Intelligent Design the Future

On this episode of ID the Future selected out of our vault, host Eric Metaxas begins a conversation with biologist and professor Dr. Douglas Axe on The Eric Metaxas show. Axe is the Maxwell Professor of Molecular Biology at Biola University, the founding Director of Biologic Institute, the founding Editor of BIO-Complexity, and the author of Undeniable: How Biology Confirms Our Intuition That Life is Designed. In Part 1, Dr. Axe shares how he lost his research position in Cambridge during a season of political controversy over Darwinian evolution in the UK. He also shares what he learned from his experiments in protein evolution that cast doubt on the neo-Darwinian explanation for life. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

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Could you explain irreducible complexity to a friend? How about firing off three reasons you believe it to be true? You never know when you'll be asked to explain your scientific worldview to a family member, friend, or associate. The real question: are you ready? On this ID The Future, we get another chance to learn from biochemist Dr. Michael Behe. Here, Dr. Behe discusses his journey into the field of biochemistry, his key concept of irreducible complexity, and the distinctions between intelligent design and creationism. The conversation also explores scientific and philosophical objections to intelligent design, the implications of Darwinian evolution, and the significance of recent scientific advancements in understanding life's complexity. This interview originally aired on the Truthful Hope podcast.

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For over 20 years, Evolution News has offered readers exclusive daily news and commentary on the evidence for intelligent design and the debate over evolution. Now, with a fresh design, a broader vision, and new name, Evolution News has become Science and Culture Today. On this episode of ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid discusses the rebrand with two key architects of the new website, Discovery Institute's Director of Communications Rob Crowther and our Director of Media & Brand Nathan Jacobson. Discussion covers the history of the site from its beginnings in 2004 to the rationale and features of the new site, along with the importance of scientific discernment. Visit the new site at www.scienceandculture.com.

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Scientists agree that our universe is finely tuned for the existence of life. But is the fine-tuning a happy accident or the result of foresight? On this ID The Future, host Brian Miller continues his conversation with Rabbi Elie Feder and Rabbi Aaron Zimmer, hosts of the Physics to God podcast. In the conclusion to their discussion, Feder and Zimmer explain why the cosmological constant is one of their favorite examples of fine-tuning. They also share the importance of exploring the teleological causes, or purposes, of natural phenomena. Using modern physics, say Feder and Zimmer, an objective justification for the purpose of the universe can be made. Enjoy this provocative and illuminating discussion! This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation.

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If evolutionary psychology explains every complex human behavior as well as its opposite, does it really explain anything? Today, host Andrew McDiarmid concludes his conversation with geologist and attorney Dr. Casey Luskin about which scientific theory of origins best explains human altruism, cooperation, and morality. McDiarmid recently engaged in some lively discussion under his recent article exploring scientific worldview in the Marvel universe. Specifically, some readers claimed evolution can explain human kindness, heroism, and teamwork. So McDiarmid turned to Luskin, who has spent time researching human origins as well as attempts to explain the origin of human behaviors. Here in Part 2, the pair zoom into altruism to see if evolution can adequately explain it. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation.

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Do evolutionary models adequately account for the reality of human altruism, moral conviction, and cooperation? Does intelligent design offer a better explanation? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid begins discussing these questions and more with geologist and attorney Casey Luskin. McDiarmid's recent article exploring scientific worldview in the Marvel universe generated some lively back-and-forth in the comments section, particularly about whether evolutionary processes could account for humans looking out for other humans. Luskin tackles the question head-on, putting it in the larger context of evolutionary psychology's penchant for explaining every possible human behavior through the lens of a Darwinian past. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 in a separate episode.

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Do you recognize the number 1/137.035999206? It might seem arbitrary, but if the fine structure constant were any higher or lower than it is, you might not exist! On this episode of ID The Future, host Brian Miller kicks off an engaging conversation with Rabbi Elie Feder and Rabbi Aaron Zimmer, hosts of the Physics to God podcast. Feder has a PhD in mathematics and has published articles on graph theory. Zimmer has training in physics, and has studied mathematics, philosophy, and psychology. In Part 1 of a two-part discussion, Feder and Zimmer share their background and the inspiration for their podcast. They also explain their focus on the constants of physics and what they mean. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

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By now, you might think that the icons of evolution that Dr. Jonathan Wells wrote about 24 years ago have been put out of our misery. And indeed, much has changed, and these icons have even less ground to stand on than they did back then. But they don’t call them icons for nothing! Whatever else they are, they’re stubborn, and it’s not uncommon to see evidence of them still popping up in popular science articles, cartoons, movies, and even scientific journals. On this episode of ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes back freelance science reporter David Coppedge to give us a few recent examples of the icons of evolution that keep shambling along, including recent sightings of the peppered moth myth and the Miller-Urey experiments.

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To critically evaluate scientific claims, we must think like a scientist. But what are the qualities of a good scientist? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes molecular biologist and research scientist Dr. Marci Reeves to the show to remind us how to think like a scientist to properly assess the claims of important scientific theories, including the neo-Darwinian account of life and the universe.Key principles discussed include following the evidence where it leads, distinguishing raw data from interpretation, defining terms clearly, acknowledging that invention requires information, and more.

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Influenced by a long line of materialist thinkers, Charles Darwin proposed the mechanism of natural selection as a substitute for God. But how does his theory’s explanatory power measure up to recent scientific discoveries? On this ID The Future selected out of the archive, physicist Brian Miller discusses the resurgence of natural theology in modern science with Pat Flynn, co-host of the Philosophy for the People podcast. Natural theology advances arguments for God based on reason and the discoveries of science. It’s an ancient pursuit that fell out of favor in the 19th century as a materialist account of life’s origins took center stage. But scientific findings of the last century point to mind, not a mindless process, as the likeliest explanation for a life-friendly universe. As a result, the pendulum is swinging back to teleology, ushering in a new heyday for natural theology. This is Part 1 of a 2-part discussion.

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God of the gaps. Lucy as human ancestor. Co-option to explain away irreducible complexity. Perhaps you've heard some of the most common objections to intelligent design, but do you know how to adequately respond to them? On today's ID The Future, geologist and lawyer Casey Luskin explains how to refute these and other objections to intelligent design as he concludes a conversation with host Jacob Vasquez that originally aired on the Truthful Hope podcast. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation.

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Sometimes, it’s good to go back to the basics. Whether you’re brand new to intelligent design or you’re looking for a way to share the basics with a friend or family member, we’ve got you covered today. On this ID The Future, enjoy the first half of a discussion with geologist and attorney Dr. Casey Luskin on the basics of intelligent design that originally aired on the Truthful Hope podcast hosted by Jacob Vasquez. Here, Dr. Luskin unpacks two core concepts of intelligent design: specified complexity and irreducible complexity. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Share this podcast with a friend and start a conversation!

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Today's episode of ID The Future again spotlights the book Science After Babel. Author, philosopher, and mathematician David Berlinski and host Andrew McDiarmid conclude a three-part conversation teasing out various elements of the work. The pair discuss the puzzling relationship between purely immaterial mathematical concepts and the material world; World War II codebreaker and computing pioneer Alan Turing, depicted in the 2014 film The Imitation Game; and the sense that the field of physics, once seemingly on the cusp of a theory of everything, finds itself at an impasse. Then there is the mystery of life itself. If scientists thought that its origin and nature would soon yield to scientific reductionism, they have been disappointed. This is Part 3 of a three-part conversation.

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We all know people who have suffered with cancer. It's a major affliction of our modern world and many scientists are studying it closely to find a cure. Karl Krueger is one such scientist who has spent much of his career in cancer research. Today, host Casey Luskin speaks with Krueger about his work and what cancer can teach us about the limits of Darwinian processes. In his tenure at the National Cancer Institute, Krueger had a front-row seat to cancer research progress. After reviewing countless research projects and mountains of data, Krueger learned that cancer doesn't create new features at the molecular leveI, it degrades them. And breakage of aboriginal design is a hallmark of Darwinian processes. Krueger explains in this illuminating discussion.

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If you noticed a copy of Charles Darwin’s famous nineteenth-century volume On The Origin of Species in someone's house, what would you think? Perhaps they’re committed materialists. Perhaps they simply admire Darwin’s work as a naturalist. Or perhaps they keep it around as a cautionary tale about the dangers of scientific hubris. Either way, you’d want to consider whether their experiences of the world around them matched their scientific worldview. Today on ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid explores the tenets of scientific materialism to see if they match our observations of the world around us. McDiarmid also shares a clip from Dr. Stephen Meyer as he highlights just one of the scientific discoveries of the last century showing that the 19th century science that produced today's scientific atheism has been eclipsed.

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On today’s ID the Future, Science After Babel author David Berlinski continues discussing his newly released book from Discovery Institute Press. In this conversation with host Andrew McDiarmid, Berlinski explores a chicken-and-egg problem facing origin-of-life research, a blindness afflicting some evolutionists focused on human origins, and the mystery of why science almost flowered in ancient Greece, early Medieval China, and in the Muslim-Arab Medieval Empire, but did not, having to await the scientific revolution that swept through Europe beginning in the sixteenth century. Check out the endorsements and get your copy, paperback or e-book, at scienceafterbabel.com.

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Meaningful communication is found across all life forms, from the signals sent by trees through fungal networks to the deep conversations we can have with each other. It's one feature that makes life uniquely different from a vast universe of non-living matter. But where does our ability to communicate come from? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid continues his conversation with physicist and author Dr. Eric Hedin about the remarkable features that separate living systems from non-life. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 1 in a separate episode.

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What if life isn’t just a collection of molecules bumping around? What if every living thing, from a single cell to a human being, is doing something much more surprising—processing information and communicating in complex, purposeful ways? On this episode of ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid begins a two-part conversation with Dr. Eric Hedin, a physicist and author who’s been asking bold questions about the hidden patterns of life. He’s argued recently that the way living systems handle information—and communicate—is more likely evidence of intelligent design, not blind, undirected processes. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

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On today’s ID the Future out of the vault, host Andrew McDiarmid rings up author and philosopher David Berlinski in Paris to discuss his book Science After Babel. Berlinski is at his cultivated best as the two discuss everything from the biblical Tower of Babel as a metaphor for modern materialistic science, to his friendship with the brilliant and colorful French intellectual Marcel Schützenberger, a world-class mathematician who was self-taught and, as we learn here, came within a hair’s breadth of being swept up in the Chinese Revolution. Berlinski also reflects on the seminal 1966 WISTAR symposium, which laid out some mathematical challenges to Darwinism, challenges that Berlinski says remain unanswered to this day. At the same time, Berlinski gives Read More ›

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The presence of evil and suffering calls for justification. But which scientific view of life is better placed to help us address these issues? Today, host Andrew McDiarmid speaks with Tova Forman about her recent article tackling the profound question of suffering and the problem of evil. Tova argues that intelligent design (ID) proponents are better equipped to answer this challenge than those who adhere to neo-Darwinism or a materialistic view of life. Learn why in this stimulating discussion.

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The Smithsonian Institution has recently been called out by the Trump Administration for pushing "one-sided, divisive political narratives." But American history isn’t the only domain in which the Smithsonian is advancing misinformation. The National Museum of Natural History’s Hall of Human Origins vastly distorts the scientific evidence on human evolution, seeking to convince visitors that there’s nothing special about us as human beings. On today's ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid talks to attorney and geologist Dr. Casey Luskin to dissect his explosive new editorial in the New York Post calling on the Smithsonian Museum to stop "miseducating the public" on the history of human beings.

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On today's episode out of the archive, host Andrew McDiarmid narrates the prologue to Stephen Meyer's New York Times bestselling book Darwin's Doubt: The Explosion of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design. Whether you're new to Meyer's book or read it years ago, you're likely to hear something new as you listen. Learn more at www.darwinsdoubt.com.

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On today's episode, enjoy the second half of a discussion between philosopher of science Dr. Steven Meyer and synthetic organic chemist Dr. James Tour about the origin of life and the explanatory power of intelligent design. The conversation, hosted by Peter Robinson, transitions from the "dead end" of current origin of life research to the crucial concept of information. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 1 in a separate episode. We’re grateful to the producers of Uncommon Knowledge for permission to share this conversation here. Uncommon Knowledge is a production of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

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How did life originate? Does Darwin’s theory of evolution have an answer for the origin of life? On this ID The Future, enjoy the first half of an insightful conversation between philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer and synthetic organic chemist Dr. James Tour as they unravel important issues around the origin of life. Dr. Tour is a professor at Rice University, renowned for his work in nanotechnology and his skepticism toward the current scientific models explaining the origin of life. Dr. Meyer is author of Darwin’s Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design. The pair are interviewed by Peter Robinson, host of Uncommon Knowledge. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 in a separate episode.

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On this episode of ID the Future from the vault, biochemist and medical doctor Michael Denton continues his conversation with host Sarah Chaffee about his book Children of Light: The Astonishing Properties of Sunlight That Make Life Possible, part of his Privileged Species book series that also includes The Miracle of Man, The Miracle of the Cell, The Wonder of Water, and Fire-Maker. Here, Dr. Denton speaks of the properties of both light and water. From photosynthesis to metabolism to circulation, and even from plate tectonics to the hydrologic cycle, both have exactly what it takes — in “amazingly fortuitous” ways — to make complex organic life possible. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation.

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How does AI stack up when it comes to accurately representing the theory of intelligent design? Today, host Andrew McDiarmid speaks with mathematician and philosopher Dr. William Dembski about the reliability and accuracy of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Bard, particularly concerning intelligent design. This second half of the conversation highlights the importance of independent verification when using AI, as LLMs can “hallucinate” or generate false or biased information. Dembski advises an approach of verify, then trust, turning the old Russian proverb on its head. McDiarmid and Dembski also explore the potential for AI to enhance human capabilities and education if used judiciously, rather than becoming a crutch that erodes critical thinking. But that will require that we Read More ›

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How accurately do AI models like ChatGPT, Grok, and Bard portray the theory of intelligent design? Can large language models rise above the biases of sources like Wikipedia to help level the playing field for intelligent design? Today, host Andrew McDiarmid begins a conversation with mathematician and philosopher Dr. William Dembski to address the relationship between AI and ID. In recent years, Dr. Dembski has been putting LLMs through their paces to see if they can accurately and fairly discuss and portray intelligent design arguments and concepts. Here, Dembski discusses what he discovered as he used various methods to interrogate these complex algorithms. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 in a separate episode.

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On this episode of ID the Future from the archive, biochemist and medical doctor Michael Denton explores a “miraculous convergence of properties” for life. The topic is Denton's book Children of Light: The Astonishing Properties of Sunlight That Make Us Possible, part of his Privileged Species book series that also includes The Miracle of Man, The Miracle of the Cell, The Wonder of Water, and Fire-Maker. Here, Denton lets his astonishment flow freely in an interview with host Sarah Chaffee, with topics ranging from the light of the sun to key chemicals here on earth. "The atmosphere lets through just the light we need," says Denton, "and the sun puts out just the light we need. It's a remarkable coincidence...The atmosphere does just what is needed for life on earth." Taken together, it’s an astonishing array of evidence showing how finely tuned Earth is for human life. And the common-sense conclusion, Denton says, is that a designing intelligence is the most adequate explanation for the properties on our planet that make life like us possible. This is Part 1 of a two-part discussion.

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Does intelligent design have a better answer for the origin of the universe and the origin of life than the standard neo-Darwinian explanation? Today, we’ll enjoy the second half of a conversation about the scientific theory of intelligent design with geologist and attorney Dr. Casey Luskin and his wife, chemistry teacher Kristin Marais. In Part 2, Casey and Kristin discuss why intelligent design can offer a more satisfying explanation for the origin of the universe than competing theories. Casey also reviews the evidence for the fine-tuning of the laws and constants of the universe to allow for life, and the argument for design evidenced in the natural world. Kristin provides more detail about an important resource offered at Discovery Institute: her online high school chemistry course, and what students will get out of it. And if you have an interest in engaging in the debate over evolution and the origin of life and the universe, Kristin and Casey have tips and advice on what to study and how to foster dialogue on these important topics.

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Is intelligent design a viable scientific theory? Why do some still insist on calling it pseudoscience? Maybe you’re wondering these things yourself, or have a friend, family member, or co-worker who has these types of questions. On this ID The Future, scientist and attorney Dr. Casey Luskin and his wife, chemistry teacher Kristin Marais, explain how a materialistic worldview causes many scientists and science communicators to lose the plot and forget what science is all about. This is the first half of a conversation with host Daniel Ray on the Apologetics Profile podcast. Look for Part 2 in a separate episode.

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We are grieving the recent loss of Walter Bradley, a longtime Fellow of the Center for Science and Culture at Discovery Institute and namesake of the Institute’s Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence. Today, we bring you the second half of Robert J. Marks’s 2020 interview with Walter Bradley, co-author of the seminal 1984 intelligent design book The Mystery of Life’s Origin. In this half of the conversation, Bradley and Marks discuss the book’s first release, including the cultural context that made finding a non-religious publisher an uphill battle, and discussion of some of the endorsements and early reviews, including responses from distinguished scientists Robert Jastrow, Dean Kenyon, Robert Shapiro, and Fritz Schaefer. Bradley and Marks also discuss some scholars who more recently have testified to how the book, and Bradley, dramatically influenced their intellectual careers.

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On this episode, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes Dr. Stephen Iacoboni, an award-winning cancer researcher and medical oncologist with 40 years of experience, to discuss the undeniable element of purpose in all living things. The conversation dives deep into the question of whether this purpose can be explained purely by the physical world, or if it points to a source beyond nature and science. Dr. Iacoboni shares his unique reconciliation between faith and science, as explored in his latest book, Telos: The Scientific Basis for a Life of Purpose. He recounts his personal journey and profound divergence from the "mechanistic consensus" prevalent during his medical school years in the 1960s and 70s, which viewed organisms, including humans, as "biologic machines without souls, products of an unguided process."

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For decades, evolutionary biologists considered non-coding regions of DNA as evolutionary junk, a paradigm that long dissuaded researchers from studying these little-understood portions of the genome. But a series of discoveries starting in 2008 has forced a major change in thinking about so-called "junk" DNA. Many examples of function have since been identified for the non-coding regions of DNA, and more are being uncovered each year. On this ID The Future, Dr. Casey Luskin reports on a pair of American biologists who were recently awarded the Nobel Prize for their discovery of function in what was previously considered junk DNA.

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We are grieving the recent loss of Walter Bradley, a longtime Fellow of the Center for Science and Culture at Discovery Institute and namesake of the Institute’s Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence. So today, out of our archive, we bring you the first half of Robert J. Marks's 2020 interview with Walter Bradley, co-author of the seminal 1984 intelligent design book The Mystery of Life’s Origin. The book is now available in a revised and expanded edition with updates from multiple contributors discussing the progress (or lack of it) in origins science in the 35 years since the book’s original publication. In this first of two podcasts, Bradley discusses the history of the attempts to explain life’s origin naturalistically, and how the three authors of the 1984 book came together to shake up the world of origin-of-life science. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

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Do you believe in evolution? That’s a good question that could start a very productive conversation about the origin and development of life on Earth. But the first steps are clarifying what the word “evolution” actually means and why unguided evolutionary processes are limited in power and scope. Today, host Andrew McDiarmid invites you to revisit a segment from Dr. Stephen Meyer's 2023 interview with Joe Rogan. Meyer answers Rogan's probing question comprehensively. Yes, he tells Rogan, he believes in “real evolutionary processes,” but he also believes in the limitation of those evolutionary processes, and he takes several minutes to unpack and explain some of the challenges the standard neo-Darwinian account of life faces today. McDiarmid follows up by summarizing Meyer's response and sharing excerpts from Meyer's book Darwin's Doubt to explain the importance of Meyer's arguments to the debate over evolution.

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Architects, painters, musicians, and other creators apply recognizable patterns of thinking to their craft, resulting in a trademark style that sets them apart from others. Can recognizable patterns of thinking also be found in nature's design? On this episode of ID the Future, Dr. Jonathan McLatchie, a resident biologist and fellow at Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, dives into the microscopic world to explore examples of what he calls recurring design logic in living systems. These recurring themes and logic are widespread in diverse, often unrelated biological systems. On the perspective of intelligent design, they'd be expected. But an unguided evolutionary perspective would have difficulty explaining this compelling line of evidence.

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On this ID The Future from the vault, host David Boze interviews filmmaker Fred Foote, writer and producer of the feature-length drama Alleged, which seeks to tell the real story behind the infamous 1925 Scopes Trial in Dayton, Tennessee, which pitched Darwinian evolution against belief in God. Through his own research, Foote discovered that Inherit the Wind was "almost exactly wrong" on many crucial points. Foote discusses how his movie strives to present both sides in the famous trial as fairly as possible.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 ›

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Before the positive case for intelligent design can be received effectively, the case against the Darwinian evolutionary mechanism must be clearly laid out. One man who was instrumental in this initial "ground clearing operation" was biologist Dr. Jonathan Wells, our friend and colleague who passed away in 2024. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes Dr. Jay Richards back to the podcast to share his memories of Dr. Wells and discuss the significance of Wells's life and work.

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On this ID the Future from the archive, host Jonathan Witt speaks to molecular biologist and professor Dustin Van Hofwegen about his research into the engineered complexity in microbial life. Hofwegen shares his research on the famous decades-long E. coli evolution experiment conducted by Richard Lenski, which showed the sudden appearance of an ability to utilize citrate after many generations. However, Van Hofwegen's own experiments demonstrated that this "evolutionary innovation" actually points to the intelligent design built into living systems instead of an undirected process like natural selection.

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For decades, we’ve thought the control center of life lies in DNA. But a new scientific framework is emerging that challenges that idea, and suggests that vast portions of the genome are immaterial and lie outside the physical world. Today, physicist Dr. Brian Miller shares his perspective on the cutting-edge, potentially revolutionary research of mathematical biologist Dr. Richard Sternberg on the immaterial aspects of the genome. In this exchange, Dr. Miller shares several examples of the immaterial nature of life. These ideas point towards the earliest stages of the next great scientific revolution and have significant implications for the intelligent design debate.

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