Intelligent Design the Future

The Scopes "Monkey" trial of 1925 has cast a long shadow over the evolution debate in the last century, thanks in large part to the Hollywood film Inherit the Wind, which caricatured the trial and promoted stereotypes that still persist today. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid continues a conversation with Dr. Casey Luskin about the long history of the Scopes effect in science and how intelligent design has managed to flourish in spite of it. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation.

The Scopes “Monkey” Trial Turns 100 this year. According to secularist legend, the Scopes trial represented a great showdown between ignorant, fundamentalist religion and enlightened, scientific progress. But what really went down in 1925? And a hundred years later, is science still suffering from the Scopes effect? On this episode of ID The Future, Dr. Casey Luskin begins a conversation with host Andrew McDiarmid about the famous trial, the play and movie based on it that reinforced unrealistic stereotypes, and some of the flashpoints in science since the trial that have fanned the flames of the debate over evolution. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

Every Friday we pull a gem out of our archive for those who may not have enjoyed it yet. On today’s ID the Future out of the vault, Oxford’s John Lennox, Lehigh University’s Michael Behe, and Darwin’s Doubt author Stephen Meyer continue a probing conversation with host Peter Robinson on what they see as the growing evidence for intelligent design and the scientific and philosophical problems with Darwinian materialism. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. This interview appears on ID The Future with the kind permission of Peter Robinson and the Hoover Institution.

How does an intelligent agent go from idea to artifact? What can the process of art teach us about the evidence of design in the natural world? Today, medical illustrator and artist Jody Sjogren joins host Andrew McDiarmid to discuss the similarities between machines and living organisms and the insights art can give us about the mind of intelligent designers. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation.

Artistic license has been used to promote Darwinian evolution since the late nineteenth century. Icons of evolution have appeared in textbooks, journals, magazines, and other visual media to promote a materialist worldview that is light on evidence and weighty on assumption. But in 2000, a book came along – Icons of Evolution – that finally exposed the myths, exaggerations, and outright fakery behind ten of the most infamous icons of Darwin’s theory. Today, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes the illustrator of that ground-breaking book, medical illustrator and artist Jody Sjogren, to discuss her experience of bringing these famous icons to life and working with author Dr. Jonathan Wells on the project. Jody also shares some of her memories of Dr. Wells, Read More ›

On today’s ID the Future out of the vault, Uncommon Knowledge’s Peter Robinson sits down with Michael Behe, John Lennox, and Stephen Meyer, three of the leading voices in science and academia on the case for an intelligent designer of life and the universe. In the first half of a wide-ranging conversation in Fiesole, Italy, they explore the growing problems with modern evolutionary theory and the increasing amount of evidence, uncovered by a rigorous application of the scientific method, that points to intentional design of the physical world. The conversation appears here with the generous permission of Peter Robinson and the Hoover Institution. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

Can viewing life as designed enhance scientific research? Today, host Andrew McDiarmid speaks with physicist Dr. Brian Miller about the fruitful research that can result when engineering principles are applied to the study of biological systems. Dr. Miller is part of a group that brings together engineers, scientists, and scholars to demonstrate how engineering principles, patterns, and tools can deepen the understanding of biology. The group hosts an annual Conference on Engineering in Living Systems, hosted by Discovery Institute, that highlights new insights and research projects in this bold new approach to the study of life. Here Dr. Miller gives the lowdown on current research as well as this year's conference.

Is the soul a myth? Does your mind really just boil down to brain function? On today's ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid speaks with journalist Denyse O'Leary about surprising findings out of neuroscience that shatter materialist assumptions. O'Leary is co-author with Dr. Michael Egnor of The Immortal Mind: A Neurosurgeon's Case for the Existence of the Soul. In this conversation, O'Leary reports on recent findings about the origin of consciousness, the challenge that near-death experiences present to materialism, and why the only way to move past materialism is to reject it fully as a model.

Do we have to choose between science and God? Absolutely not, says philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer. In fact, theistic ideas about nature actually inspired the rise of modern science. On today’s ID the Future from the archive, Return of the God Hypothesis author Stephen Meyer and radio host Michael Medved discuss the arguments presented in a series of short videos featuring Dr. Meyer that explore the increasingly strong scientific case for intelligent design and for the idea that the universe is the product of a transcendent mind.

On this ID The Future, Dr. Michael Egnor reads the Introduction to his new book The Immortal Mind: A Neurosurgeon's Case for the Existence of the Soul, now available from Worthy Books. In this reading, Dr. Egnor shares his journey from being a medical student who believed science could explain everything, including how consciousness emerges from the brain and whether we have a soul, to a neurosurgeon who questioned the conventional materialist view. He discusses how years of operating on and examining patients with brain damage led him to wonder how large parts of the brain could be removed without affecting a person's mind or their ability to think, reason, believe, and desire. His personal story, including a profound experience in a hospital chapel during a family crisis, became a turning point that challenged his atheism and led him to believe that the immaterial aspects of our minds are real and that nature is an open system, not a closed one.