Intelligent Design the Future

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!

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.

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!

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.

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 ›

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.