however, is far more sobering. In this episode of ID the Future, host Eric Anderson sits down with accomplished medical engineer and origin of life author, Robert Stadler, to discuss what this new research actually shows and the relevance to abiogenesis. More episodes and show notes at idthefuture.com.

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On this classic episode of ID the Future from the vault, we spotlight the book Animal Algorithms: Evolution and the Mysterious Origin of Ingenious Instincts. The author, Eric Cassell, joins host and Baylor computer engineering professor Robert J. Marks to discuss the groundbreaking book and, in particular, the chapters on some of the animal kingdom’s most stunning navigators—the arctic tern, homing pigeons, the monarch butterfly, and the desert ant, among others. Enjoy more episodes and find show notes at idthefuture.com!

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You may already know about the mounting evidence from physics, chemistry, biology, and related fields that suggests our universe was designed for large multi-cellular beings like ourselves. But did you know there is also evidence that Earth is uniquely fit for human technology? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid speaks with physicist Dr. Brian Miller about the convergence of design parameters that come together to pave the way for human technological advancement. Get show notes and more episodes at idthefuture.com!

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Scientific censorship is on the rise. Governments are colluding with Big Tech to suppress unfavorable ideas. De-platforming and dismissal campaigns are all the rage. How do we prevent our society from slouching towards totalitarianism? On this ID The Future, host Casey Luskin welcomes science writer and journalist Denyse O'Leary to discuss today's forms of censorship, how it affects the intelligent design community, and most importantly, what we can do about it.

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On this ID The Future episode from the vault, neurosurgeon Michael Egnor interviews Bernardo Kastrup, a philosopher with a background in computer engineering, about consciousness, evolution, and intelligent design. Did consciousness evolve? What does the evidence suggest? And how do materialists deal with the seemingly immaterial reality that is consciousness? Enjoy this guest episode from Mind Matters, a podcast of Discovery Institute’s Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence. Listen to more episodes at www.mindmatters.ai and idthefuture.com.

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Scout or soldier? When it comes to our opinions and beliefs, there's a bit of both in all of us. But which mindset is more beneficial? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes Dr. Jonathan McLatchie to discuss the characteristics of a scout mindset and how it relates to the debate over evolution and the evidence for intelligent design. Get full show notes at idthefuture.com.

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On this ID The Future, we're pleased to share a new discussion between Dr. James Tour and Dr. Stephen Meyer about recent critiques of origin of life research published in the prestigious science journal Nature. The interview originally aired on The Science and Faith Podcast, hosted by Dr. Tour. We are grateful to Dr. Tour for permission to share this interview on ID The Future.

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Prevailing scientific assumptions often die hard, especially when they fit so neatly into an evolutionary view of the development of life on earth. On this episode of ID The Future from the archive, Dr. Casey Luskin gives host Andrew McDiarmid the scoop on one of the biggest mistakes in science of our lifetime: the concept of "junk DNA." Even if you’ve already heard this episode, listen again, and then share it with a friend! The myth of junk DNA is a major example of why a Darwinian paradigm can slow the progress of science, while a design perspective can open up new avenues for research and discovery. Find additional show notes at idthefuture.com.

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Curiosity can lead to unexpected adventures. For self-taught scientist Forrest Mims, it inspired a successful career in science and technology. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid reads an exclusive excerpt from Mims’s new memoir Maverick Scientist: My Adventures as an Amateur Scientist. Also: don't miss our two-part interview with Forrest Mims about his memoir!

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Did Christianity help or hinder the rise of science? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid speaks with Dr. Melissa Cain Travis about her latest online course Science & Christianity: An Historical Exploration. The live 6-week course offered this spring gives a small cohort of students the opportunity to dive into the historical relationship between science and Christianity and the skill to address the distorted historical narratives that persist in the contemporary conversation.

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On this episode of ID the Future from the archive, host Jay Richards speaks with James Barham about his carefully revised edition of 18th century Scottish Enlightenment philosopher Thomas Reid's lectures on natural theology.

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Can a successful scientist be self-taught? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid concludes his conversation with Forrest M. Mims about his new memoir Maverick Scientist: My Adventures as an Amateur Scientist. Without a college science degree, Mims taught himself the fundamentals of engineering and atmospheric science that fueled an impressive career in science and technology. Listen as he shares more stories from an inspiring career! This interview is also available in video form. See the Discovery Science YouTube channel for links.

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What does it take to be a scientist? For Forrest Mims, the answer is simple: you just have to do science. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid begins a two-part conversation with a man who has forged an impressive scientific career on curiosity, determination, and a lot of hard work. In the first of a two-part interview, Mims discusses his coming of age in the silicon era, sharing some of his many exploits as a young inventor and amateur scientist. Mims's new memoir Maverick Scientist is now available. More at idthefuture.com.

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On this ID the Future from the vault, host Eric Anderson interviews biochemist Michael Behe about his book A Mousetrap for Darwin. Behe answers misconceptions about irreducible complexity, responds to the claim that "molecular machines" is a misnomer, and relates surprising confessions he's heard from fellow biologists about evolutionary theory.

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Does the panda's thumb refute intelligent design? Or is it one of the most extraordinary manipulation systems in the mammalian world, as one respected study has found? On this ID The Future, host Casey Luskin speaks with philosopher Dr. Stephen Dilley about his recent paper evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the iconic panda's thumb argument for evolution.

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It's not just intelligent design theorists who are calling for a major rethink of biology and origin-of-life research. On this ID The Future, Casey Luskin speaks to host Andrew McDiarmid about two recent articles in the prestigious journal Nature that review major problems with current theories on the origin of life and the source of genetic complexity in living things. Dig deeper with more resources at idthefuture.com.

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On today’s ID the Future from the vault, host Casey Luskin sits down with Dominic Halsmer, a Senior Professor of Engineering at Oral Roberts University, to discuss Halsmer’s book Hacking the Cosmos: How Reverse Engineering Uncovers Organization, Ingenuity, and the Care of a Maker. They pair discuss the engineering concept known as affordance, reverse engineering of biological systems, and biomimicry.

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Is modern science a search for truth or a search for power? How can we restore public trust in the scientific enterprise? On this ID The Future, we're delighted to share a recent conversation between bioethicist Wesley J. Smith and philosopher of science Dr. Stephen C. Meyer. In an exchange that lasts just over an hour, Smith and Meyer touch on a variety of topics relevant to the public’s view of the scientific enterprise. This interview originally aired on the Humanize podcast.

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To understand the limitations of evolutionary mechanisms, we have to "bite the bullet of complexity," as biochemist Michael Behe writes. And to appreciate complexity, we have to experience it. On this ID The Future, Dr. Jonathan McLatchie takes us on a deep dive into the structure and biochemistry of muscles to gain a better understanding of their incredible design properties.

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On this episode of ID the Future from the archive, host Emily Kurlinski interviews a PhD biochemistry student who tells about her experiences at the annual Center for Science and Culture summer seminar program in Seattle, and how her relationships there developed into a community of friendship, professional connection, and support, inspiring her to choose research as her own career path.

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On this ID The Future, philosopher Stephen Dilley speaks with scientist and attorney Casey Luskin about theologian Dr. Rope Kojonen's recent proposal on the compatibility of evolution and intelligent design. In previous episodes of this series, Dr. Luskin interviewed colleagues Brian Miller, Emily Reeves, and Stephen Dilley about their contributions to a recent paper critiquing Kojonen's model. Now, Luskin concludes the series with some additional insights of his own. This is the final episode in a series. For more, visit idthefuture.com.

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Can intelligent design and evolution work together? It's an intriguing idea that is welcomed by some, but does the scientific evidence support it? On this ID The Future, host Casey Luskin speaks with Dr. Emily Reeves to discuss her contribution to a recent paper critiquing theologian Dr. Rope Kojonen's proposal that mainstream evolutionary biology and intelligent design have worked in harmony to produce the diversity of life we see on earth. This is part of a series of interviews on this topic. Dig deeper with more resources and episodes at idthefuture.com.

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Would our world be a better place if scientists were in charge? On this ID the Future from the archive, author and philosopher Jay Richards hosts bioethicist Wesley J. Smith to discuss a tweet from Physics-Astronomy.org. The tweet read, “Imagine a world ruled by scientists, not politicians.” The pair discuss the consequences of such a form of governance, using the response to the coronavirus pandemic as a case in point.

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Was the universe designed to evolve through natural processes? In a recent book, theologian Dr. Rope Kojonen has argued that evolutionary mechanisms work in harmony with intelligent design to produce the diversity of life we see on earth. But can these fundamentally different processes really work together? On this ID The Future, host Casey Luskin speaks with physicist Dr. Brian Miller to explore why Kojonen's theory fails on scientific grounds. This interview is part of a series responding to Kojonen's proposal. Catch other episodes in the series at idthefuture.com or through your favorite podcasting app.

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Can evolution and intelligent design work together in harmony? Or is that wishful thinking? On this ID The Future, host Casey Luskin concludes his conversation with philosopher Dr. Stephen Dilley about a recent proposal to marry mainstream evolutionary theory with a case for intelligent design. Dr. Dilley outlines the scientific problems with Kojonen's proposal and explains why it contradicts our natural intuition to detect design. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Be sure to catch Part 1, and look for more interviews with others on this topic soon.

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On this ID the Future from the vault, Zombie Science author and biologist Jonathan Wells and host Andrew McDiarmid explore the seductive but misleading appeal to consensus science. Wells also explains the difference between evidence-based empirical science and ideologically driven science, giving plenty of examples along the way. For more on the topic, get a copy of Dr. Wells's book Zombie Science.

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Can evolution and design be wedded in a happy marriage? On this ID The Future, host Casey Luskin kicks off a series of interviews responding to theologian Dr. Rope Kojonen's proposal that front-loaded design and a full-blooded evolutionary process worked together in harmony to produce the diversity of life we find on earth. Here, Luskin interviews Dr. Stephen Dilley, lead author of a comprehensive critique of Kojonen's model co-authored with Luskin, Brian Miller, and Emily Reeves published in the journal Religions. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 next!

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Charles Darwin penned three-quarters of a sequel to his famous book On the Origin of Species, but he never finished or published it. Why not? On this ID The Future, we're pleased to bring you an exclusive excerpt from author and professor Dr. Robert Shedinger's new book Darwin's Bluff: The Mystery of the Book Darwin Never Finished. This exclusive reading covers the Introduction to the book and a portion of Ch. 6. Get your copy at www.discovery.org/bluff.

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On this ID the Future from the vault, biophysicist Cornelius Hunter explores Charles Darwin’s theological arguments for his theory of evolution. Darwin received what is known as theological utilitarianism from the intellectual culture of his youth, and he built a case against it with his theory of natural selection. Hunter explains the problems with Darwin's tunnel vision and why it matters today.

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Under the weight of modern scientific evidence, Darwin's theory of evolution is struggling. To better understand why, it's helpful to peel back the mythological status of its founder, Charles Darwin, and see the 19th century naturalist for who he really was. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid concludes his conversation with author and professor Dr. Robert Shedinger about his new book Darwin's Bluff: The Mystery of the Book Darwin Never Finished. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Don't miss Part 1!

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Why didn't Charles Darwin finish and publish his promised sequel to On The Origin of Species? Is it possible to separate Darwin the Myth from Darwin the Man to find the answer? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid begins a conversation with author and professor Dr. Robert Shedinger about his new book Darwin's Bluff: The Mystery of the Book Darwin Never Finished. This is Part 1 of 2. Look for Part 2 next!

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It's a big universe out there. Could life exist on another planet? Maybe, but it's not just the size of the universe that matters, it's also the size of the chasm between non-life and life. On this ID The Future, bestselling author and radio host Michael Medved sits down with philosopher of science Dr. Jay Richards to preview the theme of this year’s Dallas Science and Faith Conference and discuss the arguments of his popular book The Privileged Planet, written 20 years ago with co-author and astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez.

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Almost 400 years after its discovery, the process of metamorphosis is still a thorny conundrum for evolutionary biologists. But there are other aspects of the humble caterpillar that elude a satisfactory Darwinian explanation, like the origin of caterpillar prolegs. On this ID The Future, paleo-entemologist Dr. Gunter Bechly returns to share insights with us from another article in his popular Fossil Friday series.

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She was born the same year as Charles Darwin. Like him, she studied nature and wrote books. But while Darwin staked his life's work on the power of natural selection, she recognized the evidence of intelligent design in nature and living organisms. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid shares his profile of 19th century naturalist and children's author Margaret Gatty. Here, McDiarmid reports on Gatty's life and work within the framework of Darwin's, to show where both were similar as well as where they diverged. The result is a better understanding of 19th century Britain during a crucial chapter in the history of biology, and indeed, in the history of human ideas.

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What happens when biologists and engineers get together to study the natural world? Today’s ID the Future from the archive spotlights systems biology and the role engineers can play in leading-edge biology. Today's host is Eric Anderson. According to his guest Steve Laufmann, systems biology, which is taking the biological world by storm, is an approach that treats biological systems as optimally or near-optimally engineered systems, and seeks to better understand these systems.

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Do biologists give too much credit to natural selection and self-organization? What are the limits of a materialist approach to science? On this ID The Future, we bring you the second half of a panel discussion reviewing the recent debate between Rice University chemistry professor Dr. James Tour and University of Glasgow professor of chemistry Dr. Lee Cronin. In November 2023, Dr. Tour and Dr. Cronin participated in a roundtable debate on origin-of-life studies at Harvard University with a live audience of Harvard faculty and guests. Even if you haven’t seen the debate yet, you’ll get valuable insight into the state of origin-of-life research from this panel discussion, featuring three of our own: scientist and attorney Casey Luskin, physicist Brian Read More ›

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Are we close to cracking the origin of life problem or not? In 2021, chemist Dr. Lee Cronin declared publicly that "Origin of life research is a scam." Yet, scientists regularly claim to be close to creating simple and complex life from non-life in their labs, and the public is buying it. On this ID The Future, we bring you the first half of a panel discussion reviewing the recent debate on the origin of life between Rice University chemistry professor Dr. James Tour and University of Glasgow professor of chemistry Dr. Lee Cronin. This is Part 1 of 2.

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On this ID the Future from the vault, philosopher of science Dr. Stephen C. Meyer sits down with talk show host and bestselling novelist Andrew Klavan to discuss Meyer’s Return of the God Hypothesis. In this fast-paced conversation the pair touch on the Judeo-Christian roots of science, how fine tuning in physics and cosmology point to intelligent design, why the multiverse hypothesis fails, and more. This interview is shared with permission and originally aired on The Andrew Klavan Show, from Daily Wire.

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At its core, intelligent design is the science of detecting design. It's a broadly accepted method used by scientists of all stripes in a variety of scientific disciplines. But when design hypotheses are applied to biology, cosmology, or physics, some claim it's no longer a scientific pursuit. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid talks to philosopher and author Peter S. Williams about his recent book An Informed Cosmos: Essays on Intelligent Design Theory.

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In his landmark book Darwin's Black Box, biochemist Michael Behe wrote that "to appreciate complexity, you have to experience it." On today's ID The Future, we conclude a three-part series with Dr. Jonathan McLatchie that dives into the complexity and design of sexual reproduction. In Part 3, Dr. McLatchie explains the design features of erectile function, the ejaculatory reflex, sperm chemotaxis, and the female egg cell. McLatchie reminds listeners how all separate parts work together as an irreducibly complex whole system. Be sure to catch Parts 1 and 2 of this informative series!

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On today’s ID the Future from the archive, astrobiologist Guillermo Gonzalez unpacks one of his chapters in the book The Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith, edited by episode host Casey Luskin. Gonzalez discusses the fine-tuning that makes Earth possible and why our existence is far from insignificant.

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Sexual reproduction depends on an irreducibly complex core of components for its success. But can we really credit a gradual evolutionary process for this remarkable system? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid continues his discussion with Dr. Jonathan McLatchie on why sex is the queen of problems for evolutionary theory and why instead it bears the hallmarks of a system governed by forethought and engineering. Dr. McLatchie covers two more components and explains why they are beyond the reach of a Darwinian process. This is Part 2 of 3.

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Sexual reproduction ought to be a recipe for evolutionary disaster. It's a waste of resources producing no short-term advantages. It demands an entirely different form of cell division and requires highly designed interconnected components to succeed. And yet, sex reigns supreme in the biological world. On this ID The Future, Dr. Jonathan McLatchie begins a series on why sex is the queen of problems for evolutionary theory and why instead it bears the hallmarks of a system governed by forethought and engineering. This is Part 1 of 3.

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On this ID the Future from the vault, Taking Leave of Darwin author Neil Thomas and host Jonathan Witt continue their conversation about Thomas’s journey from Darwinian materialism to theistic humanism and a thorough skepticism of Darwinian theory. Hear Thomas draw a link between Darwin's theory and the animistic thinking of pagan thought stretching back to the ancient Greeks. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation.

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Is the universe meaningful or meaningless? Purposeful or pointless? On this ID The Future, enjoy the second half of an interview with Dr. Jonathan Witt about the evidence of purpose and meaning built into the universe. In the second half of a conversation, Dr. Witt describes four characteristics common in works of human genius and shows that these same hallmarks are also found in the natural world. Don't miss the first half of the interview, available in a previous episode.

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Nearly 30 years ago, physicist Steven Weinberg wrote that “[t]he more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless.” But is our universe really just a meaningless accident? Or can we detect true genius by studying its workings? On this ID The Future, we are pleased to share the first half of an interview with Dr. Jonathan Witt about the central questions of his 2006 book A Meaningful World, co-written with Benjamin Wiker. Witt explains that the more we learn about the universe, the more it seems laden with meaning. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

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On today’s ID the Future from the archive, meet Taking Leave of Darwin author Neil Thomas, not at all the sort of person one might expect to find waging a campaign against modern evolutionary theory. An erudite and settled Darwinist living comfortably in a thoroughly secular English academic culture, Thomas nevertheless came to reject Darwinian materialism and, as he insists, did so on purely rationalist grounds. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 next Friday.

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Prevailing scientific assumptions often die hard, especially when they fit so neatly into an evolutionary view of the development of life on earth. On this episode of ID The Future, Dr. Casey Luskin gives host Andrew McDiarmid an update on the paradigm shift around the concept of "junk DNA." Year after year for over a decade, new evidence has emerged revealing important functions for non-protein coding DNA, vindicating intelligent design scientists who have long predicted such function. Luskin summarizes the evidence and suggests a new way to look at these genomic treasures.

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Can we scientifically detect the activity of a mind behind the universe? On this ID The Future, philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer answers this question and more in the concluding hour of a new two-hour interview on various topics related to his work and books. Dr. Meyer discusses the problems with scientific materialism, the problems with quantum cosmological models, a good theology of nature, and more. This is Part 2 of a two-part interview.

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Are there strong scientific arguments for theism? Is there such a thing as objective morality? How is a worldview built? On this ID The Future, philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer answers these questions and more in the first hour of a new two-hour interview on various topics related to his work and books. Dr. Meyer answers questions related to worldview, consciousness, arguments for theism, objective morality, materialism, the nature of information, and more. This is Part 1 of a two-part interview.

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Cerumen, tympanic membranes, and ossicles, oh my! On this ID The Future, lend us your ears as host Andrew McDiarmid invites Dr. Jonathan McLatchie to give us a tour of our magnificent sense of hearing. Dr. McLatchie reviews the anatomy of the human ear with all its interconnected parts, from the oracle (ear lobe) to the curly cochlea in the inner ear. Along the way, he explains why intelligent design is a more reasonable explanation for our sense of hearing than a blind Darwinian evolutionary process.

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Does the vertebrate eye make more sense as the product of engineering or unguided evolutionary processes? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid concludes his two-part conversation with physicist Brian Miller about the intelligent design of the vertebrate eye. Did you know your brain gives you a glimpse of the future before you get to it? And what about the claim that human eyes are badly designed? Dr. Miller discusses all this and more. This is Part 2 of a two-part interview. Visit idthefuture.com for show notes and full archive!

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The gift of our vision is easy to take for granted. Yet, the more we dig into this amazingly intricate system, the more grateful we might get. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid begins a two-part conversation with physicist Brian Miller about the intelligent design of the vertebrate eye. Dr. Miller reviews the evolutionary scenario for the origins of human vision, explaining where it collapses for lack of empirical evidence. Then he explains why it's helpful to approach biological systems from an engineering standpoint. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

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On this ID the Future from the archive, host Stephen Meyer concludes his three-part conversation with Oxford mathematician and philosopher John Lennox on Lennox’s new film Against the Tide: Finding God in an Age of Science. Science depends on word, on logos, says Dr. Lennox, meaning the rational intelligibility of the universe. Francis Crick, co-discoverer of DNA, wished to disprove the need for God, but the language of DNA has turned out to be a signpost to an intelligence, Lennox contends: a logos behind nature. Scientists still claim authority to pronounce against theism, but according to Lennox, such pronouncements come not from science but from a dogma known as scientism. Far from being “science vs. God,” it’s really a collision Read More ›

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On this episode of ID The Future, host Eric Anderson concludes his Why It Matters interview with microbiologist Dr. Scott Minnich. In Part 2, Dr. Minnich critiques Lenski's famous Long Term Evolutionary Experiments. Through experiments of his own, Minnich has shown how the practical results of Lenski's project on E. coli are easily repeatable under different conditions, and how some key changes to E. coli are even reversible, both of which speak more to an organism's pre-existing capabilities than to a Darwinian explanation. This is the conclusion to a two-part interview.

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On this episode of ID The Future, host Eric Anderson continues his occasional interview series Why It Matters, this time with microbiologist Dr. Scott Minnich. In Part 1, Minnich shares how he first learned about intelligent design, met Dr. Stephen Meyer, and eventually became involved in the well-known documentary, Unlocking the Mystery of Life. Minnich also reflects on his childhood upbringing, his interest in the big questions, and how a run-in with a professor changed everything. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

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On this ID the Future from the archive, philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer continues his conversation with Oxford mathematician and philosopher Dr. John Lennox about his recent documentary film Against the Tide: Finding God in an Age of Science. In Part 2, Lennox talks about discovering the damage atheism does to people, by seeing it firsthand in communist Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, and seeing what it does to rationality itself. This is Part 2 of a three-part conversation.

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Are there natural limits to biological change? Is the evidence for design in nature well-founded? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid concludes his conversation with historian of science Michael Keas about Christianity's influence on the development of modern scientific inquiry. Keas also discusses the legacy of pioneering philosopher of science William Whewell, contrasting Whewell's perspective of the evidence for design with his contemporary Charles Darwin. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation.

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Is there room in science for both natural and super-natural explanations? Or does science only advance by excluding arguments that go outside purely naturalistic causes? On this episode of ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid begins a two-part conversation with historian of science Michael Keas on how Christianity cultivated science both with and without methodological naturalism. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

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Can one person push back against the strong currents of atheism, materialism, and naturalism so evident in academia and the public square today? On this ID the Future from the vault, philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer begins a three-part conversation with Oxford University mathematician and philosopher Dr. John Lennox about his recent documentary film Against the Tide: Finding God in an Age of Science. Lennox shows that one person can indeed push back when armed with knowledge, wisdom, and respect. This is Part 1 of a three-part conversation. Look for Parts 2 and 3 the next two Fridays!

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What does it take to stay alive? On this ID the Future, host Eric Anderson concludes his conversation with physician Howard Glicksman about the remarkable systems in the human body that help control water and sodium to keep us alive. In Part 2, Dr. Glicksman discusses two more innovations that add a "push-pull" effect to the systems discussed in Part 1. First, a sensor in the heart kicks into action when water or sodium levels get too high. Second, an anti-diuretic system in the hypothalamus that detects cell shrinkage and promotes water retention. In true engineering fashion, these systems are interdependent and tightly integrated, working together in unison (along with your own active participation!) to safeguard your body and help you live your best life. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation.

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On their own, the laws of nature don't tend toward life. To stay alive, living things utilize ingenious solutions. On this ID the Future, host Eric Anderson talks with physician Howard Glicksman about another way that the human body counteracts the natural tendency of the laws of nature to destroy life. Glicksman explains how the body controls water volume and sodium--two aspects that are absolutely critical to keeping us alive. It isn't just a single system. It's an interconnected and interdependent system of systems using a network of sensors, integrators, and effectors to maintain the life-giving balance of water and sodium in our bodies. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

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Progress is an appealing idea, but what happens when we do not all desire the same things? On this ID The Future, we mark the 60th anniversary of the death of British writer C. S. Lewis as host Andrew McDiarmid concludes a conversation with Dr. John West about Lewis's prophetic warnings to us about science and scientism. Dr. West explains how scientism harms real scientific progress and leads to moral relativism. And he discusses how we can bring science back into alignment with older, deeper human truths. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation.

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What happens when science leaves human values behind? Or when governments become governed by scientists? On this ID The Future, we mark the 60th anniversary of the death of British writer C. S. Lewis as host Andrew McDiarmid begins a conversation with Dr. John West about Lewis's prophetic warnings to us about science and scientism. Dr. West discusses what scientism is, what happens when science neglects deeper human truths, and how Lewis warned against the rise of technocracies. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

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If the phrase "Bayesian calculus" makes you run for the hills, you're not alone! Bayesian logic can sound intimidating at first, but if you give it a little time, you'll understand how useful it can be to evaluate the evidence for design in the natural world. On this ID The Future, Dr. Jonathan McLatchie gives us a beginner's guide to Bayesian thinking and teaches us how it can be used to build a strong cumulative case for intelligent design, as well as how we can use it in our everyday lives. Enjoying the podcast? Leave a written review at Apple Podcasts to help new listeners find the show!

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Is there an empirical method to determine whether a system is the product of chance or design? On this ID The Future, physicist Brian Miller concludes a two-part conversation with Dr. William Dembski about a new updated second edition of his classic book The Design Inference. In many ways, the 2nd edition of The Design Inference is a brand new book. Dr. Dembski teases out what is new and updated, and he also discusses what it was like to team up with software engineer Winston Ewert on the project. He even gives us a sneak preview of his next book, covering the conservation of information. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation.

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Hailed as "sparklingly original" and an "important contribution", mathematician William Dembski's 1998 book The Design Inference gave the modern design hypothesis a firm empirical footing and quickly inspired demonization and dismissal from disgruntled Darwinists. Twenty-five years later, Dembski's arguments stand firm, and a second edition with fresh analysis and insight is now available to a new generation of truth seekers. On this ID The Future, physicist Brian Miller invites Dr. Dembski to take us back to the 1980s to tell us the story of how The Design Inference came to be. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 next!

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When we make sacrifices that benefit others, is it a real conscious choice? Or are we just unconsciously acting on an evolved genetic trait? On today’s ID the Future from the vault, host Andrew McDiarmid presents an Evolution News essay, “How to Destroy Love with Darwinism.” Altruism, as defined by evolutionists, means “behavior by an animal that may be to its disadvantage but that benefits others of its kind.” It’s not an easy fit with Darwinism, since Darwinian evolution is all about passing your favored genes onto your offspring. From a design perspective, though, such behaviors are not baffling, for they are not genetically determined acts, as if humans are only robots governed by genes. They are acts of true self-sacrificial love, done freely and made possible because reality is more than matter and energy, and humans are more than just DNA survival machines.

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Are life and the universe products of chance, necessity, or design? In anticipation of a new updated second edition of his classic book The Design Inference, out this month, today’s ID the Future from the archive features Rice University synthetic organic chemist James Tour and intelligent design pioneer William Dembski concluding their discussion about the origin and role of information in living things. Here in Part 2, Dr. Dembski tackles questions from Dr. Tour's audience on topics like information theory, probability theory, the origin of life, evolution, the multiverse hypothesis, and Dembski’s contributions to the theory of intelligent design. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation.

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If Charles Darwin could have peered into one of today's high-powered microscopes and seen the stunning complexity and function in even the simplest living cells, On the Origin of Species might have been a very different book! On this ID The Future, we go behind the scenes with biochemist Michael Behe to discuss his popular video series Secrets of the Cell. From overseeing intricate animation work to driving off-road in a Jeep through the backwoods, Dr. Behe spills some secrets of his own about his experience getting in front of the camera to bring the wonders of the cell to life.

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Are we responsible for our choices? What can the laws of nature teach us about morality? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes back Dr. Eric Hedin, Professor Emeritus of Physics and Astronomy at Ball State University, to conclude a discussion about his two recent articles on suffering, free will, and morality in a designed world. Some scientists continue to argue that human free will is an illusion and that we have no more control over our choices than the decision to breathe. But this idea, known as determinism, flies in the face of our human experience. Dr. Hedin explains that far from being slaves to external forces, humans have a great latitude of freedom in the universe. In other words, the ball is in our court. This is Part 2 of a two-part discussion.

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What is information? How does it run the show in biology? In anticipation of a new updated second edition of his classic book The Design Inference, out this month, today’s ID the Future from the vault features Rice University synthetic organic chemist James Tour and intelligent design pioneer William Dembski discussing information theory, information as a meaningful reduction of possibilities, Shannon information versus specified information, and how natural selection has come to function as a God substitute for many scientists, despite the lack of evidence. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

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Is there strong scientific evidence for near-death experiences? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid speaks with Dr. Gary Habermas about his chapter evaluating the evidence for near-death cases in the new book Minding the Brain: Models of the Mind, Information, and Empirical Science. As Dr. Habermas explains, most near-death accounts contain both objective and subjective elements. Personal testimony about other realms can't be independently corroborated, but objective evidence rooted in this world can be confirmed and evaluated. "I can't verify heavenly discussions or heavenly sites," says Habermas, "so the kind of NDE data I'm talking about virtually always occur on this earth in normal kinds of situations, like parking lots or in your home two miles away. That's where the evidence comes from." Dr. Habermas relays several examples of near-death cases with strong evidential support. He also lays out five different lines of verifiable phenomena. Tune in to learn more about the scientific case for this intriguing phenomenon.

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Experiments on the living unborn. Organ harvesting. Reckless biotech. Radical environmentalism. These are not horror stories playing at your local movie theater. They're playing out in labs, hospitals, and institutes across America. On this episode of ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid speaks with bioethicist Wesley J. Smith about frightening abuses of science being done in the name of progress. In this unnerving exchange, Smith discusses examples of biotechnology that are advancing faster than our ethical considerations, including synthetic human embryos, genetic engineering, and fetal farming. He unpacks recent attempts by environmental activists to give rights to non-living things like rivers and oceans. He explains the difference between animal rights and animal welfare, while exposing the animal rights campaign as an anti-human movement that inhibits human flourishing. Smith also discusses the latest fronts in the gender ideology crusade, and how the rush to affirm gender dysphoria in children is causing tremendous harm to our society. And before the nightmare ends, Smith explains the pernicious push from evidence-based medicine to "science-based medicine," a strategy that encourages censorship and totalitarian governance of the scientific enterprise.

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Is the world a good place? Is truth relative? Can beauty be defined? On this episode of ID the Future from the archive, host David Klinghoffer speaks with Dr. Ann Gauger, Director of Science Communication and a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture, about her article “The Transcendental Treasury of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness” at EvolutionNews.org. These abstract concepts don’t derive from the material world, yet we feel impoverished without them; they’re foundations of a life worth living. Materialistic evolutionary explanations for truth, beauty, and goodness are out there, but they fall flat upon closer inspection. Some of them even reduce these qualities to mere illusion. Gauger holds that truth, beauty, and goodness are hallmarks of a designed world. Meditating on them can promote a spirit of gratitude, an important part of a healthy, happy life.

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Is there life after death? Can science shed any light on this age-old question? And is the mind simply the workings of the brain, or is it something else? On this episode of ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid chats with Dr. Jeffrey Long, a radiation oncology physician and one of the scientists featured in the new Angel Studios feature film After Death. As founder of the Near-Death Experience Research Foundation, Dr. Long has investigated over 4,000 near-death experiences (NDEs), the largest number of near-death cases ever assembled and studied. The results of his research are published in the New York Times bestselling book Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences. In this interview, Dr. Long explains the hallmarks of a near-death experience and the common themes found in most near-death accounts. He also shares nine lines of evidence that support the scientific case for afterlife consciousness. And he explains why skepticism is a healthy part of science, while ideological rigidity can inhibit the scientific pursuit of truth.

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Is natural evil an argument against intelligent design? And is human evil more consistent with naturalism or theism? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid speaks with Dr. Eric Hedin about his recent article "Thoughts of Evil in a Designed World." First, Dr. Hedin discusses the problem of natural evils like earthquakes, hurricanes, droughts, and other natural disasters. He reports that in the last century, the human death toll from such tragedies has dropped as we have learned to mitigate the effects of these natural forces in our lives. Hedin also discusses the impact of sickness on our bodies. "Any complex system can break down," Hedin reminds us, "because we do live in a world where the second law of thermodynamics applies not just to stars and mountainsides and physical systems but also to our own bodies." But suffering, tragic as it can be for all of us to endure, is not inconsistent with design. Then there's the other major cause of suffering in life: human evil. If humans are products of an evolutionary process, we'd expect human evil to more or less match what we see in the animal world. But as recent attacks on the people of Israel starkly demonstrate, that is not the case. We are capable of much worse, as well as much better. Dr. Hedin explains that humans have the gift of rational override, something determinists tend to forget. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

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On this episode of ID the Future from the vault, host Tod Butterfield talks with CSC Fellow and professor Nancy Pearcey about her book Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions About Life and Sexuality. Who — or what — determines what we are? Why does it matter? And how should we act in light of the answers to those questions? Pearcey explores these questions, and explains how just about everything in ethics — including sexuality — begins with what we think about whether life has a design and a purpose. "Once you accept a Darwinian materialist view of nature, says Pearcey, "logically speaking you are going to end up with a low view of the body."

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Is there interest and support for intelligent design in other countries besides the United States? As today's interview will show, the answer to that question is a resounding yes! On this ID The Future, geologist and attorney Casey Luskin and physicist Brian Miller talk with host Andrew McDiarmid about their recent speaking trip to South Africa and Kenya. Accompanied by historian Richard Weikart for portions of it, the trio gave a total of 65 lectures to over 4,000 people on 7 university campuses and other locations. The response was inspiring. As Luskin puts it in his blog post detailing the trip, support for intelligent design is burning brightly across the continent of Africa. Tune in to learn more about this remarkable experience.

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A new study challenges decades of conventional wisdom on what caused the geologically sudden rise of multicellular life on earth. So what mechanism triggered the Avalon explosion and other similar infusions of new life? And is it a science stopper to use intelligence or mind as a working hypothesis? On this ID The Future, we welcome back paleoentemologist Dr. Günter Bechly to answer these questions and more. A 1959 paper argued that an increase in oxygen content was a pre-condition for the rise of the first complex macro-organisms. This became mainstream consensus for decades. But a new study shows that this geologic event, known as the Avalon explosion, was actually precipitated by a drop in oxygen levels. Dr. Bechly explains the new paper's findings. He also explains the type of mechanism that has the power to produce the effects in question.

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When one person stands up to lies or oppression, others can become emboldened to do the same. On this ID the Future, neurosurgeon Michael Egnor discusses his article about Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Solzhenitsyn, the great Soviet dissident and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, penned the short essay "Live Not By Lies" in 1974, just before he was arrested and exiled from Russia. It was his advice, or even strategy, for living under totalitarianism. Solzhenitsyn’s basic advice is simply not to participate with lies, and to refuse to speak what one does not believe. It’s unnervingly relevant counsel to us in America today, where “cancel culture” and other silencing tactics, long foreshadowed in the intelligent design debate, are spreading to the broader culture. As Egnor relates, sometimes it takes a single person to stand firm before others will do the same. "There are orders of magnitude more of us than of them," Egnor says. "That is people who feel as we do: who support academic freedom, who support human dignity, who support freedom of speech and freedom of religion...the only way they control us, the only way they oppress us, is with our cooperation."

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Is mankind an error-prone accident of nature or a masterpiece of engineering and intention? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid invites physicist Brian Miller to discuss highlights of the 2023 Westminster Conference on Science & Faith. If you didn't get to attend this year's event in person or via live-stream, Dr. Miller's got you covered! The theme was The Miracle of Man, and speakers explored the uniqueness of human beings in the fields of physiology, biology, paleontology, and genetics, as well as theology and philosophy. Dr. Miller reviews his own talk on the intelligent design of human vision. He also recaps other highlights of the event, including talks from Michael Denton on the fitness of the planet for human life, Michael Egnor on the experimental evidence showing our minds are different than our brains, and more. He concludes by reminding us of the benefits of in-person events. "The presentations spark ideas and present new evidence," says Miller. "Then people will take that and talk about it over dinner, over lunch, or over coffee. And it's just a beautiful time to make new connections."

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A recent ABC News article says the latest research about the hominid species Homo naledi "erases the idea of human exceptionalism." A new Netflix documentary suggests that humans are not that special after all. Should we believe the media hype? Or is there more to the story? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid speaks with Dr. Casey Luskin to get an update on the Homo naledi controversy. In this episode, Dr. Luskin reviews each of the three main claims about Homo naledi made by Dr. Lee Berger and his team and gives us a summary of the strongest counter-arguments. He also gives his thoughts on the recent Netflix film. "It's very important to communicate scientific ideas to the public," says Luskin. "And I think it's great when scientists do that, when they do it carefully and responsibly and they're making sure that the evidence has been thoroughly worked out...in this case, there was a sense that they had sort of put the cart before the horse."

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Biochemist Michael Denton was a featured speaker at the 2023 Westminster Conference, speaking on the topic of his latest book, The Miracle of Man. To mark the occasion, we bring you this classic episode of ID the Future from the archive. Here, Denton discusses with host Casey Luskin the various ways the universe is uniquely fit for carbon-based life, and perhaps even human life. Denton argues that when it comes to evidence of fine-tuning in the universe, the more you look, the more you find. "The design inference is something the individual must make on this evidence," he says. "The evidence is pretty extraordinary..the actual science shows that it's fit, uniquely fit, for beings like ourselves." Tune in to discover what he has found that has led him to the inference that our world is intelligently designed.

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Are humans progressing morally as well as materially? What does it mean to be human in the cosmos? On this ID The Future, we bring you the second half of a stimulating conversation between Dr. David Berlinski and host Eric Metaxas on the subject of Berlinski's recent book Human Nature. In Human Nature, Berlinski argues that the utopian view that humans are progressing toward evolutionary and technological perfection is wishful thinking. Men are not about to become like gods. "I'm a strong believer in original sin," quips Berlinski in his discussion with Metaxas. In other words, he believes not only that humans are fundamentally distinct from the rest of the biological world, but also that humans are prone to ignorance and depravity as well as wisdom and nobility. During the second half of their discussion, Berlinski and Metaxas compare and contrast the ideas of thinkers like psychologist Steven Pinker, author Christopher Hitchens, and physicist Steven Weinberg. The pair also spar gracefully over the implications of human uniqueness. Berlinski, though candid and self-critical, is unwilling to be pigeonholed. Metaxas, drawing his own conclusions about the role of mind in the universe, challenges Berlinski into moments of clarity with his usual charm. The result is an honest, probing, and wide-ranging conversation about the nature of science and the human condition. This is Part 2 of a two-part interview.

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Eminent paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould has argued that humans differ only in degree, not kind, from other organisms, and to think otherwise betrays an ancient and outdated prejudice. But does this match up with what science has revealed in the last century? On this ID The Future, we are pleased to share the first half of an engaging conversation between Dr. David Berlinski and host Eric Metaxas on the subject of Berlinski's recent book Human Nature. Some argue that humans are growing more peaceful, enlightened, and improved by the year, and that a coming technological singularity may well usher in utopia. Berlinski isn't buying it. "There is no society without its underlying ideology," he writes in Human Nature. A universal civilization requires a universal theory, and the prevailing grand narrative preferred by most materialist scientists today is fueled largely by Darwin's theory of evolution. But is the world of matter the only world that matters? In this conversation and in his book, Berlinski argues that human beings have a fundamental essence that is radically different from the essence of other organisms and that cannot be changed at will. It's a view that is supported by the latest evidence about life and the universe in biology, chemistry, physics, and even cosmology. And it represents a fatal flaw in the Darwinian story. This is Part 1 of a 2-part conversation. This interview originally aired as a Socrates in the City event in 2022. We are grateful to Eric Metaxas for permission to share it. Watch the conversation in video form on YouTube.

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Though they disagreed scientifically about the nature of human beings, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace maintained a lasting friendship. On this episode of ID The Future from the vault, we continue to celebrate the bicentennial of the birth of Alfred Russel Wallace. Host Mike Keas concludes his three-part discussion with Michael Flannery about Flannery’s book Nature’s Prophet: Alfred Russel Wallace and His Evolution from Natural Selection to Natural Theology. Here, Flannery describes the tolerance Darwin and Wallace maintained for each other, a quality crucial to the spirit of science and academic inquiry. He notes that some contemporaries of Darwin lacked this spirit of professional civility, including Darwin's "bulldog" Thomas Henry Huxley. Flannery also relates his experiences at the 2nd Annual International Conference on Alfred Russel Wallace. The paper he presented raised some eyebrows and inspired students and fellow Wallace scholars alike, some of which were entirely unaware of Wallace's natural theology. Both Keas and Flannery hold out hope that the same spirit of tolerance Darwin and Wallace demonstrated can be emulated today by Darwin's defenders and critics.

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The RNA world is proposed by some to explain how early life began before DNA. But is RNA capable of maintaining a life-friendly self-replication rate? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes back Dr. Jonathan McLatchie to discuss another headache for the RNA world scenario. Before a trial and error process like natural selection can even get started, self-replicating molecules must have a minimal accuracy rate to copy genetic material effectively. The required fidelity rate is estimated to be 2%. Any error rate higher than that results in error catastrophe for organisms. The average error rate in RNA copying is estimated to be around 17%, vastly higher than the estimated maximum error threshold for survival. McLatchie explains the implications of this for chemical evolutionary theories like the RNA world hypothesis. He also explains how a Bayesian approach to this evidence can provide us with the likeliest explanation for the origin of biological life. "The sorts of features that we observe in life are not particularly surprising if we suppose that a mind is involved," says McLatchie. But things like minimal self-replication fidelity are wildly surprising on a naturalistic hypothesis.

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Just what is information? Why is so much of it needed for life? And where did it all come from? On this ID The Future, we're pleased to rebroadcast in audio form the latest episode in biochemist Michael Behe's Secrets of the Cell series on the mystery of biological information. In this episode, Behe starts by explaining just what information actually is. From the decision to flip a switch to the thousands of decisions needed to build complex structures, information is everywhere in our world, and it also runs the show in the hidden inner world of cells. Behe describes how cells manage information to build tissues, organs, and systems. He also explains that each cell is part of a massive collaboration of trillions of cells, where the right information at the right time flows through us in the form of chemical and electrical signals, activating different energy modes and keeping our entire body functioning efficiently. To conclude, Behe invites us to join him for a sobering thought experiment: attempting to build an instruction manual for a human femur bone. Sounds simple enough in theory. It's just a bone, after all! But Behe reminds us of the many layers of complexity inherent in making even a single bone part of a larger, dynamic, and coordinated living system. Complex machines and working structures, says Behe, are possible only through specific code that determines form and function. And our uniform and repeated experience affirms that specified or functional information always arises from an intelligent source, not a strictly material process.

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2023 marks the bicentennial of the birth of Alfred Russel Wallace, co-founder with Charles Darwin of the theory of evolution by natural selection. Unlike Darwin, Wallace thought that biology, chemistry, and cosmology proclaimed clear evidence of intelligent design. With this episode of ID the Future from the vault, we celebrate the life and achievements of one of the godfathers of intelligent design. Host Michael Keas continues his conversation with historian Michael Flannery about his book Nature’s Prophet: Alfred Russel Wallace and His Evolution from Natural Selection to Natural Theology. When Wallace broke with Darwin in 1869, it was over the nature of human beings. Flannery explains how Wallace became convinced of an “overruling intelligence” in nature — a cause sufficient to explain the special attributes of human beings: their facility with mathematics, their propensity toward abstract thought, their love of dance, their appreciation of music, and more. "All of these uniquely human attributes do not have per se any survival advantage in nature," says Flannery. "So...they can't be relied upon by Darwin's own principle of utility to be things which developed via natural selection. They have to come from some other source." And while some may claim Wallace's view is just a "gap" argument, Flannery notes that it's instead a positive argument calling on a cause sufficient to explain the special attributes of human beings. This is Part 2 of a 3-part conversation.

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