Intelligent Design the Future

On this episode of ID the Future, Father Michael Chaberek, author of the books Catholicism and Evolution and Aquinas and Evolution, explains why the theory of intelligent design meshes well with the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas. In his conversation with host Jay Richards, Chaberek, creator of the site Aquinas.Design, notes that some Thomists complain about ID, but he argues that they misunderstand what ID is and isn’t. As for criticism that ID is a “God of the Gaps” argument, Chaberek urges Thomists to consider where that complaint leads: For Catholics, and Christians generally, that complaint proves way too much, he argues. Please consider donating to support the IDTF Podcast: idthefuture.org/donate.

In this episode of ID the Future from the vault, hear an interview with Dr. Richard Sternberg, evolutionary biologist and CSC Senior Fellow, whose discussion of whale origins is featured in Illustra Media’s documentary, Living Waters: Intelligent Design in the Oceans of the Earth.  Sternberg critiques whale evolution, noting that the timespan is too short for the bodyplan modifications needed to transition from a land mammal to a whale. Please consider donating to support the IDTF Podcast: idthefuture.org/donate.

On this episode of ID the Future, Andrew McDiarmid reads an excerpt from a speech prepared by philosopher, mathematician, and trailblazing design theorist William Dembski for the launch of the Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence. Dr. Dembski asks whether we need worry about an AI takeover, and says no, there’s no evidence that artificial intelligence (AI) could reach that level, or achieve consciousness, and there’s mounting evidence from both philosophy and the field of artificial intelligence technology that it cannot and will not. “The real worry,” Dembski says, “isn’t that we’ll raise machines to our level, but that we’ll lower humanity to the level of machines.” Please consider donating to support the IDTF Podcast: idthefuture.org/donate.

On this episode of ID the Future, host Jay Richards talks with Michael Chaberek about Charles Darwin and medieval scholar Thomas Aquinas, one of the most influential of all Western philosophers, and especially central in Roman Catholic thinking. Many Catholic scholars support neo-Darwinism and insist that Aquinas’s work nicely harmonizes with neo-Darwinism. Chaberek, author of the recent book Aquinas and Evolution, and creator of the new website Aquinas.design, offers several reasons to conclude otherwise.

A clarifying note on terminology: When Chaberek and Richards speak of “accidents” and “accidental changes,” they don’t mean it in the common sense of “not on purpose.” In Thomistic philosophy, an “accident” is a feature of some being that’s not essential to its nature--for example, the height of a tree or the length of a horse’s tail.

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In this episode of ID the Future, hear about electricity and bioluminescence, as highlighted in Dr. Geoffrey Simmons’ book, Billions of Missing Links.  Listen in to learn about how a knee jerk reaction, eels, and the knife fish all use electrical impulses. Please consider donating to support the IDTF Podcast: idthefuture.org/donate.

On this episode of ID the Future, Michael Flannery, historian of science and emeritus professor from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, discusses Alfred Russel Wallace’s views on humanity, and Lyell’s embrace of this viewpoint (to Darwin’s dismay!). Listen in to learn more about the idea of uniformity, the pro-Darwinian origins of the journal Nature, and professional dissent to evolutionary theory that existed and persisted ever since Darwin. Read Flannery's new book on Wallace, Nature's Prophet, for more!

On this episode of ID the Future host Mike Keas talks a third time with Michael Flannery about Flannery’s new book Nature’s Prophet: Alfred Russel Wallace and His Evolution from Natural Selection to Natural Theology. The surprising word come out of this conversation is how open Darwin was to Wallace’s opposing viewpoint — unlike many Darwinists today. Some of Flannery’s recent experience with historians of science, though, shows there is at least hope in some quarters for increasing academic openness today. Please consider donating to support the IDTF Podcast: idthefuture.org/donate.

On this episode of ID the Future from the vault, Dr. Cornelius Hunter talks about his website Darwin’s Predictions, which critically examines 22 fundamental predictions of evolutionary theory. In this fourth and final podcast of the series, Dr. Hunter discusses evolution's failed prediction that competition should be greatest between neighbors.

On this episode of ID the Future, Jorn Dyerberg, the Danish biologist and co-discoverer of the role of omega-3 fatty acids in human health and nutrition, talks with Brian Miller about finding irreducible complexity in cells 40 years ago. It wasn’t until he encountered ID researchers like Michael Behe that he gave it that name — but he saw how many enzymes and co-enzymes it took working together to make metabolism work in every living cell. And if neo-Darwinism is true, and these enzymes showed up one at a time, “And over these eons, the other enzymes would just be sitting there waiting for the next one to come.”

Please consider donating to support the IDTF Podcast: idthefuture.org/donate.

On this episode of ID the Future historian Michael Flannery continues discussion of his new book Nature’s Prophet: Alfred Russel Wallace and His Evolution from Natural Selection to Natural Theology. Flannery tells how Wallace became convinced of some “overruling intelligence” in nature — not because of “gaps” in what he knew, but because so many human attributes demand a better explanation than Darwin’s own “utility principle.” They called for a cause adequate to the effects. Please consider donating to support the IDTF Podcast: idthefuture.org/donate.