Intelligent Design the Future

Starting this month, ID The Future listeners will get to enjoy a new episode each month (as well as a bingecast archive episode) from our sister podcast Mind Matters News, a production of the Discovery Institute's Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence. The Mind Matters News podcast brings you interviews and insight from computer scientists, engineers, inventors, neurosurgeons, and other experts who bring sanity to the conversation about natural and artificial intelligence, going beyond the hype to explore the undercurrents of these important ideas. On this episode of Mind Matters News, host Robert J. Marks is joined by Bradley Norris as they welcome Hal Philipp, the man behind the modern touchscreen and a prolific inventor with an impressive 98 U.S. patents. Hal shares his story and some of the lessons he's learned over a career in invention. Source

Left to their own devices, the natural result of physics and chemistry is death, not life. So how are we still breathing? On this classic ID The Future from the archive, host Eric Anderson concludes his conversation with physician Howard Glicksman about some of the remarkable engineering challenges that have to be solved to produce and maintain living organisms such as ourselves. Glicksman is co-author with systems engineer Steve Laufmann of the book Your Designed Body, an exploration of the extraordinary system of systems that encompasses thousands of ingenious and interdependent engineering solutions to keep us alive and ticking. In the “just so” stories of the Darwinian narrative, these engineering solutions simply evolved. They emerged and got conserved. Voila! But it takes more than the laws of nature to keep us from dying. Tune in for the conclusion to this conversation! Source

Does the brain explain the mind completely? And what can phenomena like terminal lucidity and near-death experiences reveal about the relationship between mind and brain? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid concludes his two-part conversation exploring those questions with neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Egnor, co-author with Denyse O'Leary of the recent book The Immortal Mind: A Neurosurgeon's Case for the Existence of the Soul, and Alexander Batthyany, a leading researcher on terminal lucidity and author of Threshold: Terminal Lucidity and the Border Between Life and Death. In the first half of the conversation, we defined terminal lucidity and explored why it's so puzzling. Today, we look at how it relates to near-death experiences, and we ask a deeper question: what does this phenomenon suggest about the nature of the human mind? This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Source

Why would the human mind sometimes appear strongest when the brain is weakest? On today's ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes to the show neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Egnor, co-author with Denyse O'Leary of the recent book The Immortal Mind: A Neurosurgeon's Case for the Existence of the Soul, and Alexander Batthyany, a leading researcher on terminal lucidity and author of Threshold: Terminal Lucidity and the Border Between Life and Death. The trio begins a two-part conversation discussing the phenomenon of terminal lucidity: what it is, what the evidence shows, and how it relates to debates about consciousness, mind, and human identity. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Source

When left to their own devices, the laws of nature tend toward death, not life. So what does it take for life to exist? On this classic ID The Future out of the vault, host Eric Anderson begins a two-part conversation with physician Howard Glicksman about some of the remarkable engineering challenges that have to be solved to produce and maintain living organisms such as ourselves. Glicksman is co-author with systems engineer Steve Laufmann of the book Your Designed Body, an exploration of the extraordinary system of systems that encompasses thousands of ingenious and interdependent engineering solutions to keep us alive and ticking. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Source

What is the ultimate origin of the information that powers life and the universe? For materialists, matter and energy are the fundamental stuff of life, but an even more crucial element is missing from that equation: information. And as our parents likely reminded us, you don't get anything in this life for free. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid concludes his four-part conversation with mathematician and philosopher Dr. William Dembski about his work on the law of conservation of information and how it can help us critically evaluate scientific theories of origins. In this final segment, Dembski explains the ultimate origin of information: what he calls irreducible intelligence. Don't miss other segments of this conversation in separate episodes! Source

Nothing's free in life. It's a sobering reality we all come to realize in life. And this cold, hard truth also applies to the realm of biology. On today's ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid continues his four-part discussion with mathematician and philosopher Dr. William Dembski. The topic is Dembski's work on the law of conservation of information, a principle asserting that information within a search process is redistributed from pre-existing sources rather than materializing from nothing. In addition to being used in computer science and physics, the law can also be applied to theories of biological origins to evaluate which theory best comports with the reality that all information comes with a cost, and that cost must be adequately explained. This is Part 3 of a four-part conversation. Source

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

We already have a well-established law that shows us how order can decrease in a physical system. But is there a law that explains an increase in order? Scientists have been looking for "nature's missing law" for a while, and while they might be asking the right questions, their training in a bottom-up reductionist framework is leading them to the wrong answers. On this ID The Future, mathematician and philosopher Dr. William Dembski continues a four-part conversation with host Andrew McDiarmid about his work on the law of conservation of information and its implications for theories that attempt to explain the origin of life and the universe. This is Part 2 of a four-part conversation. Source

Chances are you're already familiar with specified complexity, one of the mathematical pillars of the theory of intelligent design. There's another pillar that is much less well known but equally vital: the law of conservation of information. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid begins a four-part conversation with mathematician and philosopher Dr. William Dembski. The conversation unpacks Dembski’s work on the law of conservation of information and its implications for scientific theories like Darwinian evolution. In Part 1, Dr. Dembski begins by defining information fundamentally as the narrowing of possibilities, where specifying one outcome excludes others. Using his a simple analogy of location, he explains that identifying a specific place, like the town of Aubrey, Texas, provides more Read More › Source

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

On today's ID the Future, host Casey Luskin continues a deep dive into the mounting hurdles facing origin of life (OOL) research with prebiotic synthesis expert Dr. Edward Peltzer. Peltzer, a seasoned ocean chemist and researcher, breaks down the critical flaws in the RNA world hypothesis, revealing that many successful lab experiments actually rely on investigator interference—intelligently designed interventions that researchers must make in experiments in order to yield results. But that's not how the prebiotic atmosphere would have worked, notes Peltzer: "Unless you've got graduate students and post-docs working on the early Earth to set up these conditions that were used in the experiments, it's not gonna happen." Peltzer also discusses how the goalposts of origin-of-life theory keep moving as our understanding of cellular complexity expands. And he shares a personal story of censorship as the discussion ends by exploring the risks faced by scientists who question the standard evolutionary paradigm. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 1 in a separate episode. Source

By now, you may have heard about some of the problems facing the field of origin-of-life research. Maybe you've come across Dr. James Tour making the argument that origin-of-life researchers are nowhere near their goal of creating life in a lab or proving a chemical evolutionary scenario for the origin of life. On today's ID The Future, we hear from another expert in origin-of-life chemistry and prebiotic synthesis: Dr. Edward Peltzer. Host Casey Luskin begins a conversation with Peltzer about the significant chemical hurdles facing origin-of-life research, specifically regarding the synthesis of biological building blocks. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 in a separate episode. Source

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

In this ID The Future, host Casey Luskin concludes a two-part conversation with University of Warwick professor and author Steve Fuller reflecting on the 20th anniversary of the Kitzmiller v. Dover trial, a case that examined the constitutionality of teaching intelligent design in public schools. Fuller discusses his experience serving as an expert witness for the defense. He defends his support of a policy that merely informed students of alternative theories to Darwinian evolution. He explains why high school is an ideal time to encourage an open mind toward science. Then he pivots to discuss the deeper issue of institutional censorship in science and how establishment science functions as a religion. He characterizes intelligent design as "anti-establishment" and suggests there's hope for a more pluralistic approach to science in the near future. This is Part 2 of a two-part interview. Source

On this episode of ID the Future, host Casey Luskin begins a two-part conversation with University of Warwick professor Steve Fuller to reflect on the historical and philosophical foundations of intelligent design (ID) and the 20th anniversary of the Kitzmiller v. Dover trial. Fuller, an expert witness in the Dover trial and a scholar in the history and philosophy of science, challenges the popular "conflict thesis" that suggests that science and religion are perpetually at war. Instead, he describes a different historical understanding where modern science originated from a theological foundation, noting pioneers like Newton and Galileo, who viewed the universe as an intelligible machine designed by a divine mind. This tradition suggests that the very project of science was launched by the belief that human minds, created in the image and likeness of God, are capable of uncovering the logical laws governing reality. The conversation delves into why intelligent design should be viewed as a rich, interdisciplinary research tradition rather than a modern invention. Fuller explores the concept of biomimicry as a form of reverse engineering nature to uncover the hidden engineering elements within organisms. While Luskin notes that ID can be approached through purely scientific observations of intelligent agency, Fuller argues that theology remains a vital component because it explains why the designer uses "code" or the "logos"—be it in DNA or mathematical laws—as a creative medium. This insightful first part of a two-part series highlights how ID integrates biology, engineering, and information science to offer a comprehensive explanation for the complexity of the natural world. Source

On this classic episode of ID The Future, we conclude a 2019 conversation between ID pioneer and biologist Dr. Jonathan Wells and distinguished Brazilian chemist Marcos Eberlin. The occasion for the chat was the publication of Dr. Eberlin's book Foresight: How the Chemistry of Life Reveals Planning and Purpose. A member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, Eberlin is a world leader in the field of mass spectrometry. His book was endorsed by three Nobel laureates. In the second half of the conversation, Eberlin explains how chemistry reveals foresight in the design of molecules and chemical systems. To the untrained eye, water looks like a simple clear liquid. To the chemist, it has 74 unique, even “weird” properties essential for life. And lightning seems purely destructive, but it, too, is essential for life. As Eberlin argues, both of these suggest foresight in the design of life — foresight to solve problems necessary to make life on earth possible. This is Part 2 of a two-part discussion. Source

Honesty, humility, respect. Just a few of the essential qualities scientists need to do good science. Today, host Andrew McDiarmid concludes a conversation with engineer, inventor, writer, and self-taught scientist Forrest Mims about the role of integrity and humility in science, as well as the importance of solid data and good old-fashioned persistence. Should scientists be required to hide their personal values or religious convictions or check them at the door before conducting research? Mims says no and explains. What about humility? McDiarmid quotes from an older edition of On Being a Scientist, an educational booklet for young researchers published by the National Academies of Science. Highlighting the importance of scientific humility, the publication acknowledges that "science offers only one window on human experience. While upholding the honor of their profession, scientists must seek to avoid putting scientific knowledge on a pedestal above knowledge obtained through other means.” Thirty years later, is the scientific enterprise still as humble? Mims shares his thoughts. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Source

Science is a very human enterprise, so it can fall prey to very human problems. How a scientist conducts himself or herself professionally matters. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid begins a two-part conversation on the importance of skepticism and integrity in science with engineer, inventor, writer, and self-taught scientist Forrest Mims. How important is skepticism to scientific research? How can scientists collaborate respectfully? In what ways can scientists honor their profession while interacting honrably with the public? Forrest shares stories and examples from his decades-long career in science as he answers these and other questions. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 in a separate episode. Source

On our latest visit into the ID The Future archive, we stumbled on this little gem: a 2019 conversation between ID pioneer and biologist Dr. Jonathan Wells and distinguished Brazilian chemist Marcos Eberlin. The occasion for the chat was the publication of Dr. Eberlin's book Foresight: How the Chemistry of Life Reveals Planning and Purpose. A member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, Eberlin is a world leader in the field of mass spectrometry. His book was endorsed by three Nobel laureates. In this first of two conversations, Eberlin speaks to the scientist's duty to follow the evidence where it leads, and explains how the incredible problem-solving engineering involved in just one structure, the cell membrane, may lead one to the conclusion that a mind planned it in advance. It's nice to hear Dr. Wells's voice again. We lost our good friend and colleague in 2024 at the age of 82. In case you missed our series of interviews remembering Wells, find the links below. This is Part 1 of a two-part interview. Look for Part 2 in a separate episode. Source

Any scientific theory for the origin of life and the universe is only as strong as its research program. For intelligent design, this is good news. On today's ID The Future, Dr. Casey Luskin describes the current growth and scientific maturity of the Intelligent Design (ID) movement. Luskin describes the progress of ID across three main areas: successful scientific predictions, the unresolved failures of Neo-Darwinism to account for life, and the growth of the ID community as well as scientists outside ID who are looking for alternatives to modern evolutionary proposals. Dr. Luskin compares the growth of the ID research program to a snowball; it started small and faced early setbacks, but it is now rapidly picking up size, speed, and scientific weight as it rolls forward. Source

Bugs. Some of them we enjoy more than others! But there's no denying they're a part of life. And though they're small, they're examples of big engineering and design. Today, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes Discovery Institute staffer Kate Kavanaugh to discuss ID Education Days, whole-day experiences hosted by the Center for Science and Culture and geared specifically for middle and high school students in home or private school settings. Lately, the theme of these events has focused on the creepy crawly complexity found within the world of insects and invertebrates. Far from being mere nuisances, these creatures function as tiny engineers that elegantly solve complex problems to sustain global ecosystems. Kavanaugh highlights insights from recent ID Education Day events and explains the importance of studying even tiny examples of intelligent design in nature. Source

Today's ID the Future out of our archive spotlights the book The Toxic War on Masculinity, by author and scholar Nancy Pearcey, professor and scholar in residence at Houston Christian University. In her conversation with host Andrew McDiarmid, Pearcey argues against the current fashion of seeing masculinity as inherently toxic. She traces the tendency back to Darwinism and explains how the industrial revolution, working hand in glove with secularism, fueled toxic masculinity at the expense of virtuous masculinity. Source

Was the modern intelligent design (ID) movement "over after Dover," as many ID critics hoped it would be? Quite the opposite. In the last two decades ID has flourished as a scientific research program and continues to gain momentum in both academia and the public square. On today's ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid concludes his conversation with geologist, legal scholar, and Dover trial expert Dr. Casey Luskin. In this segment, marking the 20th anniversary of the Kitzmiller vs. Dover trial of 2005, the pair examine the outcome of the Dover trial, in which a judge ruled that intelligent design was a religious viewpoint, not science, and therefore unconstitutional to teach in public schools. Luskin explains why the Dover ruling was highly flawed and unreliable and how it misrepresented the definition of science and the arguments of ID proponents. Luskin also reveals how the ID movement has flourished in the twenty years since Dover. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Source

Over After Dover. That was the hopeful mantra of many critics of intelligent design (ID) after the Kitzmiller vs. Dover trial in 2005. They were hoping a federal judge could issue a decree from on high that would stop the ID movement cold in its tracks and neo-Darwinism could go back to being unquestioned, unchallenged orthodoxy. But was it over after Dover? Not even close. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid marks the 20th anniversary of the Dover trial by beginning a two-part conversation with geologist, legal scholar, and Dover trial expert Dr. Casey Luskin. Luskin takes us back to 2005 to give us his unique perspective on the events that led to the Dover trial, his own personal experiences of the case, and the position the Discovery Institute's Center for Science & Culture held on the issues at stake. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Source

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

A Quick Message From Host Andrew McDiarmid: Hey thanks for joining me! Did you know that although ID The Future is free content, it's not free to produce? If you're enjoying the interviews, commentaries, and readings you hear on the podcast, would you consider partnering with me to create more new content next year? Support the CSC today to help me generate another amazing lineup of interviews with ID scientists and scholars. Thanks for your support! When biologists use principles of engineering to study living systems, they can gain a richer, deeper understanding of how and why life works. But most biologists are trained to view design as the product of a blind, purposeless, gradual evolutionary process. Today on ID Read More › Source

It's easy to be blown away by the examples of engineering prowess in the human body. But it can be challenging to turn that evidence into a robust argument for intelligent design you can share with skeptical friends and colleagues. To help you learn to do that, host Andrew McDiarmid begins a roundtable discussion with not one, not two, not three, but four guests to the podcast, all part of our team of resident scientists at Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture: geologist and lawyer Casey Luskin, biochemist and metabolic nutritionist Emily Reeves, biologist Jonathan McLatchie, and physicist Brian Miller. The first half of the discussion kicks off with a review of the basics of design detection, including various methods for empirically detecting the hallmarks of design in nature. After that, these four experts take turns diving into examples of extraordinary design in the human body. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Source

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

On today's ID The Future, host Brian Miller concludes a two-part conversation with physicist Aaron Zimmer and mathematician Ellie Feder, hosts of the Physics to God podcast, as they critique current explanations for the laws of nature and argue for an intelligent cause of the rules that govern the universe. This half of the conversation tackles the attempts made by scientists to explain these life-friendly laws as the result of chance, not design. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Source

You might already have heard that the laws that govern our universe are finely tuned to allow for our existence. But beneath the special numbers of the universe lies an even deeper mystery: the laws of nature themselves. On today's ID The Future, join host Brian Miller as he begins a two-part conversation with physicist Aaron Zimmer and mathematician Ellie Feder, hosts of the Physics to God podcast, as they discuss their new work arguing for an intelligent cause based on the qualitative structure of reality's rules. The dream of finding a unique, logically necessary "theory of everything" has failed, which leaves an intriguing question: Why these specific laws? Zimmer and Feder explain why fundamental forces like gravity and complex systems like quantum mechanics are uniquely designed to produce a complex universe featuring atoms, molecules, stars, and life. The new argument focuses on the fundamental qualitative structure of the laws of nature, rather than the finely tuned quantities. Zimmer and Feder argue that these laws are not logically necessary, debunking the idea that a unique "theory of everything" could explain them. Instead, the laws are uniquely designed to produce a complex universe. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Source

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

No amount of small, blind, and gradual changes to the steam engine could ever have produced the internal combustion engine. To get to that fundamentally new type of engine, an infusion of new information was required. That analogy can be applied to the origin of biological life too. The spectacular order, complexity, and design we see in life could not have been achieved gradually by a process that lacked foresight. On today's ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes mathematician Granville Sewell to the podcast to share some of his compelling arguments for intelligent design. We might think that mathematicians are focused on incredibly complex ideas and equations, way above the everyday thoughts of the rest of us. But as Sewell points out, mathematicians are trained to value simplicity, and complex problems can often be solved in simple ways. Sewell's straightforward, yet profound arguments for intelligent design are worth memorizing and sharing with your friends, family, and associates. Source

Failed ideas tend to eventually crumble under the weight of contrary evidence. Is modern evolutionary theory heading for the same fate? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid speaks to biochemist Michael J. Behe about his core arguments for intelligent design and his recent experience sharing them at an Ivy League school. Behe, a professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University and author of Darwin's Black Box, recently presented some of his ID arguments to faculty, students, and post-docs at Cornell University. Behe reveals how his talk was received and shares some of his key insights highlighting the problems with Darwinian evolution. Source

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

Did God use evolution to create life? On this ID The Future, we're sharing the second half of a recent conversation with Dr. Casey Luskin that originally aired on the Truthful Hope podcast. Casey is critiquing theistic evolution, the view that God used evolutionary mechanisms to create life. In today's episode, he continues by next addressing the inadequacy of natural selection and random mutation to generate biological complexity. Luskin also points out that even non-ID scientists have expressed skepticism about the explanatory power of neo-Darwinism. All this makes it very hard to justify the position of theistic evolutionists, who claim God uses evolution to create life. In reality, the more we learn about the complexity and design of life, the less adequate neo-Darwinism is as an explanation. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Source

Some people attempt to reconcile belief in God with the standard evolutionary account of life's origins by combining the two. Theistic evolution is the view that God used evolutionary mechanisms to create life. But does this view stand up to scrutiny? Today, Dr. Casey Luskin critiques this perspective in the first half of a conversation that originally aired on the Truthful Hope podcast. The conversation kicks off with some clarity over terms, including what is meant by “evolution.” The theistic evolution perspective, also sometimes called evolutionary creation, accepts the standard scientific evolutionary account—the same view held by atheists—and simply adds the theological claim, "but this is how God did it". Critically, these proponents reject the idea that design can be empirically or scientifically detected in nature. As Luskin highlights, the central scientific problem with theistic evolution is that it inherits all the numerous scientific problems associated with the standard evolutionary account. This first half of the conversation rounds out with examples of those problems, specifically from the issue of the origin of life. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Source

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

Here's an experienced scientist who thinks YOU should have the power to settle the question of design in nature, not the scientific experts. Why? Because the majority of scientific authorities are committed scientific materialists, a view that hinders unbiased scientific inquiry by forbidding explanations outside the material realm. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid concludes his conversation with recently retired bio-scientist Dr. Michael Kent. In Part 2, Dr. Kent continues to unpack the scientific discoveries of the last century that have changed the debate over design in nature and made materialism an increasingly irrational view of the history of life and the universe. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Source

What you believe about the origin of life and the universe affects everything you do. So it's crucial that you decide for yourself whether the design that's evident in nature is the product of a designer or the outcome of a blind, unguided process. Today on ID The Future, retired bioscientist Dr. Michael Kent explains how we can take back important scientific decisions that belong to us and not to a scientific elite largely guided by materialist assumptions. Kent also reviews some of the top evidence for intelligent design, including the revolutionary discoveries that the universe had a beginning and is finely tuned for human life. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 in a separate episode. Source

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

In 1984, three scientists dared to probe the mystery of life's origin by putting the prevailing theories of prebiotic and chemical evolution to the test. One of those men was engineer Walter Bradley. Today, Dr. Robert J. Marks joins host Andrew McDiarmid to share some of his personal anecdotes and professional insights about Dr. Bradley, a scientist, humanitarian, and trailblazer in the world of intelligent design who passed away this summer at the age of 81. A Distinguished Fellow of the Discovery Institute, Bradley taught mechanical engineering at Texas A&M University, Baylor University, and the Colorado School of Mines. His book, co-authored with chemist Charles Thaxton and geochemist Roger Olsen, deeply influenced prominent figures in the intelligent design research community like Stephen Meyer, Douglas Axe, and Jay Richards and helped to catalyze a new generation of inquiry into life's beginnings. The Mystery of Life's Origin was re-released in 2020 as a new, expanded second edition. Source

Every day your body must solve hundreds of hard engineering problems simultaneously, or else you'll die. These problems involve multiple coordinated, integrated systems that have to come online, not gradually, but all at once and at just the right time and place. Can an evolutionary process explain the development of these systems? You be the judge. On today's ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes Steve Laufmann, co-author with Dr. Howard Glicksman of the new book Your Amazing Body, a fresh, abridged version of their previous book Your Designed Body. In this discussion, Laufmann brings his engineering background to bear on the marvels of human anatomy, showing us how the human body is not just functional but brilliantly designed. We'll explore how engineering intersects with biology, how an engineer and a physician worked together to lay out this evidence, and what the new streamlined book can offer readers. Source

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

For decades, British professor and author Neil Thomas was a card-carrying Darwinist. It wasn't until after he retired from academia that he had the repose to think about things objectively. Then one day, in a scientific flash of inspiration, he came to the conclusion that the standard Darwinian story was "rubbish." In the second half of a conversation with Andrew McDiarmid, Thomas continues to explain why Darwinism fails as an adequate explanation for the history of life as he discusses his new book False Messiah: Darwinism As the God That Failed. Over two episodes, Thomas reveals the conceptual flaws and historical roots of the theory, the responses of major early dissenters of the theory, and how modern science is undermining the Enlightenment worldview upon which Darwinism relies. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Source

It might surprise you to learn that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection did not triumph on purely scientific grounds. There are other reasons beyond empirical science that gave it broad acceptance and enduring popularity. On today's ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid unpacks those reasons as he begins a conversation with professor emeritus and author Neil Thomas about his new book False Messiah: Darwinism As the God That Failed. Over two episodes, Thomas discusses the conceptual flaws and historical roots of the theory, the responses of major early dissenters of the theory, and how modern science is undermining the Enlightenment worldview upon which Darwinism relies. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 in a separate episode. Source

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

What can science tell us about the existence of God? A lot more than you may think! Since the 16th century, a scientific worldview has been brewing called materialism that sought to explain all of life and the universe through unguided chance processes, and in doing so, ridding humanity of any need for God. But the worldview of materialism is increasingly at odds with the latest scientific discoveries of the last hundred years. On today's episode, join host Andrew McDiarmid as he continues his conversation with engineer Michel Bollore, co-author with Olivier Bonnassies of the book God: The Science, The Evidence, now available in a new English translation. Published in French in 2021, the book is a #1 bestseller in France, Spain, and Italy and has sold over 400k copies. The book presents a wide-ranging case for the existence of God by drawing on discoveries across physics, cosmology, biology, and human consciousness. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Editor's note: This interview is sponsored by Palomar Editions, publisher of God, the Science, the Evidence. However, Discovery Institute staff were responsible for the editorial content of this posting. Source

Does God exist…or not? It's a simple, compelling question. What can science tell us that would help us get an answer? For the last 150 years, many have assumed science has ejected God from the picture, a quaint relic of a less enlightened past. But what if that view has become a relic itself? Scientific discoveries of the last hundred years suggest there is bountiful evidence of intelligent design in nature, from the simplest living cells to distant galaxies. On today's ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid begins a conversation with computer engineer and businessman Michel-Yves Bolloré, who is co-author with Olivier Bonnassies of the book God: The Science, The Evidence. In Part 1, Michel explains how this materialistic worldview developed and how it gave the illusion of challenging the foundations of belief in God. Michel also discusses the difference between evidence and proof, and discusses how his book builds a strong case for theistic belief by presenting numerous, converging, and independent lines of evidence. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Source

What happens when a world-class mathematician and Christian thinker takes on one of the most hotly debated questions of our time—can the book of Genesis be reconciled with modern science? In this episode of ID the Future out of our vault, host Jay Richards welcomes Oxford University's Dr. John Lennox to discuss his book Seven Days That Divide the World. Lennox argues that science and faith are not enemies but allies in our quest for truth. He offers a careful reading of the Genesis creation account, showing that it need not be in conflict with what we learn from physics, cosmology, and biology. With wit, humility, and clarity, Lennox challenges both materialist skepticism and overly rigid interpretations of Scripture, urging listeners toward a view of reality that can honor Scripture as well as the findings of science. Source

In a universe of non-living space and matter, life is incredibly rare. And in order to stay alive, humans and other organisms have to overcome a myriad of engineering challenges. Just how is this done? And more to the point, is an evolutionary process capable of producing the solutions to these many challenges? On today's episode, host Andrew McDiarmid concludes his conversation with Dr. Howard Glicksman, co-author with engineer Steve Laufmann of the new book Your Amazing Body. The book explores some of your body's greatest marvels, including how your hearing and vision work, how you coordinate your movements, and — perhaps the greatest miracle of them all — how you developed from a single cell at conception. In Part 2, Dr. Glicksman dives into some examples of the countless challenges life must overcome. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Source