The ID The Future (IDTF) podcast carries on Discovery Institute's mission of exploring the issues central to evolution and intelligent design. IDTF is a short, weekly podcast providing you with the most current news and views on evolution and ID. IDTF delivers brief interviews with key scientists and scholars developing the theory of ID, as well as insightful commentary from Discovery Institute senior fellows and staff on the scientific, educational and legal aspects of the debate.
Critics of intelligent design sometimes claim they are defending the principles of American Founding Father Thomas Jefferson in trying to ban discussions of intelligent design. In the words of one writer, “Thomas Jefferson makes it quite clear that there was not a consensus of support among the authors of the Constitution... to support theological doctrines such as intelligent design.” But would Thomas Jefferson himself agree? In this special July 4th edition of ID the Future, Discovery Institute Senior Fellow John West explores the real views of Jefferson on intelligent design.
On this episode of ID the Future philosopher of science Stephen C. Meyer responds to critics of intelligent design, such as Richard Dawkins and his book, The God Delusion.
How do critics of ID miss the point, and what are the questions they should be asking about intelligent design? Listen in to find out, and check out Dr. Meyer's new book, Signature in the Cell, where Dr. Meyer goes into more detail.
Click here for Part 1 of this series.
Click here for Part 2 of this series.
Click here for Part 3 of this series.
On this episode of ID the Future CSC Director Stephen C. Meyer explains the problem that information presents to origin of life researchers within a naturalistic paradigm. Information within the cell presents a daunting challenge to Darwin’s theory -- and provides significant evidence for a signature of a designing intelligence, as Meyer explains in his new book.
Listen in and check out Dr. Meyer's new book, Signature in the Cell, which shares the depth of Dr. Meyer's research into the origin of information and the digital code in DNA.
Click here for Part 1 of this series.
Click here for Part 2 of this series.
On this episode of ID the Future philosopher of science Stephen C. Meyer continues the story of how he became involved in intelligent design, sharing some of what he studied while at Cambridge University. What methods do scientists use to study biological origins? Is there a distinctive method of historical scientific inquiry? Meyer set off to investigate not only the history of scientific ideas about the origin of life, but also questions about the definition of science and about how scientists study and reason about ancient events in the past. Listen in and learn, and check out Dr. Meyer's new book, Signature in the Cell, which tells more of the story, the culmination of over 20 years of study and research on the origins of life.
This episode of ID the Future tells the story of how philosopher of science Stephen C. Meyer first began his quest for the origin of life. How did one of the architects of the intelligent design movement move from the oilfields of Texas to the study halls of Cambridge to pursue the mystery of where biological information originated? Listen in and find out.
The new book, Signature in the Cell, tells the rest of the story, the culmination of over 20 years of study and research on the origins of life.
This episode of ID the Future features the third and final part of Casey Luskin's interview with James LeFanu, author of Why Us?: How Science Rediscovered the Mystery of Ourselves, which discusses the problems for the materialist account of the human mind. How do we get from the electrochemical activity of the brain to the richness of the human mind? Listen in as Dr. LeFanu summarizes the five things that material science can’t tell us about the non-material mind.
Listen to part one of the interview here.
Listen to part two of the interview here.
To learn more about Dr. LeFanu, visit his website here or read a recent review of his book at Evolution News & Views.
This episode of ID the Future features part two of Casey Luskin's interview with James LeFanu, author of Why Us?: How Science Rediscovered the Mystery of Ourselves. According to Dr. LeFanu, one of the problems with Darwin’s theory and where it stands today is that it presupposes that the argument is closed, draining interest and fascination from the question of our origins.
Dr. LeFanu discusses the problems with the Darwinian explanation for the evolution of the eye and how the development of genetics has brought our attention to the deep inscrutability of the nature of genetic structures and the origin of life. Can natural selection acting on random mutations account for these features? Listen in as Dr. LeFanu explains how science is on the cusp of this intriguing moment, rediscovering the mystery of ourselves.
This episode of ID the Future features part one of Casey Luskin's interview with James LeFanu, author of Why Us?: How Science Rediscovered the Mystery of Ourselves. Dr. LeFanu shares his perspective as someone who straddles two worlds, encountering science on a micro level in his practice as a medical doctor, and reflecting on the broader aspects of science and medicine as an author and columnist for the UK's Daily Telegraph. Dr. LeFanu explains why he doubts the too-simplistic Darwinian account, where the "facade of knowing" is daily challenged by the inescapable complexity of life.
To learn more about Dr. LeFanu, visit his website here or read a recent review of his book at Evolution News & Views.
On this episode of ID the Future Casey Luskin continues his interview with Rich Akin, the founder and CEO of Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity (PSSI) International. Dr. Akin shares stories from his adventures in Spain, where PSSI International stirred up trouble with Darwinists and caused a tempest that is still raging today.
For background information on Dr. Akin's stories, click here.
On this episode of ID the Future Casey Luskin interviews Rich Akin from Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity, who shares why he founded the organization for Darwin-doubting doctors and the misinformation about his organization on Wikipedia. Listen in as Dr. Akin explains more about PSSI International.
If you are a physician or surgeon who dissents from Darwinism, please consider joining PSSI International here.
Listen in as Dr. Reynolds explains the role that classical and Christian thought played in the development of modern science and examines some of the design thinking of ancient philosophers.
What were Darwin's actual religious and philosophical views? Are atheists abusing Darwin's theory when they say Darwinism supports their atheist belief? Listen in as Dr. Wiker answers and explains the natural outgrowth of Social Darwinism from Darwin's theory.
Listen to previous IDTF episodes featuring Dr. Wiker here and here.
On this episode of ID the Future Logan Gage interviews CSC fellow J. Budziszewski on his new book, The Line Through the Heart: Natural Law as Fact, Theory, and Sign of Contradiction. What is Natural Law? Listen in as Dr. Budziszewski explains how humans as rational creatures differ from animals driven by instinct, and the evidence for "a deep structure to the human moral intellect" or design in Natural Law.
This episode of ID the Future features Anika Smith interviewing CSC associate director John West on the launch of the new website, FaithandEvolution.org, bringing clarity to the conversation between the new atheists such as Richard Dawkins and the new theistic evolutionists like Francis Collins. Is faith in God compatible with Darwinian evolution? Who is right, and why does it matter? Listen in, and check out FaithandEvolution.org.
On this episode of ID the Future Casey Luskin takes a look at a recent "challenge" issued via YouTube to Discovery Institute, asking the question, Does any critic out there understand intelligent design? Is there genetic evidence for intelligent design? Tune in and find out.
In today’s episode of ID The Future, CSC legal intern Guillermo Dekat reviews Cornelius G. Hunter’s book Science’s Blind Spot. In law, Dekat explains, people harmed by a product are entitled to damages if they can prove the product is defective. If dogmatic science is a product under investigation, he continues, then Hunter’s work in Blind Spot proves its defects. Dekat charts Hunter’s arguments about science’s "theological naturalism" and provides an overview of the other points made by the author.
Today on ID the Future, Casey Luskin interviews James Hoskins about his latest creative writing endeavors. Hoskins, a philosophy major at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, has written several pieces based on the debate between ID and Darwinian evolution, including one that pits Socrates and imaginary materialist Hector Dawkins against each other as they argue over the scientific merit of ID. Hoskins also reads excerpts from some of his stories, and describes the inspiration behind them.
Hoskins' work, including his Debate Between Socrates and Hector Dawkins, can be downloaded from ID Arts here.
On this episode of ID the Future, John West takes a look at the eugenics movement of the early twentieth century and how it drew direct inspiration from Darwinian biology and the writings of Charles Darwin himself. The eugenics movement was no fringe effort, but was the view of mainstream science and espoused by those at Harvard, Princeton, and the National Academy of Science.
On this episode of ID The Future, Casey Luskin continues the series begun in the previous podcast (Intelligent Design 101: State of the Debate), rebutting an argument for common ancestry between humans and chimpanzees in Dr. Francis Collins' book The Language of God. Taken from a recently finished appendix to Intelligent Design 101: Leading Experts Explain the Key Issues, Luskin responds to the notion that similar chromosomal structure between the two species is proof of a common lineage by saying plainly that the discovery is equally compatible with a theory of common design.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin takes a look at the swine flu virus and what it tells us about evolution and how the limits of evolution help us combat dangerous viruses.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin announces the release of Intelligent Design 101: Leading Experts Explain the Key Issues, an anthology that tackles intelligent design from scientific, philosophical, and legal perspectives. Luskin shares from an insightful new essay by Phillip Johnson about the state of the debate over intelligent design and evolution.
On this episode of ID the Future, Anika Smith interviews writer Robert Deyes on The New Spontaneous Generationists, who argue that "matter and energy somehow self-originated into complex forms without outside intelligence." While we may have moved beyond expecting rats to materialize from garbage heaps and maggots from decaying meat, materialists today are trying to simulate the origin of first life without intelligent agency -- and they're failing. Listen in to learn why, and read Deyes' article at ARN's ID Report for more.
On this episode of ID The Future we’re highlighting a short clip of senior fellow Dr. Paul Nelson describing his meeting with the late, famous defender of Darwinism, Stephen J. Gould, and whether or not the Panda's Thumb is obviously proof of evolution.
When elected officials take a stand for academic freedom, they become targets for the Darwin lobby. Because of his leadership and support for critical thinking on evolution, Texas State Board of Education Chair Don McLeroy has been targeted by Darwin's defenders in the Texas Senate who want to remove him from his position. Less than a month ago, the Texas Board adopted landmark science standards that will protect teachers who want to let students evaluate and critique the evidence for Darwinian evolution. Now Darwinists are trying to convince the state Senate to block McLeroy's reappointment as Board Chair.
"Supporting those, like Don McLeroy, who take a stand for academic freedom to question evolution at personal cost is one of the most important and effective things citizens can do," said CSC Associate Director John West. "It sends a message to elected officials that expelling leaders like Dr. McLeroy because of their stance on Darwin's theory is simply not acceptable."
I support Don McLeroy as Chair of the State Board of Education, and I urge you to confirm the governor's nomination and bring it before the Senate for a vote.
Don McLeroy is a proven leader in education for Texas students. It is reprehensible that he has been targeted for removal because he has dared to question evolution and encouraged young minds to remain open to critical examination of Darwin's theory. It is for this reason that Darwin's defenders are trying to expel Dr. McLeroy from his role as SBOE Chair, and I hope that you will hear those of us who stand by Dr. McLeroy and support him against this political bullying by Darwinist groups.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
Please stand with Don McLeroy and support academic freedom in Texas. Tell your friends and family, and let's show the Darwin-lobby that they cannot expel critical thinking from the science classroom.
On this episode of ID the Future, Logan Paul Gage reviews Alister McGrath's The Dawkins Delusion, the first book-length critique of Richard Dawkins' infamous The God Delusion. Listen in as Gage explains where McGrath succeeds in writing "with a scholarly care and graciousness," but fails to address Darwinism, assuming instead that theism is compatible with Darwin's theory.
On this episode of ID the Future Logan Gage interviews Dr. Jonathan Wells on his recent review of Francis Collins' The Language of God, addressing questions of common ancestry, mistaken definitions of intelligent design, and Collins' use of so-called "junk"-DNA to advance a "Darwin-of-the-gaps" argument.
This episode of ID the Future explores the many holes in SMU professor Ronald Wetherington's testimony before the Texas State Board of Education. Listen in as Casey Luskin explains why Wetherington -- and anyone else who claims that there are "no gaps" in the fossil record or "no lack of transitional fossils" in human evolution -- overstates his case.
For more rebutting Ronald Wetherington's testimony, click here.
On this episode of ID the Future Casey Luskin exposes the many bluffs and blunders of Darwinist David Hillis, who testified before the Texas State Board of Education with the outlandish claim that there's "overwhelming agreement" on the Tree of Life -- the same day that New Scientist published "Why Darwin was wrong about the tree of life." Listen in as IDTF calls Hillis' bluff.
On this episode of ID the Future, biologist Luman Wing explains to Casey Luskin about the predictions of an intelligent design perspective in biology. Wing discusses junk-DNA, the irreducible complexity of the blood clotting cascade, and the implications of ID and Darwinism on personalized medicine.
On this episode of ID the Future Casey Luskin interviews Dr. Charles Garner in Austin, TX, where they both were for the Board of Education hearings last week. Listen in as Dr. Garner explains his research in chemistry, particularly the chirality of molecules and the importance of homochirality to origin of life research.
In this ID the Future podcast, Casey Luskin interviews Dr. Luman Wing, a signer of the Dissent From Darwinism list. Dr. Wing discusses his support for systems biology and the reasons he thinks this approach to biology lends support to the theory of intelligent design.
On this episode of ID the Future, John West reports on the Texas State Board of Education hearings where scientists, teachers and students gathered to testify before the Board. One side focused on touting their own religious beliefs and criticizing the religious beliefs of others, while the other side focused on science, education, and academic freedom. Listen to the testimony of scientists down in Texas and learn what the debate over how to teach evolution is really all about.
What will Darwinists do now? On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin examines a new paper published in Nature which threatens the Darwinian "junk-RNA" paradigm. Listen in as Luskin explains how we're still waiting for Darwinists to let go of their precious "junk" arguments for blind evolution and common descent.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin interviews Luman Wing, a signer of the Dissent from Darwinism statement who has spent many years working in biotechnology. Dr. Wing recounts his observations as an undergraduate studying under Dr. Dean Kenyon at San Francisco State University at the time that Dr. Kenyon underwent his intellectual de-conversion from Darwinism, and rescinded his textbook promoting the natural chemical origin of life.
On this episode of ID the Future, John West shares from his book, Darwin Day in America, about Italian criminologist Cesare Lombroso and the New School of Criminal Anthropology. Lombroso and his disciples contended that criminal behavior could be explained largely as a throwback to earlier stages of Darwinian evolution. Listen in as West illustrates the consequences of applying Darwin's theory to criminal justice.
On this episode of ID the Future, CSC’s Casey Luskin gives listeners an update on what’s going on with academic freedom legislation around America. Academic freedom bills submitted in five states already this year, including Oklahoma, Iowa, New Mexico, Missouri and Alabama. Listen in to today’s podcast as Luskin explains how Darwinist opposition to the bills is showing why academic freedom legislation is necessary to protect teachers from a climate of intimidation.
On this episode of ID the Future, CSC's Robert Crowther highlights one of the foundational books of the theory of intelligent design. No Free Lunch, the sequel to mathematician and CSC senior fellow William Dembski’s Cambridge University Press book The Design Inference, explores key questions about the origin of specified complexity. No Free Lunch demonstrates that design theory shows great promise of providing insight in the field of evolutionary computation.
In this podcast, CSC 's Casey Luskin presents his piece from the U.S. News and World Report titled, “Darwin, Intelligent Design, and Freedom of Discovery on Evolutionists' Holy Day.” Luskin describes how many modern day evolutionists reject Charles Darwin’s call for academic freedom in the debate over evolution. The op-ed also recounts a recent incident where Ben Stein, star of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, was himself “expelled” from the University of Vermont due to his views on evolution. The original article can be read here.
Does Darwinism lend support more naturally to a capitalist moral-economic perspective or to a Marxist one? On this episode of ID the Future, CSC scholar David Klinghoffer explores the deep Darwinian roots of Communism, arguing that, while Marx had already begun sketching the outlines of his ideas before Darwin published the Origin of Species, he is fairly called a Darwinist, and the men who translated Marxism into practical political terms in the form of Soviet terror were evolutionary thinkers, just as they themselves claimed to be.
This episode of ID the Future features Dr. Stephen Meyer responding to his critics during a questioning period before the Texas State Board of Education last month. Listen in as philosopher of science Meyer cuts through the rhetorical strategies in this debate and exposes the strengths and weaknesses of the Darwinist position, rebutting the misinformation about Discovery Institute’s education policy and laying out the legitimate scientific dissent from Darwin.
On this ID the Future podcast, Chemistry Professor Charles Garner from Baylor University testifies before the Texas State Board of Education about the need to teach students about both the scientific strengths and weaknesses of evolution. Dr. Garner specifically focuses on chemical evolution, emphasizing some of the scientific weaknesses in theories of a natural chemical origin of life, and encourages that evidence to be taught in Texas science classrooms.
This special video episode of ID the Future celebrates Darwin Day with a look back at the man and his theory by three scientists and scholars who join in the scientific dissent from evolution.
Biologist Jonathan Wells, author and M.D. Geoffrey Simmons, and molecular biologist Douglas Axe shed light on the problems with Darwin's theory as they share what led each of them to their skepticism.
Jonathan Wells first became skeptical of Darwin's mechanism of natural selection, but it was in his studies in embryology that he became skeptical of common ancestry. Dr. Wells takes a historical look at the impact of Darwin's theory and discusses how unnecessary it is for modern science.
Geoffrey Simmons, M.D., explains how he became a Darwin skeptic after looking at the evidence and finding the evidence for evolution lacking.
And Molecular biologist Douglas Axe from Biologic Institute explains the problems genetic mutations pose for Darwin's theory.
Listen in to their stories and appreciate again the scientific evidence against Darwin's theory.
Biologist Ralph Seelke is one of the scientists who aren’t supposed to exist -- he’s skeptical of Darwin’s theory of evolution. As a professor at University of Wisconsin-Superior, Dr. Seelke tests what evolution can actually do. In January, Dr. Seelke testified about his research before the Texas Board of Education, and this episode of ID the Future features audio from his presentation. Listen in and learn why scientists support teaching the strengths and weaknesses of evolutionary theory.
In this ID the Future podcast, Casey Luskin interviews Scientific Dissent From Darwinism signer, biologist Mauricio Alcocer Ruthling, about scientific problems with evolution. Dr. Alcocer Ruthling received his Ph.D. in plant science from the University of Idaho and is now Director of Graduate Studies at the Universidad Autónoma in Guadalajara, Mexico. Dr. Alcocer Ruthling has studied the importance of fitness costs to the use of herbicides and explains why fitness costs demonstrate the existence of genetic barriers to evolution.
In today’s episode of ID The Future, Casey Luskin interviews Dr. Robert Marks about his work in evolutionary informatics at Baylor University. Marks explains that evolutionary informatics seeks to emulate evolution on a computer, allowing for new engineering designs to be developed. Unlike Darwinian evolution, this process does not advance gradually, and requires a certain amount of external information to be fed into the computer before the process can begin; in other words, the systems must be designed before the evolution can begin. This contrast fueled Marks’ interest in intelligent design, and has led him to critically analyze a number of evolutionary computer programs that claim to prove Darwin’s theories.
About Dr. Marks Dr. Marks is Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He is also one of the founders of the Evolutionary Informatics Lab. His research and teaching focuses on computational intelligence, including fuzzy systems and neural networks. Dr. Marks’ upcoming Handbook of Fourier Analysis will be released through the Oxford Press. Marks also co-wrote Neural Smithing: Supervised Learning in Feedforward Artificial Neural Networks with Russell Reed. For more information on evolutionary computing and Dr. Marks’ work, please visit the Evolutionary Informatics Lab homepage.
Editor's Note: After this podcast first aired, Dr. Marks' website, originally hosted by Baylor University, was taken down in an act of censorship by his university. You can read the story here, and watch part of it in Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.
This episode of ID the Future features CSC director Dr. Stephen Meyer’s opening remarks to the Texas State Board of Education, where he testified last week in favor of keeping critical analysis of evolution in the Texas science standards. Listen in as Dr. Meyer explains some of the problems with Darwin’s theory, including the Cambrian Explosion.
For more information and continuing updates about the controversy in Texas, visit Evolution News & Views.
Last week, the Texas State Board of Education met to consider a draft of their new science standards. At the meeting, the Board’s Chair, Dr. Don McLeroy did a remarkable thing – he gave the rest of the Board a science lesson, which began when McLeroy proposed a new standard regarding evolution. Listen in to this episode of ID the Future as Dr. McLeroy lays out a compelling case for the existence of scientific controversies over evolution.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin talks with Gordy Slack, author of The Battle Over the Meaning of Everything: Evolution, Intelligent Design, and a School Board in Dover, PA. Slack shares his personal views on intelligent design and the socio-political implications of the ID-evolution debate.
Luskin’s interview with Slack is illuminating and thought-provoking as they compare their experience at the infamous Dover trial, and while they disagree on the issues, this remains a fruitful dialogue worth listening to.
Some of Mr. Slack's incorrect claims are refuted in a long-standing response to the "Wedge Document" from the Discovery Institute, entitled “The ‘Wedge Document’: ‘So What?’."
Gordy Slack has written for Mother Jones and Salon.com, among others. He was formerly the associate editor of California Wild, a natural history magazine. Slack has written several books in addition to The Battle Over the Meaning of Everything, including Faith and Science.
Who’s really trying to dumb down how evolution is presented in schools today? This episode of ID the Future takes a look at the curious case of the evolving Dr. Steven Schafersman and what we can learn from it about current debates over teaching evolution. Listen in as CSC Associate Director John West traces the changing rhetoric of Dr. Schafersman of the misnomered “Texas Citizens for Better Science,” and the next time you hear a Darwinist claim that there are no scientific controversies over evolution, remember the case of the evolving Dr. Schafersman.
Darwinists often point out that Darwin’s theory is supported by a majority of scientists and so only the evidence that supports the theory should be presented to students. On this episode of ID The Future, CSC’s John West explains that when it comes to setting public policy, dissenting views on science can be critically important and should be encouraged.
On this episode of ID the Future we take a look at the need for academic freedom on evolution. As Darwinists around the world gear up for Darwin Day 2009, we hope they remember Darwin's own words on the need for free scientific inquiry:
"A fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and balancing the facts and arguments on both sides of each question.”
Listen in to find out how you can mark the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth by standing up for academic freedom on evolution and celebrating Academic Freedom Day. For more information and resources on how you can help, check out www.academicfreedomday.com.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin makes the case that intelligent design has scientific merit because it is does not try to address religious questions about the supernatural. ID limits its claims to what can be scientifically inferred from the empirical domain, setting it apart from creationism. Listen in as Luskin shows how ID is a legitimate scientific alternative to neo-Darwinism that has key differences from creationism.
This podcast is taken from a series of articles published at OpposingViews.com and can be read here.
On this second of a two part ID The Future, CSC's Casey Luskin continues his discussion with CSC Fellow Dr. Geoffrey Simmons about evolution and vestigial organs. What makes a doctor skeptical of Darwinian evolution? How can doctors express their scientific dissent from Darwinism? Listen in as Dr. Simmons shares from his knowledge in the medical field.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin explains why any philosophical implications of intelligent design, or any religious motives, beliefs, and affiliations of ID proponents, do not disqualify ID from having scientific merit.
This podcast is taken from a series of articles published at OpposingViews.com and can be read here.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin interviews Kevin Wirth and Dennis Wagner of Access Research Network (ARN) on their top ten Darwin and Design resources from 2008. Listen in as they take a look back on the year that brought us ID in a video game, books by both agnostics and theists supporting design, and the number 1 political documentary of 2008.
To read more about ARN's Top 10 Resources for 2008, click here.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin explores intelligent design's scientific merit in paleontology. While many of our listeners may be familiar with the evidence for ID in biology, the fossil record shows us that there's a strong argument for intelligent design worth examining in paleontology, as well. Listen in to learn more.
This podcast is taken from a series of articles published at OpposingViews.com and can be read here.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin explains the scientific merit of intelligent design. Is ID testable? How do pro-ID biologists apply intelligent design to biology? What does it mean that ID is an historical science? Listen in and hear the enumerated reasons why ID is science.
This podcast is taken from a series of articles published at OpposingViews.com and can be read here.
On this episode of ID The Future, CSC's Casey Luskin interviews CSC Fellow Dr. Geoffrey Simmons on what makes him skeptical Darwinian evolution. Dr. Simmons has a BS in biology; coursework completed for MS in microbiology, University of Illinois; an M.D., University of Illinois Medical School; Internship and Residency in Internal Medicine, LAC-USC Medical Center; Boarded in Internal Medicine since 1974. He is a licensed and practicing physician in Eugene, OR, and the author of the books What Darwin Didn't Know (2004) and Billions of Missing Links (2007).
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin interviews Dennis Wagner and Kevin Wirth from Access Research Network (ARN) on their “Top 10 Darwin and Design News Stories of 2008.” It’s been an exciting year for the debate over intelligent design and evolution, with news about Biologic Institute, a molecular clutch in the bacterial flagellum, and a surprising twist for those who doubt Darwin. Check out this rundown of the year in review.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin looks at Biomimetics, a new movement in science that adapts designs from nature to solve problems in engineering, materials science, medicine, and other fields. While engineers and other researchers turn to nature for guidance and inspiration in producing human technology, the positive implications for intelligent design grow. Should scientists consider the possibility that biological systems, which outperform human technology, were intelligently designed? Listen in and find out.
For more information on Biomimetics, check out Biologic Institute's blog here.
For the National Geographic article Luskin cites, click here.
This episode of ID the Future tells the story of Jesse Kilgore, a college student whose loss of faith and subsequent suicide has been linked to his biology class and Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion. After his professor challenged him to read the anti-theistic book and rule out the possibility of God’s existence in light of the evidence for evolution, Jesse experienced a crisis of faith. Now his father is arguing for academic freedom for intelligent design and critiques of Darwin’s theory. Listen in as he and others explain how Jesse was affected by reading this book.
The tragedy of Jesse Kilgore’s death affects all of us. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who knew and loved him.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin discusses how trails of microorganisms knock down a favorite Darwinist argument against the Cambrian explosion. Listen in as Luskin explains why Darwinists remain stuck — whether they like it or not — with a very explosive Cambrian explosion that isn't the mere artifact of an imperfect fossil record.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin examines the lame materialist science fiction being promoted to students at a local public library. With wild speculations on the existence of life outside our planet based on the idea that life just takes a "bing" and some interstellar chemicals, this book should be not on reference shelves, but in the science fiction section. Listen in as Luskin lays a Dewey decimal smackdown on Life on Other Planets.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin examines the latest fossil evidence of so-called feathered dinosaur fossil. While the mainstream media trumpets these finds as conclusive evidence in the case for evolution, Luskin explores whether the “feathered dinos” might actually be secondarily flightless birds. Have Darwinists interpreted the evidence to fit the data, or to fit their evolutionary paradigm? Listen in and find out.
For more information on today’s topic, click here.
On this episode of ID the Future, CSC's Casey Luskin examines Richard Dawkins' crusade against religion and what it might mean for the teaching of evolution in schools. Why did Michael Ruse write to Dawkins and tell him that he was an "absolute disaster in the fight against intelligent design"? Listen in and find out.
On this episode of ID the Future, neurosurgeon Michael Egnor and UCLA psychiatrist Jeffrey Schwartz join Casey Luskin for a discussion of materialism and its effect on modern science. Listen in to a conversation that begins with the question of whether animals have souls and turns to a lively discussion of Francis Crick and the way his materialist ideology blinded him to the implications of his own scientific discovery.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin interviews neurosurgeon Michael Egnor and UCLA psychiatristJeffrey Schwartz on the interaction between the mind and the brain in science fiction. Could the mind really be an illusion from a computer program, like in The Matrix? Listen in as Drs. Egnor and Schwartz explain how materialist fictions ultimately beg the question.
On this episode of ID the Future, UCLA psychiatrist Jeffrey Schwartz shares with Casey Luskin about his research on obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). What does neuroscience tell us about the relationship between the mind and the brain? Schwartz explains in his book, The Mind and the Brain, that patients treated for OCD actually had the power to change the neural pathways in their brains by the power of their minds. What does this mean for materialism in medicine? Listen in and discover the real-world implications in this debate.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin interviews Michael Egnor, professor of neurosurgery at SUNY, Stony Brook, on the relationship between the mind and the brain.
Listen in as Dr. Egnor explains how a materialist understanding of the mind undermines human dignity, affecting bioethics, criminal law, and ultimately how we treat one another as human beings.
In this ID the Future podcast, Casey Luskin interviews Jonathan Saenz, Esq., Director of Legislative Affairs & Attorney at the Free Market Foundation in Austin Texas. Mr. Saenz attended this week’s recent meeting of the Texas State Board of Education where members of the public expressed their views on whether Texas public schools should teach students about both the scientific strengths and weaknesses of evolution. Mr. Saenz recounts the predictably false and fallacious arguments made by many Darwinists who tried to convince the Texas State Board of Education to dumb-down evolution education.
This episode of ID the Future features the last in a series of interviews with atheist philosopher of physics Bradley Monton. Professor Monton's perspective enriches and expands the debate over intelligent design, as he discusses whether an ID proponent can be an atheist, the scientific evidence for intelligent design, and the importance of the argument from cosmology.
Professor Monton also shares his experience dealing with Robert Pennock, a Darwinist philosopher of science who had an interesting response when Monton published a paper on the Dover decision, critiquing Pennock. Monton breaks this story for the first time in this interview, but the full tale is told in his forthcoming book, Seeking God in Science: An Atheist Defends Intelligent Design, (Broadview Press, 2009).
On this episode of ID the Future, atheist philosopher of science Bradley Monton turns the tables on Casey Luskin, putting the question to him about the Dover trial. What is the story of Discovery Institute's involvement in that infamous case? Listen in as Professor Monton asks good questions and gets good answers.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin continues his interview with atheist philosopher of science Bradley Monton. Professor Monton discusses his role in "The Great Debate on Intelligent Design" last weekend. Interestingly, the two presenters on the pro-ID side, including Prof. Monton, were non-theists.
Listen is as Prof. Monton shows that the debate over intelligent design is far more nuanced than most portray it.
This episode of ID the Future we're highlighting a new podcast by Discovery Institute senior fellow Wesley J. Smith, called What It Means to Be Human.
Why is human exceptionalism is so important for universal human rights? Smith defines human exceptionalism and explains that there is a war being waged against unique human worth on many fronts, from personhood theory and the animal liberation movement to radical environmentalism and philosophical materialism. Very powerful forces have dedicated themselves to convincing us that we really aren't all that important. Smith examines these attacks and shows why human exceptionalism must be defended for the sake of human rights everywhere.
Mr. Smith has written extensively on human exceptionalism and bioethics, garnering him the Human Life Foundation’s 2008 Great Defender of Human Life Award in October. For more information on Discovery Institute's program in Human Rights and Bioethics, go here.
This episode of ID the Future features part one of Casey Luskin's interview with atheist philosopher of physics Bradley Monton, author of a new book on intelligent design. Prof. Monton has a unique perspective of the debate over intelligent design as an atheist who is trying to elevate the debate.
Professor Monton is debating intelligent design and the existence of God this weekend in Fort Worth, TX. Click here for more information.
On this episode of ID the Future, John West shares the inspiration for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
In his book, Darwin Day in America, West examines the experiments Italian scientist Giovanni Aldini conducted on human corpses. His gruesome work provided the inspiration for Frankenstein and foreshadowed the rise of a virulent strain of materialism that attempted to use science to reduce human beings to mere matter in motion.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin examines a new claim by origin of life theorists who seek to rehabilitate the now-discredited Miller-Urey experiment. If life didn't originate in a "vast primordial soup," did volcanoes perhaps play a role? Listen in as Luskin explains how far "plausible prebiotic conditions" are from making life.
On this episode of ID the Future, Anika Smith interviews Casey Luskin about the controversy over science standards currently brewing in Texas. Why is a group of Darwinists up in arms about the experts selected to review the state's science standards? Luskin exposes the truth behind the Darwinists' claims and finds more than a little hypocrisy in their attacks on textbook authors Stephen Meyer and Ralph Seelke.
Read Discovery Institute's news release about the bogus controversy here.
For continuing coverage of the situation with science standards in Texas, stay tuned to Evolution News & Views.
Today on ID the Future we feature a special video podcast highlighting the new Expelled DVD, out next week. To celebrate, we're giving away 10 free copies of the movie at Evolution News & Views.
What did the critics think of Expelled, how did audiences respond to the film in theaters, and what does Ben Stein have to say about it? Watch this podcast and find out.
This episode of ID the Future features an excerpt of a lecture by CSC Senior Fellow John West on Darwinism and capitalism. Most people associate "social Darwinism" with the ruthless capitalists of the Gilded Age, but West debunks that cultural icon, drawing the connection between Thomas Malthus and Darwin and examining the implications of zero-sum economics in Malthusian theory.
Can conservatives appeal to Darwin's theory to defend capitalism? What about the so-called undesigned "spontaneous order" some conservatives argue is present in free market economics? Listen in to find out.
This episode of ID the Future features a clip from national radio host Michael Medved's intriguing interview with CSC senior fellow and biochemist Michael Behe. How did Behe, author of Darwin's Black Box and The Edge of Evolution first come to doubt Darwin's theory? Listen in and find out.
On this episode of ID the Future, CSC senior fellow and biologist Jonathan Wells joins Casey Luskin to discuss the scientific revolution over intelligent design. Why are some scientists intolerant of new theories? Why do Darwinists refuse to admit any evidence that contradicts Darwin's theory? Listen in as Wells explains why the clash over intelligent design is so sharp, and why he believes intelligent design will win in the end.
This episode of ID the Future features Casey Luskin's third and final interview with Dr. Steve Fuller, professor of sociology at University of Warwick. Here Fuller discusses his role as an expert witness in the Kitzmiller v. Dover trial, where he rebutted the claim that science is committed to naturalism.
Fuller shares how his interest in intelligent design grew out of his research as a historian and philosopher of science into the "demarcation problem" — what is the difference between science and non-science? Open about his personal background as a secular humanist, Fuller's defense of intelligent design as science is robust and thought-provoking. Listen in as he explains why the progress of science is dependent on people who are willing and able to think outside the box of naturalism.
On this episode of ID the Future, CSC’s Casey Luskin is again joined by University of Warwick sociologist Steve Fuller, the author of the recent book, Dissent Over Descent. Highlighting topics from his book, Fuller explains the nature and problem of a scientific consensus on controversial topics, argues that intelligent design is not anti-science (just anti-establishment), criticizes Kenneth Miller’s intelligently designed experiments that supposedly show “natural” selection, and predicts that, as biological study continues to become more like an engineering project, it will be harder for scientists to deny that life is intelligently designed. Listen as Fuller addresses why there is, in fact, dissent over descent.
On this episode of ID the Future, CSC's Casey Luskin interviews Dr. Geoffrey Simmons, author of the book Billions of Missing Links. In the book Simmons shows that as modern science has progressed from the visible to the invisible (microscopic, submicroscopic, genetic, biochemical and genetic) the numbers of missing links have skyrocketed. Every "link" discovered brings many more questions (missing links) than answers. Listen to hear more about science’s missing links, and click here to visit Simmons’ Amazon blog on the subject.
On this episode of ID the Future, CSC’s Casey Luskin is joined by Dr. Steve Fuller, a professor of sociology at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom. Dr. Fuller shares his perspective on the recent forced resignation of the former Director of Education at the Royal Society, Michael Reiss. Reiss is an ordained Anglican Priest, has a doctorate in biology, is currently a professor of science education at the Institute of Education at the University of London, and is widely regarded and respected as an expert in science education. Reiss stepped down from his position as Director of Education due to the controversy over his recently expressed opinions on creationism in the classroom. Listen as Dr. Fuller shares his belief that Reiss was forced to step down merely because he refused to say that creationism was false.
On this episode of ID The Future, CSC’s Casey Luskin interviews Dr. Bert Massie a physicist who worked for many years on the Dept of Defense’s Star Wars project, and for the past dozen years has worked in biotechnology, developing methods of scanning the retinas of infants to test for blindness. Massie explains how it is that after his extensive education and his career in science he has become a skeptic of Darwin, and discusses the evidence for intelligent design in physics, chemistry, and biology. Dr. Massie earned his Ph.D. in Physics from UCLA, and is a signer of the Dissent from Darwinism list.
If you have a Ph.D. in engineering, mathematics, computer science, biology, chemistry, or one of the other natural sciences, and you agree with the following statement, "We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged," then please contact us at cscinfo@discovery.org.
In this episode of ID the Future, CSC’s Anika Smith interviews CSC Fellow Ray Bohlin. Ray Bohlin earned his Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology from the University of Texas at Dallas and is the current Presidents of Probe Ministries. During his academic studies Bohlin developed doubts about evolution that he then explored in his book The Natural Limits to Biological Change, written in 1984. Listen as he explains his skepticism of evolution and offers advice for emerging scientific doubters of Darwin.
On this episode of ID The Future, CSC’s Casey Luskin continues an interview with Rodney LeVake, the plaintiff in the Academic Freedom court case LeVake vs. Independent School District #656. LeVake, a former high school biology teacher, informally expressed doubts about evolution to a colleague who then reported him to the principal. LeVake ended up losing his biology position, not because he taught creationism or intelligent design, but because he committed a thought crime by doubting Darwinism. Listen as LeVake continues his story, explaining the law suit and what happened afterwards.
On this episode of ID The Future, CSC’s Casey Luskin interviews Rodney LeVake, the plaintiff in the Academic Freedom court case LeVake vs. Independent School District #656. LeVake, a former high school biology teacher, informally expressed doubts about evolution to a colleague who then reported him to the principal. LeVake ended up losing his biology position, not because he taught creationism or intelligent design, but merely because he expressed reservations about evolution to a colleague. Listen as he tells his story of clear academic persecution.
On this episode of ID the Future, CSC Research Director Bruce Gordon speaks with Casey Luskin about the evidence for cosmic fine-tuning. With this technical discussion, Dr. Gordon explains some of theoretical and mathematical problems with attempts to dodge the evidence for cosmic fine-tuning such as the “multiverse” hypothesis and string theory. Dr. Gordon explains that, in the end, these objections to cosmic design amount to thinly veiled materialist philosophy that are rife with logical contradictions and a fundamental in ability to explain why something, rather than “absolute nothing,” exists.
Is the universe meaningless as many modern scientists would have us believe? In this episode of ID the Future, CSC’s Robert Crowther reads the prologue from A Meaningful World: How the Arts and Sciences Reveal the Genius of Nature, a book aimed at counteracting this unfortunately pervasive western view. Written by authors Benjamin Wiker and Jonathan Witt, A Meaningful World seeks to act as an “antidote” for the “poison” of the relativism and meaninglessness supposedly existing in our world and proven by science. Listen as Crowther reads from the book’s prologue, telling the tale of an alien park ranger determined to figure out why, in an age of prosperity, humans have lost meaning in their lives.
In this episode of ID the Future, CSC’s Casey Luskin is joined again by Brendan Dixon, a programmer with the Biologic Institute who recently coauthored a paper on his co-developed program, Stylus. Dixon continues the two-part interview by sharing how Stylus was developed, what the authors hope is accomplished by using the program, and where others can take a look at the code itself to understand and see what the authors have done. Listen as Dixon further explains how Stylus can help us better understand the strengths and limits of evolution.
In this episode of ID the Future, CSC’s Casey Luskin is joined by Brendan Dixon, a programmer with the Biologic Institute who recently coauthored a paper on his co-developed program, Stylus. Dixon explains that Stylus is a computer program that is designed to simulate evolutionary processes in proteins. It tests and applies the principles of evolution to determine what evolution can yield, what problems it can solve, and to determine what evolution can and cannot do. Using digital organisms, the program assesses protein fitness due to simulated gene mutation and based on similarities to Chinese characters. Will evolution prove capable of explaining life on earth? Listen as Dixon explains in more detail how Stylus can help us better understand and possibly answer that question.
On this episode of ID the Future, CSC’s Casey Luskin interviews Senior Fellow Michael Behe, the well known author of Darwin’s Black Box, and more recently, The Edge of Evolution. Behe shares his work on the bacterial flagellar motor and explains why, in his view, the flagellum is irreducibly complex. Behe also examines the two currently proposed evolutionary explanations for the assembly of the flagellum, co-option and homology, showing why both proposals fall short in uncovering the origins of this molecular machine.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin interviews Dr. Angus Menuge on his latest research, including his arguments rebutting methodological materialism, a defense of downward mental causation, and a non-materialist theory of information. Listen in as he shares from his experience debating PZ Myers on how neuroscience actually points to the existence of non-material causes.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin interviews Dr. Angus Menuge, professor of philosophy at Concordia University Wisconsin and author of Agents Under Fire, Materialism and the Rationality of Science. Dr. Menuge shares how he got involved in the debate over intelligent design and evolution and what made him a skeptic of Darwinian evolution. Listen in as Dr. Menuge explains what is necessary for the Darwinian account of evolutionary complex systems.
Does evolution have any practical benefits for science? In this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin reveals that the answer, surprisingly, is no. Listen as Luskin discusses past biological discoveries, reviews recent surveys of biologists, and quotes several scientists, including noted Professor of Biology and intelligent design critic Jerry Coyne. All three sources agree: the theory of evolution has yielded few practical benefits for scientific discovery.
In this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin explains why many scientists oppose intelligent design. He argues that most of the objections to ID rest on false caricatures and misunderstandings of the theory. Is ID just a negative argument against evolution? Does ID necessarily appeal to a God-of-the-Gaps? Is ID an attempt to disguise theology as science? Listen as Casey addresses these questions and shows how ID is a positive and scientific argument that infers the best explanation: intelligent design.
On this episode of ID The Future, Senior Fellow Jonathan Wells counters the Darwinian claim that humans are accidents of biology and the result of unguided natural processes like natural selection and survival of the fittest. Listen as Wells explains why Darwinism is a materialist creation myth that three-quarters of Americans are correct in rejecting.
This episode of ID the Future features an excerpt from Dr. John West’s opening comments at “Evolution and Intelligent Design: An Exchange,” a panel at a recent conference sponsored by the New Hampshire Humanities Council. Here Dr. West outlines the three most important things people should know about the intelligent design and evolution debate.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin continues an interview with leading intelligent design theorist and CSC Senior Fellow William Dembski. Together, Dembski and Luskin address the three most common objections to design: that it is improper to infer design based on unlikely probabilities, that dysfunctional or suboptimal biological structures disprove that they were designed, and that intelligent design is nothing more than repacked creationism.
Touching on such topics like pattern detection, design constraints, philosopher Immanuel Kant, and theology, Dembski shows that there are logical and reasonable answers to these objections and that intelligent design is a useful and scientific theory.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin interviews leading intelligent design theorist and CSC Senior Fellow William Dembski. A mathematician and philosopher, Dr. Dembski is also a prolific writer with 3 books forthcoming this year:
If we still have the origin of life problem, can one be an intellectually fulfilled atheist? Would the early church fathers accept theistic evolution? What should pro-ID students do to get involved? Tune in and find out.
On this episode of ID The Future, Casey Luskin speaks with biophysicist and author Cornelius Hunter about naturalism, the dogma of evolution, and his new book Science’s Blind Spot. According to Hunter, naturalism predominates in modern science and is assumed to be capable of explaining every phenomenon in the universe. Hunter traces the historical development of this mindset, and investigates the usefulness and limitations of naturalistic science. He also analyzes the interface between naturalism and Darwinian evolution.
About Dr. Cornelius G. Hunter Dr. Hunter is an engineer and biophysicist. He received his doctorate in biophysics and computational biology from the University of Illinois. Hunter has authored three books related to science, theology, and philosophy: his most recent book, Science’s Blind Spot: The Unseen Religion of Scientific Naturalism; Darwin’s God: Evolution and the Problem of Evil; and Darwin’s Proof: The Triumph of Religion over Science. All three of his books can be purchased through Amazon.com.
This episode of ID the Future features part two of an interview with Dr. Charles Thaxton, one of the first intelligent design scientists in the modern ID movement.
Critics of intelligent design often try to frame ID as a political response to court rulings striking down the teaching of creationism. Today origin of life theorist and chemist Charles Thaxton tells the true history of intelligent design as a modern scientific movement fueled by new discoveries and critical examination of the evidence by open minds. Listen in as Dr. Thaxton explains what led him to ID and tells the story behind Of Pandas and People, the textbook that so disturbed Eugenie Scott because "it looks legitimate!"
Charles Thaxton is a member of the American Chemical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Scientific Affiliation and a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemistry.
On this episode of ID The Future we feature a short clip about homology -- the idea that there is structural identity and similarity of parts in distinct species such as the pentadactyl plan of the human hand, the wing of a bird, and the flipper of a seal. Scientists such as David Berlinski, Paul Nelson and Stephen Meyer argue that Neo-Darwinism explains some of the facts of homology but leaves many significant anomalies unexplained.
This episode of ID the Future features part one of an interview by Casey Luskin with CSC Fellow Charles Thaxton, co-author of The Mystery of Life's Origin (1984), a foundational work for the intelligent design movement.
Listen in as Dr. Thaxton takes us back to the first stirrings of the modern intelligent design movement and discusses the chemical challenge to naturalistic origin of life theories.
Charles Thaxton is a member of the American Chemical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Scientific Affiliation and a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemistry.
This episode of ID the Future features remarks by Stephen Meyer at Freedomfest conference in Las Vegas.
What do intelligent design, evolution, information and purple people eaters all have in common? Well, they all took front stage at Freedomfest in Las Vegas last week when ID proponents Stephen Meyer and George Gilder squared off against Darwinists Michael Shermer and Ronald Bailey in debating whether there is scientific evidence for intelligent design in nature. Listen in as Stephen Meyer shares his opening remarks for the crowd.
On this video episode of IDTF, Senior Fellow Dr. John West takes a look at free market economics and business. It is often claimed that the free market operates like biological natural selection because the best ideas and products survive while others die out. However, West argues that the success of products and ideas is the result of intelligent decisions in designing products and developing new ideas. To mix economics and evolution together is to misunderstand both.
On this episode of ID The Future we have a short clip of Dr. Jay Richards, discussing the question who designed the designer?
Critics of intelligent design theory often throw this question out thinking to highlight a weakness in ID. Richards shows that the theory’s inability to identify the designer is not a weakness,
but a strength. ID does not identify the designer is because ID limits its
claims to those which can be established by empirical evidence. As CSC Senior Fellow Dr. Michael Behe puts it: " [A] scientific argument for design in biology does not reach that far. Thus while I argue for design, the question of the identity of the designer is left open."
In this episode of IDTF, CSC’s Logan Gage discusses the “new” atheists’ approach to religion as a byproduct of evolution. Citing new research which shows that some religious beliefs and ways of processing are innate and are thus not accumulated by experience, Gage explains why the “new” atheists’ views are unfairly biased against religious beliefs and why they are ultimately self defeating.
In this episode of IDTF CSC’s Logan Gage takes another look at David Berlinski’s The Devil’s Delusion. Gage reviews the book and examines how Berlinski masterfully takes apart the arrogant claims of the new atheists and then calls capital ‘S’ Science --which has supposedly proven there is no God-- back to earth.
Critics of intelligent design sometimes claim they are defending the principles of American Founding Father Thomas Jefferson in trying to ban discussions of intelligent design. In the words of one writer, “Thomas Jefferson makes it quite clear that there was not a consensus of support among the authors of the Constitution... to support theological doctrines such as intelligent design.” But would Thomas Jefferson himself agree? In this special July 4th edition of ID the Future, Discovery Institute Senior Fellow John West explores the real views of Jefferson on intelligent design.
Many credit Alfred Russel Wallace, who along with Darwin co-presented the theory of natural selection in letters to the Linnean Society of London, 150 years ago this year. But few seem to remember that, contrary to Darwin, Wallace actually believed that it was possible to detect design in nature. So, what would modern Darwin defenders make of Wallace today?
On this episode of ID The Future we feature a short series of comments from Dr. Ed Pelzer on the status of current theories of origin of life research. Dr. Pelzer holds a PhD in oceanography from Scripps Oceanographic Institution at UCSD, and was a researcher at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) for over twenty years.
These comments are from the new documentary film Teaching Origins Objectively available through the Intelligent Design Network.
On this episode of ID The Future, Dennis Wagner of ARN discusses how ID inspires the arts and the specific material on idarts.org. This is part two of a series on idarts.org,/b>, a website which pushes the frontier for ID theory and opens the discussion for design to the metaphysical and philosophical questions raised by ID.
On this episode of ID The Future we have Dennis Wagner, executive director of the Access Research Network. Dennis discusses the launch of ARN's new website on intelligent design and the arts, www.idarts.org. Dennis explains how artists such as Jody Sjogren reflect the greater design of the universe in their work. IDarts includes examples from literature, poetry, music, theater, film and painting to explore this exciting new movement.
On this episode of ID the Future, astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez joins Casey Luskin for an interview, discussing the Copernican Principle and his latest research on extrasolar planets. Is our place in the universe special or purposeful? Listen in as Dr. Gonzalez answers that question and shares his future research plans.
On this episode of ID The Future the CSC's Robert Crowther explores the growing number of claims that Darwinian evolution is the foundation of biology, the backbone of science, and the source for many new biodiscoveries. Are the assertions true? Is evolution the cornerstone of the biological sciences? Let's find out.
On this episode of ID the Future, Robert Crowther interviews Discovery Institute senior fellow David DeWolf, a leading expert on the legalities of teaching evolution who helped shape the sample academic freedom legislation available at www.AcademicFreedomPetition.com.
Dr. DeWolf explains the idea behind the academic freedom bill currently moving forward in Louisiana and what it means to teach the controversy over evolution. Should teachers have the freedom to treat Darwinism as an open and interesting question? Listen in and decide for yourself.
With the recent news coverage on teaching strengths and weaknesses, we thought it worth taking a look at a science textbook that teaches the whole story on evolution.
This episode of ID the Future examines the new textbook Explore Evolution: Arguments For and Against Neo-Darwinism. This is the first biology textbook to present the scientific evidence both for and against key aspects of Darwinian evolution.
Explore Evolution promotes inquiry-based learning, encouraging students to participate in the process of discovery, deliberation, and argument that scientists use to form their theories. For more information, visit the textbook website at www.exploreevolution.com.
Listen as CSC’s Rob Crowther explains what makes this new science textbook so revolutionary.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin examines how the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has attacked Expelled, getting involved in movie criticism and religion promotion. With example after example, Luskin shows how the AAAS has admitted then denied intolerance towards scientists who dissent from Darwinism, prompting the question: is this about science or is it about politics? Listen in and judge for yourself.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin reports from Baton Rouge, LA, with Louisiana College professor of biology Wade Warren, who recently testified in favor of the Louisiana Academic Freedom bill.
Dr. Warren discusses his research on circadian rhythms and his skepticism of Darwin as a professional biologist, explaining why he supports academic freedom for teachers and sharing his own story of what happened when he tried to question Darwin as a graduate student.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin continues his review of the recent academic freedom bill hearings in Louisiana. Of particular interest this time is Dr. Barbara Forrest, a professor of philosophy with an undeniable distaste for anything critical of Darwinism, who, in her testimony, demonstrated a deep disdain for the Discovery Institute and its insidious conspiracy to undermine American science education. Too bad, as Luskin puts it, her claims are “exceedingly and demonstrably wrong.” And so, pointing out her flaws one-by-one, Luskin sets the record straight on the so-called conspiracy.
On this episode of ID the Future Casey Luskin gives his account of the hearings in Louisiana last week, where a bill supporting the rights of teachers to teach the controversy passed unanimously out of the House Committee on Education.
Listen in as professional biologists, legal experts, and educators weigh in on the need to protect academic freedom in the debate over evolution.
On this episode of ID the Future Casey Luskin reports from Baton Rouge, LA with Dr. Caroline Crocker, who recently testified in favor of academic freedom before the House Education Committee.
Listen as Dr. Crocker shares why she thinks evolution academic freedom bill's like the one proposed in Louisiana and other states is so important for scientists who are pressured to "toe the line" on evolution, and for protecting free scientific inquiry.
Since coming online in May 2006, ID The Future has tried to keep to a consistent production schedule. However, in the past few days you will have noticed a lack of new material and problems in accessing past episodes. Podomatic, the company hosting our podcast has had a serious technical problem of their own that has resulted in our being unable to upload or distribute any new IDTF episodes. Hopefully, we will be back online soon. Thank you for your patience and continued support.
On this episode of ID the Future we interview Dr. Rebecca Keller, who discusses the nature of science and interpretation and how it applies to science education.
Dr. Keller holds a Ph.D. in Biophysical Chemistry from the University of New Mexico, spent many years doing biochemical research on molecular machines and is an outspoken proponent of teaching students about both the scientific strengths and weaknesses of Darwinian evolution. As the CEO of Gravitas Publications , she publishes the Real Science for Kids textbook series, providing textbooks that teach kids objectivity and critical analysis in the core disciplines of science. For more information, visit Gravitas Publications.
In this ID the Future Podcast, Casey Luskin interviews Dr. Rebecca Keller, a signer of the Dissent from Darwinism list, about her views on biological evolution. Dr. Keller holds a Ph.D. in Biophysical Chemistry from the University of New Mexico, spent many years doing biochemical research on molecular machines, and is an outspoken proponent of teaching students about both the scientific strengths and weaknesses of Darwinian evolution. She is also the CEO of Gravitas Publications , which publishes the Real Science for Kids textbook series, providing textbooks that teach kids objective science in the core disciplines of science.
On this episode of ID the Future, Discovery Institute Senior Fellow Benjamin Wiker continues the discussion begun in the last podcast. Continuing through his survey of his new book, 10 Books That Screwed Up the World: And 5 Others That Didn't Help, Dr. Wiker sets his sights on Charles Darwin's The Descent of Man and its clear connections to the ideologies of Friedrich Nietzsche, Adolf Hitler, and Margaret Sanger. Spotlighting Darwin's own words in context, Wiker demonstrates how the reprehensible philosophies of these three figures were the direct descendants of Darwin's own thoughts.
On this episode of ID the Future, Discovery Institute Senior Fellow Dr. Benjamin Wiker discusses his new book, 10 Books That Screwed Up the World: And 5 Others That Didn't Help. In this first of a two-part series, Wiker starts his skim through the book's list of the ten philosophical works most responsible for cultural decay. Those on the docket today are Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the two philosophers, according to Wiker, whose irresponsible inversions of morality have served as the foundation for our culture's increasingly animalistic notions of human identity, purpose, and relationship.
On this Episode of ID the Future, Anika Smith reports on the CSC-supported, independent research facility, Biologic Institute. Headed by Dr. Douglas Axe, Biologic's purpose is to scientifically put the claims of Neo-Darwinian evolution and intelligent design to the test in a laboratory setting. Work is already well under way, with Discovery Institute Fellows conducting biological studies to test each theory's assumptions from an unapologetically ID frame of reference. This should prove to be a huge addition to the cause of intelligent design.
On this episode of ID The Future, Anika Smith reports on the nationwide movement in support of academic freedom with updates on legislation currently being considered in five U.S. states that will allow teachers room to teach the controversy surrounding evolutionary theory.
With a bill quickly gaining ground in Michigan this week, continued vehemence for and against the film Expelled: No Intelligence allowed, and a growing list of Academic Freedom Petition supporters, the movement has clearly lost none of its momentum.
What happens when a professor decides to present students with evidence that challenges Darwin's theory? Find out on this episode of ID the Future, where we've highlighted comments from biochemist Nancy Bryson, a professor who knows firsthand the importance of academic freedom on college campuses.
Dr. Bryson was removed from her position as head of the division of natural sciences at Mississippi University for Women when she presented criticisms of evolution to a group of honor students. Listen as she recounts the chilling effect the university's censors' actions had on academic freedom and students' ability to question and engage in their material.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin responds systematically to Michael Shermer's recent critique of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. Shermer, founder of The Skeptic Society and editor of Skeptic magazine, denies the film's claims that scientists Richard Sternberg and Guillermo Gonzalez were unfairly persecuted for their support of intelligent design. After a careful review of the documented facts, Luskin proves the accuracy of the film and concludes that Shermer ought to try truly being a skeptic by doubting and investigating all parties equally.
To read Casey Luskin’s complete rebuttal to Michael Shermer, click here.
For more information on the debates surrounding Expelled, click here.
On this episode of ID the Future, Dr. David Berlinski shares with Casey Luskin about his star turn in Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed and the controversy surrounding the film, which opens today.
Listen in as Dr. Berlinski explains the connection between Darwin and Hitler and his predictions for evolutionary biology, and be sure to go see him this weekend in Ben Stein's Expelled.
On this episode of ID the Future, Anika Smith reports on Discovery Institute's newly expanded summer seminars on intelligent design.
In 2007, the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture launched its Summer Seminar on intelligent design — an intensive mentoring program for college students to gain exposure to the science of intelligent design first hand from researchers and scientists. The 2008 summer seminars on intelligent design will cultivate new leaders in the intelligent design movement among the next generation.
Applications to the summer seminars will be accepted until April 30, 2008. For more information, or to apply, click here.
On this episode of ID the Future, CSC’s Casey Luskin interviews Iowa State University alumnus Dave Eaton on FreeGonzalez.com, a new organization created by ISU alumni concerned about supporting renowned astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez, who was recently denied tenure at ISU.
Dave Eaton explains how FreeGonzalez.com came about and why it’s necessary to support scientists such as Dr. Gonzalez who have been expelled.
FreeGonzalez.com is dedicated to telling the story of Dr. Gonzalez’s struggle for academic freedom and to providing the financial resources to support his continuing research.
On this episode of ID The Future, Casey Luskin continues the series begun in the previous podcast (Intelligent Design 101: State of the Debate), rebutting an argument for common ancestry between humans and chimpanzees in Dr. Francis Collins' book The Language of God. Taken from a recently finished appendix to Intelligent Design 101: Leading Experts Explain Key Issues, Luskin responds to the notion that similar chromosomal structure between the two species is proof of a common lineage by saying plainly that the discovery is equally compatible with a theory of common design.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin announces the release of Intelligent Design 101: Leading Experts Explain the Key Issues, a new anthology that tackles intelligent design from scientific, philosophical, and legal perspectives. Luskin shares from an insightful new essay by Phillip Johnson about the state of the debate over intelligent design and evolution.
On this episode of ID the Future Logan Gage interviews Dr. Jonathan Wells on his recent review of Francis Collins' The Language of God, addressing questions of common ancestry, mistaken definitions of intelligent design, and Collins' use of so-called "junk"-DNA to advance a "Darwin-of-the-gaps" argument.
On this episode of ID the Future, Jonathan Wells discusses Darwinism's war on traditional Christianity with Casey Luskin. Listen in as Dr. Wells explains how Darwinism became a weapon of materialist philosophy to discredit traditional Christianity.
On this episode of ID the Future, Logan Gage interviews professor of neurosurgery at SUNY, Stony Brook Michael Egnor. Dr. Egnor discusses his current research into cerebral blood flow and the buffering of the brain from the force of blood pumped by the heart. Dr. Egnor's approach to this problem is that of an engineer, using the design inference to understand how the brain protects itself from the pulsatility of the arterial blood flow of the heart.
On this episode of ID The Future you will hear from Robin Brown a Florida school teacher who is supporting the Academic Freedom Act recently introduced in the state legislature. Robin spoke at a press conference about the legislation which also included Discovery Institute's Casey Luskin and star of the coming film Expelled, Ben Stein.
If you'd like to hear for yourself what was said at the press conference in support of Florida's proposed Academic Freedom Act in Tallahassee you can download an MP3 part 1 here and part 2 here. Part 1 features a number of speakers including Rep. Hays describing his bill. Part 2 features CSC's Casey Luskin and Ben Stein at the end, among others.)
On this episode of ID the Future, CSC's Logan Gage interviews professor of neurosurgery at SUNY, Stony Brook Michael Egnor on the mind-body problem and promissory materialism.
Dr. Egnor explains how materialism has not been able to answer the "hard problem of consciousness." Instead, as promissory materialism, it claims that materialism as a theory will eventually be able to explain what it has yet to explain at all.
This episode of ID the Future features breaking news from the battle over science education in Florida, where anti-academic freedom activists are pushing to censor science education. Casey Luskin explains what SB 2692, the Academic Freedom Act, really entails and why it's important to sign the petition at www.academicfreedompetition.com.
On this episode of ID the Future, Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez joins Casey Luskin for an interview, delightfully holding forth on the Copernican Principle and his latest research regarding extrasolar planets. Listen in as Dr. Gonzalez also shares about his experience being interviewed for the upcoming film, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed."
On this episode of ID the Future, CSC’s Casey Luskin takes a look at the medical field and how it relates to Darwinism. Is Darwinian evolutionary theory a big part of how doctors think and the way they practice medicine?. According to Professor of Neurosurgery, Dr. Michael Egnor, the answer is no. The modern practice of medicine does not rely at all on neo-Darwinism. In the past, especially in the early 20th century, explains Egnor, the medical field did get a large dose of Darwinism, most noticeably in the area of eugenics. Egnor goes on to show that there has been, however, no contribution by applying Darwinian evolutionary theory to modern medicine or medical research aside from eugenics.
On this episode of ID the Future, acclaimed author and Discovery Institute senior fellow David Klinghoffer takes a look at the academic freedom — or lack thereof — for scientists who support intelligent design, scientists who are forced to don disguises and go underground in order to protect their careers.
This podcast is based on Mr. Klinghoffer's commentary in Townhall Magazine, "Evolution's Glass Ceiling.
On this episode of ID The Future Dr. Michael Egnor, professor of neurosurgery and pediatrics at State University of New York, Stony Brook, tells his story of how he became a full-blown skeptic of Darwinian evolution. Dr. Egnor explains how he originally had internal doubt about the ability of Darwinism to produce new biological information. These doubts were then brought directly to the surface when he read books by leading ID-theorists like William Dembski and Michael Behe.
Why is the science establishment against critical analysis? As Rob Crowther explains in this episode of ID the Future, if students are to learn science, and not dogma, they must be free to analyze the evidence-- both for and against evolution.
In this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin discusses The Design of Life: Discovering Signs of Intelligence in Biological Systems with author Dr. William Dembski. Is design in nature just an "illusion", as Richard Dawkins proclaims? In this latest publication, Dembski and co-author Dr. Jonathan Wells show the answer is "no". Biologists have and continue to use the assumption of design successfully, precisely because design in biology is not an illusion but real.
As Casey Luskin reveals in this episode of ID the Future, eminent biologists have said that they must continually remind themselves that what they see in biology evolved, and was not designed. But now engineers are turning to biology to replace human technology because biological pathways provide superior solutions to biomedical-technological needs. Is this trend more consistent with an evolved biosphere, or an intelligent designed one? Listen to this podcast and decide for yourself.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin examines a recent editorial by Nature magazine praising the NAS booklet on "Science, Evolution, and Creationism." Luskin argues that Nature's rhetorical and political defense of evolution has increased to the point that it threatens the prestige of science in society and endangering the academic freedom of scientists who dissent from Darwinism.
On this episode of ID the Future, Rob Crowther and Casey Luskin discuss the new website Discovery Institute launched in cooperation with Motive Marketing last week, www.AcademicFreedomPetition.com.
AcademicFreedomPetition.com is where you can show your support for the rights of teachers and students to learn all about evolution, and to protect the freedom of scientists to research alternative scientific theories such as intelligent design. Supporters of academic freedom can go to www.academicfreedompetition.com to sign the Academic Freedom Petition and stand up for science.
For years, supporters of Darwin's theory claimed to oppose teaching religion in the nation's science classrooms. But just in time for Darwin Day 2008, leading evolution proponents including the National Academy of Sciences, the Public Broadcasting Service, and the National Center for Science Education have been cynically promoting religious instruction in schools as a way of defusing opposition to Darwinian evolution. Dr. John West, author of Darwin Day in America, discusses Darwinists latest efforts to insert religion into the classroom.
For years, supporters of Darwin's theory claimed to oppose teaching religion in the nation's science classrooms. But just in time for Darwin Day 2008, leading evolution proponents including the National Academy of Sciences, the Public Broadcasting Service, and the National Center for Science Education have been cynically promoting religious instruction in schools as a way of defusing opposition to Darwinian evolution. Dr. John West, author of Darwin Day in America, discusses Darwinists latest efforts to insert religion into the classroom.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin interviews Bobby Maddex on Salvo Magazine's latest issue, which features a primer on intelligent design. Several luminaries in the ID community contributed to this issue, including Caroline Crocker, Larry Caldwell, Mike Egnor, Casey Luskin, Jay Richards, Denyse O’Leary, William Dembski, and many more.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin interviews Fred Cutting, a member of the Framers' Committee for Florida's new science standards who recently submitted a minority report suggesting that the new standards encourage students to "learn why some scientists give scientific critiques of standard models of neo-Darwinian evolution." Mr. Cutting is a retired engineer who recently published an editorial in the The Tallahassee Democrat, "Teach Critiques of Darwin, Too."
On this episode of ID the Future Rob Crowther interviews Expelled Associate Producer Mark Mathis. Mathis was involved with Expelled early on, interviewing many of the scientists in the film. Listen in as he shares his experiences with ID the Future.
On this episode of ID the Future, Logan Paul Gage reviews Alister McGrath's The Dawkins Delusion, the first book-length critique of Richard Dawkins' infamous The God Delusion. Listen in as Gage explains where McGrath succeeds in writing "with a scholarly care and graciousness," but fails to address Darwinism, assuming instead that theism is compatible with Darwin's theory.
On this episode of ID the Future, biologist Luman Wing explains to Casey Luskin about the predictions of an intelligent design perspective in biology. Wing discusses junk-DNA, the irreducible complexity of the blood clotting cascade, and the implications of ID and Darwinism on personalized medicine.
In this ID the Future podcast, Casey Luskin interviews Dr. Luman Wing, a signer of the Dissent From Darwinism list. Dr. Wing discusses his support for systems biology and the reasons he thinks this approach to biology lends support to the theory of intelligent design.
On this episode of ID the Future, Anika Smith interviews CSC program officer Casey Luskin on the history of the National Academy of Sciences report, titled "Science, Evolution, and Creationism." Luskin takes us back to the first two editions of this booklet, tracing the evolution of this document by the NAS's design.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin interviews Luman Wing, a signer of the Dissent from Darwinism list who has spent many years working in biotechnology. Dr. Wing recounts his observations as an undergraduate studying under Dr. Dean Kenyon at San Francisco State University at the time that Dr. Kenyon underwent his intellectual de-conversion from Darwinism, and rescinded his textbook promoting the natural chemical origin of life.
On this episode of ID the Future, CSC’s Casey Luskin interviews Dennis Wagner and Kevin Wirth of the Access Research Network on their Top Ten News Stories of 2007. In this segment, they discuss some of the scientific discoveries of 2007 that debunk common Darwinist myths and the ongoing academic persecution of supporters of intelligent design. See ARN.org for details.
In this ID the Future Podcast, CSC’s Casey Luskin interviews Dennis Wagner and Kevin Wirth of the Access Research Network discussing their Top Ten News Stories of 2007. In this segment, they discuss some of the scientific discoveries of 2007 that posed challenges to evolution but supported intelligent design. See ARN.org for details.
On this episode of ID the Future, CSC policy analyst Anika Smith takes a critical look at the National Academy of Sciences report on evolution, published last week. The report, titled "Science, Evolution, and Creationism," manages to celebrate evolution as an unassailable truth, completely misrepresent intelligent design, and rehash the same standard Darwinist arguments which have been refuted by critical scientists time and again.
CSC senior fellow and author of Darwin Day in America, Dr. John West, reports that to the dismay of many, religion is becoming one of the defining issues of the presidential election campaign. From the scrutiny of Mike Huckabee's views about evolution and Mitt Romney's Mormonism on the Republican side, to unseemly e-mails questioning the religious upbringing of Barack Obama among Democrats, religious faith is once again front and center in electoral politics.
According the CSC senior fellow John West author of Darwin Day in America, to the dismay of many, religion is becoming one of the defining issues of the presidential election campaign. From the scrutiny of Mike Huckabee's views about evolution and Mitt Romney's Mormonism on the Republican side, to unseemly e-mails questioning the religious upbringing of Barack Obama among Democrats, religious faith is once again front and center in electoral politics. West looks at this interesting interesection of policy and politics.
On this episode of ID the Future, Rob Crowther interviews Dr. Ralph Seelke, who explains the differences between Micro- and Macro-evolution and shares about his current evolution research.
Ralph Seelke received his Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Minnesota and the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in 1981, was a postdoctoral researcher at the Mayo Clinic until 1983, and has been an Associate Professor or Professor in the Department of Biology and Earth Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Superior since 1989. An authority on evolution’s capabilities and limitations in producing new functions in bacteria, Prof. Seelke recently co-authored the science textbook Explore Evolution.
On this episode of ID the Future Casey Luskin explains how Texas Darwinists would rather impose dogmatism on evolution education than adopt an inquiry-based approach to science education.
On this episode of ID The Future we're featuring a short segment from a debate between CSC senior fellow and biologist, Jonathan Wells, and Massimo Pigliucci, Professor of Ecology and Evolution, State University of New York at Stony Brook that appeared on PBS on the program, Uncommon Knowledge. In this segment, moderated by Peter Robinson, they discuss whether or not intelligent design is science and what exactly is the definition of science. You can watch or listen to the full debate at the Uncommon Knowledge website.
On this episode of ID the Future, John West takes a look at the eugenics movement of the early twentieth century and how it drew direct inspiration from Darwinian biology and the writings of Charles Darwin himself. The eugenics movement was no fringe effort, but was the view of mainstream science and espoused by those at Harvard, Princeton, and the National Academy of Science.
On this episode of ID the Future, CSC policy analyst Anika Smith looks at the story behind the Guillermo Gonzalez tenure case at Iowa State University.
Emails obtained with a public records request by Discovery Institute revealed a concerted effort to force astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez out of ISU for one reason: his support of intelligent design.
When ID skeptics object to the arguments of ID proponents that the incredible fine tuning of the universe is evidence for design they often turn to speculating about an infinite number of universes in which ours just happened to win the cosmic lottery and evolve to sustain life. Is that hypothesis testable? Is it science? CSC’s Casey Luskin explores whether or not there is a double standard in the wider scientific community when it comes to intelligent design and testability.
On this episode of ID The Future, CSC’s Casey Luskin interviews noted astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez about a recent cosmology article by Lawrence M. Krauss and Robert J. Scherrer (Case Western Reserve University, and Vanderbilt University respectively) titled The Return of a Static Universe and the End of Cosmology. The paper is inviting a great deal of comment since it deals with the debate over the big bang and the static universe, and says extrapolating forward in time, in the future we will be incapable of determining the true nature of the universe.
According to Dr. Gonzalez the authors are saying that future observers will mistakenly believe they are living in a static universe since current measurement tools will not be available to them. At some point in the future the measurements we are able to make today will not be able to be made because of natural changes in the universe. This coincides with Gonzales’ Privileged Planet hypothesis which in part says that not only are we in the right place in the universe to make important scientific discoveries, we are also in the right time in the universe.
On this episode of ID The Future CSC's Dr. West explores how early 20th century Darwinists encouraged employee selection be based on natural selection. He explains how even skin color, nose size and digestive system could help employers understand potential employees moral stature and working capabilities. For more visit the website for Dr. West’s new book Darwin Day in America.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin interviews National Academy of Sciences member Phillip Skell on his advice for young scientists who may be Darwin-skeptics. Dr. Skell has been outspoken in his stand for academic freedom and against intolerance.
Philip S. Skell is Emeritus Evan Pugh Professor at Pennsylvania State University and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Skell is a signer of Discovery Institute’s “Dissent from Darwinism” list.
On this episode of ID the Future, National Academy of Sciences member Phillip Skell shares his story of becoming a Darwin-skeptic with Casey Luskin, explaining how his experience in antibiotic research and the questions he posed to his colleagues inspired his 2005 article in The Scientist, “Why Do We Invoke Darwin?: Evolutionary theory contributes little to experimental biology.”
Philip S. Skell is Emeritus Evan Pugh Professor at Pennsylvania State University and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Skell is a signer of Discovery Institute’s “Dissent from Darwinism” list.
In this ID the Future podcast, Casey Luskin interviews Philip S. Skell, Emeritus Evan Pugh Professor at Pennsylvania State University and member of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Skell discusses his research, which has included work on reactive intermediates in chemistry, free-atom reactions, and reactions of free carbonium ions.
Darwinists often point out that Darwin’s theory is supported by a majority of scientists and so only the evidence that supports the theory should be presented to students. On this episode of ID The Future, CSC’s John West explains that when it comes to setting public policy, dissenting views on science can be critically important and should be encouraged.
Perhaps the most celebrated defense attorney in the first half of the twentieth century, Clarence Darrow is best known for his role at the Scopes “monkey trial” in the 1920s. But he also was an early champion of the idea that criminals should not be held responsible for their crimes. On this episode of ID The Future, CSC's John West explores Darrow’s worldview of deterministic materialism.
For more on Darrow and other materialists be sure to check out West's new book, Darwin Day in America.
On this episode of ID The Future, CSC’s Casey Luskin interviews Phillip Johnson (Jefferson E. Peyser Professor of Law, emeritus School of Law University of California, Berkeley) author of the bestseller Darwin on Trial, and one of the founders of the modern intelligent design movement.
Johnson recently was interviewed for, and will be included in, NOVA’s program about the Dover intelligent design program, “Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial.” Johnson weighs in with his thoughts about the ruling issued by Judge Jones, about the scientific status of intelligent design, and his views on PBS’ teaching guide about intelligent design and whether or not it is injecting religion into the classroom.
The new website launched today, intelligentdesign.org, provides people searching for information about intelligent design (ID) online an easy way to access the many leading ID websites that are out there. On this episode of IDTF, CSC's Robert Crowther explains the need for such a website, and highlights some of its main features.
On this episode of ID the Future, John West shares from his new book, Darwin Day in America, about Italian criminologist Cesare Lombroso and the New School of Criminal Anthropology. Lombroso and his disciples contended that criminal behavior could be explained largely as a throwback to earlier stages of Darwinian evolution. Listen in as West illustrates the consequences of applying Darwin's theory to criminal justice.
This episode of ID the Future features an interview with Center for Science and Culture's Rob Crowther, who explains the problems with NOVA's new special program "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial," a special 2-hour program devoted to the Dover trial on PBS next week. Crowther also explains Discovery Institute's policy on interviews and shares his experience negotiating terms with NOVA's producers.
Skepticism of Darwinian evolution remains high, with well over half of American’s doubtful that Darwin’s theory adequately explains the intricate complexity of the natural world that they see around them. Most Darwinists claim that such skepticism is motivated simply by personal religious beliefs. On this episode of IDTF, CSC’s Casey Luskin shows that for many students today the skepticism is based on science.
On this special Halloween edition of ID the Future, John West shares the inspiration for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
In his new book, Darwin Day in America, West examines the experiments of Italian scientist Giovanni Aldini, conducted on human corpses. His gruesome experiments provided the inspiration for Frankenstein and foreshadowed the rise of a virulent strain of materialism that attempted to use science to reduce human beings to mere matter in motion.
On this episode of IDTF CSC's Casey Luskin looks at common misrepresentations of intelligent design in the political and legal arenas. Comparing the comments from critics to the actual writings of ID proponents it is clear that critics are knowingly misrepresenting intelligent design in order to attack the theory.
This episode of ID the Future features an interview with Dr. Rebecca Keller, who discusses the nature of science and interpretation and how it applies to science education. Her textbooks focus on the practice of science, and are available at Gravitas Publications.
Dr. Keller holds a Ph.D. in Biophysical Chemistry from the University of New Mexico, spent many hears doing biochemical research on molecular machines, and is an outspoken proponent of teaching students about both the scientific strengths and weaknesses of Darwinian evolution. She is also the CEO of Gravitas Publications , which publishes the Real Science for Kids textbook series, providing textbooks that teach kids objective science in the core disciplines of science.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin discusses how Newsweek columnist Sharon Begley muffles the cosmic design inference and forces her philosophical blinders on her readers. Luskin shows how the evidence for fine-tuning is driving materialists like Begley to make extreme proposals — and to hide the alternative explanations — implicitly admitting that there is something about our universe needing explanation by an external cause.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin interviews Dr. Scott Chambers, who discusses his current research and his interest in the debate over evolution, which began in college and continues through this day.
Dr. Chambers explains how the evidence for intelligent design from the fine-tuning of the universe and the fundamental constants of physics "smacks of design," and he addresses the multiverse hypothesis.
In this ID the Future Podcast, Casey Luskin interviews Dr. Rebecca Keller, a signer of the Dissent from Darwinism list, about her views on biological evolution. Dr. Keller holds a Ph.D. in Biophysical Chemistry from the University of New Mexico, spent many hears doing biochemical research on molecular machines, and is an outspoken proponent of teaching students about both the scientific strengths and weaknesses of Darwinian evolution. She is also the CEO of Gravitas Publications , which publishes the Real Science for Kids textbook series, providing textbooks that teach kids objective science in the core disciplines of science.
On this episode of ID The Future we're featuring an interview by CSC public policy officer Casey Luskin with Seth Cooper (himself an attorney and former public policy officer with the CSC) about strange sordid tale of the mistreatment of the Foundation for Thought & Ethics throughout the Dover intelligent design trial. Next month PBS will air a NOVA mockumentary that alleges to tell the true story about the Dover trial. Knowing PBS' past record on the issue of evolution and intelligent design it is unlikely that they will tell the whole story. Here then is one important piece to be aware of.
On this episode of IDTF, Casey Luskin celebrates Banned Books Week by nominating Dr. Marks's Evolutionary Informatics Lab as the Banned Item of the Year.
Banned books week is supposed to be a celebration of tolerance and diversity. In that spirit, Luskin discusses the research papers Marks posted on his site before Baylor University shut it down, explaining just what was so controversial that Baylor had to ban it.
On this special recast episode of ID The Future, CSC senior fellow Dr. John West examines whether or not Darwinian evolution supports a traditional view of morality as is often claimed. In his new book Darwin's Conservatives, Dr. West addresses how Darwin’s theory, contrary to some of its conservative champions, manifestly does not reinforce the teachings of conservatism. According to West, Darwinism promotes moral relativism rather than traditional morality.
On this episode of ID The Future, CSC's Casey Luskin interviews senior fellow David Berlinski about the Council of Europe's recent resolution conflating intelligent design with creationism and denouncing both. The CoE is a non-governmental body in Europe that aims to protect human rights, but its resolutions carry no force of law.
Berlinski, a mathematician who lives and works in Paris and has made many scientific critiques of Darwinian evolution, gives an insightful analysis of the resolution's relevance.
With harrowing studies in crime, welfare, education, and medicine, West built the compelling case for how Darwinism has affected views on matters as foundational as morality, free will, and religion. There is a human cost to scientific materialism, and Darwin Day in America is a sobering look at the consequences of carrying Darwinian logic out over the last century in America.
To listen to John West read an excerpt from his book, click here.
In this clip, CSC fellow Professor John Angus Campbell analyzes the naturalistic rhetoric employed by Darwin in The Origin of Species. Campbell focuses on the Darwinian term “natural selection” and the way Darwin crafts his arguments to convince his audience of this central point of his work.
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin addresses Richard Dawkins’ Information Challenge. When Dawkins was recently asked to explain the origin of genetic information according to Darwinism, he was embarrassingly silent. He later claimed to rebut this question using Shannon information, but Luskin reveals just how inadequate Dawkins’ explanation is when it comes to explaining the specified complexity of information.
Due to the constant questions we get about how best to describe what intelligent design theory is, we have decided to rebroadcast this episode of IDTF in which CSC director of communications Robert Crowther discusses how to define intelligent design and why so many mainstream definitions of the theory are incorrect.
On this episode of ID the Future, Anika Smith takes a look at an emerging pattern of academic suppression and viewpoint discrimination at Baylor University. Baylor's recent removal of distinguished professor Robert Marks' website is only the most recent example of this trend, which spans from college campuses to government institutions and beyond.
For continuing updates on Professor Robert Marks' situation at Baylor University and other academic freedom issues, check out Evolution News and Views.
On this episode of ID The Future, CSC’s Casey Luskin interviews Dr. Bert Massie a physicist who worked for many years on the Dept of Defense’s Star Wars project, and for the past dozen years has worked in biotechnology, developing methods of scanning the retinas of infants to test for blindness. Massie explains how it is that after his extensive education and his career in science he has become a skeptic of Darwin, and discusses the evidence for intelligent design in physics, chemistry, and biology. Dr. Massie earned his Ph.D. in Physics from UCLA, and is a signer of the Dissent from Darwinism list.
If you have a Ph.D. in engineering, mathematics, computer science, biology, chemistry, or one of the other natural sciences, and you agree with the following statement, "We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged," then please contact us at cscinfo@discovery.org.
On this episode of IDTF CSC's Anika Smith interviews science writer Denyse O'Leary about her new book, The Spiritual Brain.
In the book O'Leary and her co-author Mario Beaurogard, neuroscientist and Associate Professor at Université de Montréal, explore the question of whether or not the mind is an illusion as materialists believe, or is it more than that? For instance, The Spiritual Brain looks at whether religious experiences come from God, or are they merely the random firing of neurons in the brain? Drawing on his own research with Carmelite nuns, Beauregard shows that genuine, life-changing spiritual events can be documented. He and O'Leary offer compelling evidence that mind creates matter rather than matter creating mind.
In this installment of ID The Future, CSC’s Robert Crowther takes aim at Darwinist misinformation about the origins of intelligent design. Crowther makes mincemeat of the assertion that the term “intelligent design” was fabricated following the 1987 Edwards v. Aguillard Supreme Court case, showing instead that the term is over 100 years old. He also targets the Darwinist canard that terms like micro- and macroevolution were made up by Darwin’s critics.
For more information on the history of intelligent design, read CSC Senior Fellow Jonathan Witt’s The Origin of Intelligent Design. And don’t miss the intelligent design timeline at ResearchID.org.
Today on ID The Future, Denyse O’Leary draws on her experience with cultural issues to trace differences between Canadian and American attitudes toward evolution, the question of origins, and religion. O’Leary also analyzes the European mentality toward the status quo and, more specifically, Darwinism.
About Denyse O’Leary Denyse O’Leary is a Toronto-based journalist who has written on science-related topics for many years. She is an avid blogger who contributes to Access Research Network’s ID Update and William Dembski’s Uncommon Descent. She also publishes two blogs of her own, Mindful Hack and Post-Darwinist. Don’t miss The Spiritual Brain by Mario Beauregard, which O'Leary co-authored.
Today author and journalist Denyse O’Leary talks about the ongoing ID-evolution debate on the internet. O’Leary reveals how she handles so-called “Darwinbots” on her Post-Darwinist blog, relishing the chance to take on her chattering detractors. She also looks at how the debate generates publicity for intelligent design.
About Denyse O’Leary Denyse O’Leary is a Toronto-based journalist who has written on science-related topics for many years. She is an avid blogger who contributes to Access Research Network’s ID Update and William Dembski’s Uncommon Descent. She also publishes two blogs of her own, Mindful Hack and Post-Darwinist. Don’t miss The Spiritual Brain by Mario Beauregard, which O'Leary co-authored.
Today ID The Future examines Baylor University’s decision to take offline the Evolutionary Informatics Laboratory website that had been administered by Dr. Robert Marks, Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Baylor. The school’s administration claims there were anonymous complaints linking the lab to intelligent design. The site has since been moved to a third party’s server.
For additional information on this situation, read Rob Crowther’s blog post on Evolution News & Views, and don’t miss this earlier IDTF podcast about Dr. Marks and the Evolutionary Informatics Lab.
On this episode of IDTF, Dr. John West reads from the preface and introduction to his forthcoming book, Darwin Day in America: How Our Politics and Culture Have Been Dehumanized in the Name of Science. Darwin Day in America tells the disturbing story of scientific expertise run amuck, exposing how an ideological interpretation of Darwinian biology and reductionist science have been used to degrade American culture over the past century through their impact on criminal justice, welfare, business, education, and bioethics. The book will be released by ISI Books in October.
Today on ID The Future, CSC’s Anika Smith sits down with journalist and blogger Denyse O’Leary to discuss the focus of her new book The Spiritual Brain. In this interview, O’Leary grapples with materialist arguments concerning the mind and spirituality. She also explains why materialism is a monistic philosophy and explores the effect this has on its line of reasoning.
About Denyse O’Leary Denyse O’Leary is a Toronto-based journalist who has written on science-related topics for many years. She has authored several books including By Design or By Chance? and her latest, The Spiritual Brain, with Mario Beauregard. O’Leary is also an avid blogger who publishes Mindful Hack and Post-Darwinist, and contributes to a number of other blogs.
ID The Future presents the second installment of a two-part interview with Walt Ruloff, executive producer of the upcoming docudrama Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. Today Ruloff explains how interviews were obtained with top Darwinists including Richard Dawkins and PZ Myers, and dispels claims that trickery and deception were used. He also provides an overview of the movie’s website, staff, and future projects.
Be sure to visit the Expelled homepage, and stay tuned to IDTF for movie updates and future interviews with Walt Ruloff.
Today on ID The Future we catch up with Walt Ruloff, executive producer of the new Hollywood docudrama starring Ben Stein, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. Today’s interview is the first of a two-part series about the making of the film. In this installment, Ruloff gives a brief overview of Expelled, explains how he came to spend over two years making the film, talks about intelligent design as a disruptive technology compared to dogmatic Darwinian evolution, and tells how the film will show that Darwinian evolution is a science stopper. Rather than get mired in the politics of the debate, Ruloff explains that Expelled gets to “where the rubber meets the road, where the science is being done.”
ID The Future continues its interview with journalist and author Denyse O’Leary. In this episode, CSC’s Casey Luskin speaks with O’Leary about the nature of the blogosphere, her history as a blogger, and the array of blogs she writes for, including Post-Darwinist and William Dembski’s Uncommon Descent. Stay tuned to ID The Future for additional interviews with Denyse O’Leary.
About Denyse O’Leary Denyse O’Leary is a Toronto-based journalist who has written on science-related topics for many years. She is an avid blogger who contributes to Access Research Network’s ID Update and William Dembski’s Uncommon Descent. She also publishes two blogs of her own, Mindful Hack and Post-Darwinist. O’Leary has authored several books including By Design Or By Chance? and the upcoming Spiritual Brain.
Premise media has just announced the release of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, a new film on the intelligent design controversy starring Ben Stein, due out this February.
Expelled takes a fresh look at the debate as Ben Stein interviews the prominent scientists and academics on both sides of the issue, including ardent Darwinists Richard Dawkins, PZ Myers, and Eugenie Scott, and design proponents such as Stephen Meyer, Jonathan Wells, and Guillermo Gonzalez.
Cutting through the rhetoric, the movie gets to the meat of the story – what is happening to scientists and professors who support intelligent design, and, perhaps more disturbingly, why is it happening?
According to the film’s press release, Expelled is “a disturbing new documentary that will shock anyone who thinks all scientists are free to follow the evidence wherever it may lead.”
Ben Stein, a pop-culture icon who is also a lawyer, an economist, a former presidential speechwriter, author and social commentator, “uncovers a long line of biologists, astronomers, chemists and philosophers who have had their reputations destroyed and their careers ruined by a scientific establishment that allows absolutely no dissent from Charles Darwin’s theory of random mutation and natural selection.”
Any film willing to ask these questions will spark controversy and turn up the heat on the entrenched Darwinian establishment. Expelled takes a look at several recent assaults on the academic freedom of pro-intelligent design scientists, including Drs. Richard Sternberg, Carolyn Crocker, Guillermo Gonzalez, and (unfortunately) many, many more. By exposing their stories to a national audience, Expelled reveals the stark truth: Darwinists have been conspiring to keep design out of classrooms, out of journals, and out of public discourse.
For more information, visit the EXPELLED homepage.
In this episode of ID The Future, CSC’s Casey Luskin interviews journalist and author Denyse O’Leary about the Darwin-ID debate, her writing career, and her book By Design or By Chance?: The Growing Controversy on the Origins of Life in the Universe. O’Leary describes how David Berlinski’s 1996 piece The Deniable Darwin first introduced her to the dispute between intelligent design and Darwinian evolution. Her subsequent research and writing on this topic eventually led to her 2004 book By Design or By Chance, which presents an unbiased and journalistic view of the controversy. O’Leary concludes with a discussion about other facets of her career, including the nature of her research and the criticism she has received as a journalist writing about intelligent design. Stay tuned to ID The Future for more interviews with Denyse O'Leary.
About Denyse O’Leary Denyse O’Leary is a Canadian journalist who has written on science-related topics for many years. Based in Toronto, O’Leary has written a number of books in addition to By Design or By Chance? including the award-winning Faith@Science: Why Science Needs Faith in the Twenty-First Century, and her forthcoming book The Spiritual Brain. She also contributes to a number of blogs including Uncommon Descent, which focuses on intelligent design.
CSC's Logan Gage interviews senior fellow Jay Richards about how philosophers of science use demarcation criteria to determine what is or isn't science. One of the most commonly referred to demarcation points is falsifiability. Many scientists see the question of falsifiability as the gold standard in determining whether something is science or not. Richards defines what falsifiability is, why it's important and answers whether or not intelligent design can be falsified and is therefore scientific.
About Jay Richards Jay Wesley Richards has a Ph.D.(honors) in philosophy and theology from Princeton Theological Seminary, where he was a Teaching Fellow. He is presently a Research Fellow and Director of Media at the Acton Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Richards has been published in academic journals including Religious Studies, Christian Scholars’ Review, and The Princeton Theological Review, and has written editorial features in The Washington Post, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and IntellectualCapital.com. Richards co-authored The Privileged Planet with astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez.
In this edition of ID The Future, CSC’s Logan Gage interviews Dr. Jay Richards about William Paley, David Hume, and the arguments for intelligent design. Dr. Richards begins with a description of William Paley’s 1802 book Natural Theology, in which the author infers from the natural world that there must be some intelligent force (God) responsible for its design. Richards then addresses David Hume’s critique of analogical arguments like those used by Paley. Dr. Richards closes by differentiating between analogical arguments and arguments for intelligent design.
About Dr. Jay Richards Jay Wesley Richards has a Ph.D.(honors) in philosophy and theology from Princeton Theological Seminary, where he was a Teaching Fellow. He is presently a Research Fellow and Director of Media at the Acton Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Richards has been published in academic journals including Religious Studies, Christian Scholars’ Review, and The Princeton Theological Review, and has written editorial features in The Washington Post, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and IntellectualCapital.com. Richards co-authored The Privileged Planet with astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez, and is the author of The Untamed God.
Today ID The Future presents another excerpt from Jonathan Rosenblum’s "Is Darwinism Kosher?" lecture, delivered at the Discovery Institute on July 26th. In this segment, Rosenblum discusses the ideological biases that permeate the work of many scientists today, and examines their deleterious effects. By embracing neo-Darwinism as the reservoir of knowledge about all things, Rosenblum explains, scientists seek to neutralize any inherent value in human life and quash alternative viewpoints that might contribute to scientific progress.
About Jonathan Rosenblum Jonathan Rosenblum is a graduate of the University of Chicago and Yale Law School. He is a leading commentator on Israeli society and politics, as well as a semi-official English-language spokesman for the fervently Orthodox community. He and his family have lived in Israel for the last 28 years, where he is a columnist for the Jerusalem Post and the Hebrew-language daily Maariv. He also writes weekly columns for a number of religious publications around the world, and serves as director of Am Echad/Jewish Media Resources. Mr. Rosenblum lectures frequently in both the United States and Israel, and is the author of five biographies of major modern Jewish figures and a work on a Jewish approach to suffering.
ID The Future continues to feature Jerusalem Post columnist Jonathan Rosenblum, who recently spoke at the Discovery Institute about the relationship between Darwinism, Judaism, and Christianity. In this excerpt from his "Is Darwinism Kosher?" lecture, Rosenblum delves into the Orthodox reaction to Darwinism, then explicates why Judaism and Darwinism are ultimately incompatible.
About Jonathan Rosenblum Jonathan Rosenblum is a graduate of the University of Chicago and Yale Law School. He is a leading commentator on Israeli society and politics, as well as a semi-official English-language spokesman for the fervently Orthodox community. He and his family have lived in Israel for the last 28 years, where he is a columnist for the Jerusalem Post and the Hebrew-language daily Maariv. He also writes weekly columns for a number of religious publications around the world, and serves as director of Am Echad/Jewish Media Resources. Mr. Rosenblum lectures frequently in both the United States and Israel, and is the author of five biographies of major modern Jewish figures and a work on a Jewish approach to suffering.
ID The Future is pleased to feature Jerusalem Post columnist Jonathan Rosenblum, who spoke on July 26th at the Discovery Institute in Seattle. Rosenblum’s lecture, entitled “Is Darwinism Kosher?” investigates the historical and ongoing interplay between Darwinism, Judaism and Christianity. Today’s podcast is an excerpt from Rosenblum’s lecture in which he criticizes Darwinism’s inability to explain the origin of life on the planet, and details other problems with Darwinian theory.
About Jonathan Rosenblum Jonathan Rosenblum is a graduate of the University of Chicago and Yale Law School. He is a leading commentator on Israeli society and politics, as well as a semi-official English-language spokesman for the fervently Orthodox community. He and his family have lived in Israel for the last 28 years, where he is a columnist for the Jerusalem Post and the Hebrew-language daily Maariv. He also writes weekly columns for a number of religious publications around the world, and serves as director of Am Echad/Jewish Media Resources. Mr. Rosenblum lectures frequently in both the United States and Israel, and is the author of five biographies of major modern Jewish figures and a work on a Jewish approach to suffering.
Today ID The Future highlights George Gilder’s June 12th address to Bar-Ilan University in Israel. Gilder, who is a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute, spoke about the development of technology and its relationship to science. In this excerpt from his speech, Gilder discusses information theory and its implications for biology, Darwinism, and intelligent design.
Today ID The Future concludes its six-part series with Dr. Lyle Jensen. In this interview Dr. Jensen explains why schools should present arguments for and against Darwinian evolution. He also talks about his efforts to promote this stance with the Ohio State Board of Education and at Iowa State University, where Guillermo Gonzalez’s tenure denial appeal is underway.
About Dr. Lyle Jensen Dr. Jensen is a biochemist and pioneer in the field of x-ray crystallography. The American Crystallographic Association recognized Jensen’s work in 1983 with the Fankuchen Memorial Award in X-Ray Crystallography, and again honored him in 2000 with the Martin J. Buerger Award. Dr. Jensen is a long-time scientific skeptic of Neo-Darwinian theory, and has signed the Scientific Dissent from Darwinism. Jensen is Professor (Emeritus) with the Department of Biological Structure and Department of Biochemistry at the University of Washington, and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .
In today’s episode of ID The Future, CSC legal intern Guillermo Dekat reviews Cornelius G. Hunter’s new book Science’s Blind Spot. In law, Dekat explains, people harmed by a product are entitled to damages if they can prove the product is defective. If dogmatic science is a product under investigation, he continues, then Hunter’s work in Blind Spot proves its defects. Dekat charts Hunter’s arguments about science’s "theological naturalism," and provides an overview of the other points made by the author.
Today on ID The Future, Casey Luskin interviews James Hoskins about his latest creative writing endeavors. Hoskins, a philosophy major at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, has written several pieces based on the debate between ID and Darwinian evolution, including one that pits Socrates and imaginary materialist Hector Dawkins against each other as they argue over the scientific merit of ID. Hoskins also reads excerpts from some of his stories, and describes the inspiration behind them.
Hoskins's work, including his Debate Between Socrates and Hector Dawkins, can be downloaded from ID Arts.
This is the fifth installment in a six-part interview with Dr. Lyle Jensen. Today on ID The Future, Jensen explains his doubts about Darwinian evolution, citing everything from X-ray crystallography and fossils to blood clots and academic brainwashing. He also enunciates his fears that commitment to Darwinian dogma is impeding advances in scientific discovery.
The quote Dr. Jensen refers to during this podcast is taken from Richard Lewontin's book review of The Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark, by Carl Sagan. The book review is available from the New York Review of Books.
About Dr. Lyle Jensen Dr. Jensen is a biochemist and pioneer in the field of x-ray crystallography. The American Crystallographic Association recognized Jensen’s work in 1983 with the Fankuchen Memorial Award in X-Ray Crystallography, and again honored him in 2000 with the Martin J. Buerger Award. Dr. Jensen is a long-time scientific skeptic of Neo-Darwinian theory, and has signed the Scientific Dissent from Darwinism. Jensen is Professor (Emeritus) with the Department of Biological Structure and Department of Biochemistry at the University of Washington, and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .
In today’s episode of ID The Future, Casey Luskin interviews Dr. Robert Marks about his work in evolutionary informatics at Baylor University. Marks explains that evolutionary informatics seeks to emulate evolution on a computer, allowing for new engineering designs to be developed. Unlike Darwinian evolution, this process does not advance gradually, and requires a certain amount of external information to be fed into the computer before the process can begin; in other words, the systems must be designed before the evolution can begin. This contrast fueled Marks’ interest in intelligent design, and has led him to critically analyze a number of evolutionary computer programs that claim to prove Darwin’s theories.
About Dr. Marks Dr. Marks is Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He is also one of the founders of Baylor's Evolutionary Informatics Lab. His research and teaching focuses on computational intelligence, including fuzzy systems and neural networks. Dr. Marks’ upcoming Handbook of Fourier Analysis will be released through the Oxford Press. Marks also co-wrote Neural Smithing: Supervised Learning in Feedforward Artificial Neural Networks with Russell Reed. For more information on evolutionary computing and Dr. Marks’ work, please visit the Evolutionary Informatics Lab homepage.
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ID The Future has tried to keep to a consistent production schedule. However, in the past few days you will have noticed a lack of new material and problems in accessing past episodes. Podomatic, the company hosting our podcast has had a serious technical problem of their own that has resulted in our being unable to upload or distribute any new IDTF episodes. Hopefully, we will be back online soon. Thank you for your patience and continued support. 
