In Our Time: Science

Chance and Design


Listen Later

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the theories of a grand design in the universe. The late evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould argued that if you re-ran the tape of evolutionary history, an entirely different set of creatures would emerge. Man would not exist because the multitude of random changes that resulted in us would never be repeated exactly the same way. Others disagree, arguing that there is a pattern that points to some kind of direction – even, perhaps, a design, a sense that some things are pre-ordained. Who were the original proponents of the idea of a grand design? Were they deliberately setting out to find a scientific theory that could sit alongside religious faith? On the other hand, can the concept of contingency – or the randomness of evolution - be compatible with a belief in God? With Simon Conway Morris, Professor of Evolutionary Palaeobiology at Cambridge University and author of The Crucible of Creation – the Burgess Shale and the Rise of Animals; Sandy Knapp, botanist at the Natural History Museum; John Brooke, Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at Oxford University.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

In Our Time: ScienceBy BBC Radio 4

  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6

4.6

690 ratings


More shows like In Our Time: Science

View all
In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,426 Listeners

The Documentary Podcast by BBC World Service

The Documentary Podcast

1,803 Listeners

Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,657 Listeners

History Extra podcast by Immediate Media

History Extra podcast

3,187 Listeners

Thinking Allowed by BBC Radio 4

Thinking Allowed

307 Listeners

Great Lives by BBC Radio 4

Great Lives

475 Listeners

6 Minute English by BBC Radio

6 Minute English

1,751 Listeners

Learning English Conversations by BBC Radio

Learning English Conversations

1,074 Listeners

Science In Action by BBC World Service

Science In Action

342 Listeners

Discovery by BBC World Service

Discovery

966 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

2,080 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,042 Listeners

In Our Time: History by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: History

1,870 Listeners

In Our Time: Culture by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Culture

599 Listeners

In Our Time: Religion by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Religion

286 Listeners

In Our Time: Philosophy by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Philosophy

854 Listeners

The Life Scientific by BBC Radio 4

The Life Scientific

239 Listeners

Unexpected Elements by BBC World Service

Unexpected Elements

355 Listeners

BBC Inside Science by BBC Radio 4

BBC Inside Science

399 Listeners

13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle by BBC World Service

13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle

4,195 Listeners

Americast by BBC News

Americast

700 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

2,962 Listeners

The Supermassive Podcast by The Royal Astronomical Society

The Supermassive Podcast

283 Listeners