Intelligent Design the Future

In 1936, Albert Einstein wrote that "the fact that [the world] is comprehensible is a miracle." But why is the universe comprehensible to us? And is it an evolutionary fluke or a hallmark of design? On this episode of ID The Future, we’re sharing a recent conversation between Dr. Jonathan Witt and author and teacher Dr. Ken Boa. The topic is Dr. Witt's book A Meaningful World: How the Arts and Sciences Reveal the Genius of Nature. In this discussion, Dr. Witt and Dr. Boa discuss the meaning and purpose inherent in our comprehensible universe, with examples from mathematics, literature, architecture, and more.

For 25 years, Dr. John D. Wise considered Darwinian evolution the most plausible explanation for life's origin and development. But as he studied the latest evidence in molecular biology, genetics, astronomy, and other fields, he began to realize that modern science was confirming many of the predictions and arguments of intelligent design. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid talks with professor and author Dr. John D. Wise about his surprising journey from atheism to Christianity.

On this episode of ID the Future out of the vault, science historian and host Michael Keas talks with fellow science historian Michael Flannery about his book Intelligent Evolution: How Alfred Russell Wallace’s World of Life Challenged Darwin. Flannery tells of Darwin’s involvement in the Plinian Society, a “freethinkers” group at Edinburgh University in Scotland where he studied medicine as a teenager. It was there that he first encountered radical philosophical materialism, the worldview that laid the philosophical foundation for his work in evolution. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

On this episode of ID The Future, we’re sharing the second half of an interview between philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer and author and radio/podcast host Justin Brierley. The interview delves into the main arguments of Dr. Meyer’s most recent book Return of the God Hypothesis, but it also serves as an update on the status of intelligent design and the growing interest in design arguments in both academia and the public square. In part 2, Meyer refutes the multiverse hypothesis and explains why naturalistic theories of the origin of life fall short. We are grateful to Justin Brierley for permission to share this interview on ID The Future. Catch more of Brierley's interviews at justinbrierley.com.

On this episode of ID The Future, we’re sharing the first half of an interview between philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer and author and radio/podcast host Justin Brierley. The interview delves into the main arguments of Dr. Meyer’s most recent book Return of the God Hypothesis, but it also serves as an update on the status of intelligent design and the growing interest in design arguments in both academia and the public square. In Part 1, Meyer and Brierley discuss the current status of intelligent design. They also jump into some of the discoveries Meyer lays out in his book. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 next!

On today’s ID The Future out of the vault, host Robert Crowther welcomes philosopher of science Paul Nelson to explore an intriguing tension in the thinking of famous scientist and science popularizer Carl Sagan. Though Sagan was a committed Darwinist and agnostic, he embraced certain ideas consistent with the theory of intelligent design. Could Sagan's methods for detecting extra-terrestrial intelligence be used to make design inferences in the natural world? Listen in as Dr. Nelson discusses this intriguing idea.

A confluence of conditions conspired to bring metals to Earth and make them accessible to humans. Can a Darwinian process take the credit? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid concludes a two-part conversation with Dr. Eric Hedin, professor emeritus of physics and astronomy at Ball State University in Indiana. Dr. Hedin describes the conditions within ourselves and the conditions within our environment that were finely tuned to allow for our successful utilization of metals. He also speaks to what our use of metals reveals about the moral character of human nature, and why metals remain vital to us today. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Don't miss Part 1!

Humans have successfully utilized metals for millennia, and trace amounts of metals are crucial to our survival. Is that coincidence or something more? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid begins a two-part conversation with Dr. Eric Hedin, professor emeritus of physics and astronomy at Ball State University in Indiana. Dr. Hedin tells the fascinating story of the origin of metals, the finely tuned set of conditions that allow for our use of metals, and the crucial role metals play in our survival. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 next!

On this ID the Future out of the vault, host Andrew McDiarmid sits down with historian and philosopher of science Michael Keas to discuss a recent article at Times Higher Education, “My Precious! How Academia’s Gollums Guard Their Research Fields.” The article looks at how scientific progress is being impeded by a culture in which scientists jealously guard their research instead of sharing it. Keas says the problem seems to have gotten worse in recent years but isn’t a new one. He illustrates with the story of Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler.

On this episode, Dr. Richard Weikart reads selections from his new book Unnatural Death: Medicine’s Descent From Healing to Killing. Dr. Weikart is Emeritus Professor of History at California State University Stanislaus and a Senior Fellow with Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture. He is author of From Darwin to Hitler, Hitler’s Ethic, Hitler’s Religion and The Death of Humanity.

Dr. Weikart begins with a portion from the book’s Introduction, which sets the stage and defines some key terms used in the book. Weikart concludes with an excerpt from Chapter 3: Euthanasia Meets Eugenics, where he gets into the influence of Darwinism on eugenics ideology and how it shaped attitudes toward euthanasia and assisted suicide in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.