Intelligent Design the Future

What happens to morality when the world has no meaning? On this episode of ID the Future from the vault, Discovery Institute fellow Paul Nelson interviews Rabbi Moshe Averick, who discusses his book, Nonsense of a High Order: The Confused and Illusory World of the Atheist.

Rabbi Averick ran educational programs at UCLA and Northridge University in Los Angeles, and then became one of the founding faculty members of Aish Toronto and later at the Shaalvim Rabbinical Seminary in Israel.

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On this episode of ID the Future, engineer, lawyer, and computer expert Eric Anderson continues his discussion hosted by Mike Keas on what it means that there’s information in DNA as opposed to most other physical objects. He talks about what intelligence really is and does — and why we know it’s involved in creating the unique information in DNA. And he recommends an answer we can give to those who “dig their heels in” and disagree on what information is about.

On this episode of ID the Future, Andrew McDiarmid reads from chapter 12 of Discovery Institute co-founder Bruce Chapman’s new book, Politicians: The Worst Kind of People to Run the Government, Except for All the Others. In this excerpt, Chapman argues that Darwinism has disfigured and demoralized political life in Europe and America for more than a century.

On this episode of ID the Future, host Robert Crowther talks with Rachel Adams, special projects coordinator at Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture, about Thanos, the arch-villain from the Marvel blockbuster Avengers: Infinity War, and a couple of real-life thinkers, Eric Pianka and Paul Ehrlich, who share the villain’s view that the world would be a better place with far fewer humans. Thanos, Pianka, and Ehrlich appear to share a materialistic view of the human person, one that ignores the inherent dignity and worth of every person as well as humanity’s capacity to create solutions and new resources, growing the resource pie. Thanks to this, life is not a zero-sum game. The human species is, as Julian Simon put it, the ultimate resource. Please consider donating to support the IDTF Podcast: idthefuture.org/donate.

In this episode of ID the Future, Mike Keas interviews engineer Eric Anderson about the first of two mistakes ID antagonists often make regarding information in nature. There is information to be gained about natural phenomena, like Saturn's rings for example, but is there information actually in Saturn's rings, or is that information produced by intelligent agents studying Saturn's rings? The answer to that question should be clear — and it makes a huge difference in how we understand information and intelligence.

In this episode of ID the Future from the vault, Jay Richards interviews Jonathan Witt about Witt's book, co-authored with William Dembski, titled Intelligent Design Uncensored.

What is ID? Why is it controversial? This book breaks down the science of intelligent design into easy to understand terms and looks at other key cultural questions. Read a full review of the book here.

In addition to discussing the book itself, Richards and Witt reveal autobiographical details of how they got involved with intelligent design.

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On this ID the Future episode from the vault, Dr. Stephen Meyer debates Michael Shermer on Lee Strobel’s show, Faith under Fire. The debate ranges from anthropic fine-tuning to DNA and the metaphysical implications of either worldview.

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On this episode of ID the Future, philosopher Jay Richards continues his conversation with host and historian of science Mike Keas about Henry Kissinger's recent Atlantic article on "The End of the Enlightenment." In the piece, Kissinger sounds an alarm over artificial intelligence, and raises questions about machine ethics and the possibility that humans may learn we're not so special after all. Richards, author of the new book The Human Advantage: The Future of American Work In an Age of Smart Machines, pushes back, explaining how we can continue to use artificial intelligence to our advantage, prudently but without fear of the robot apocalypse or of computers becoming conscious and free. No, Richards argues, those qualities cannot be programmed. They are, and will remain, the human advantage. Please consider donating to support the IDTF Podcast: idthefuture.org/donate.

On this episode of ID the Future, Jay Richards talks with host Mike Keas about a recent Atlantic article from former National Security Advisor Henry A. Kissinger on “How the Enlightenment Ends” with the rise of artificial intelligence. Richards, whose forthcoming book The Human Advantage: The Future of American Work In an Age of Smart Machines, covers this territory and more, explains that AI is about statistical processing, not budding consciousness; and the ethical concerns it raises are both important yet in some ways not so new.

On this episode of ID the Future from the vault, Jay Richards interviews Discovery Institute Senior Fellow Benjamin Wiker on his book, 10 Books Every Conservative Must Read: Plus Four Not to Miss and One Impostor. Listen in as they examine the role of materialism in politics, particularly in C. S. Lewis’s prophetic book, The Abolition of Man, and Wiker explains how moral argument has been replaced by technological manipulation of human nature. Please consider donating to support the IDTF Podcast: idthefuture.org/donate.