Proof The Bible Is True

By Stephen C. Meyer In this classic ID the Future, philosophers J.P. Moreland and Stephen Meyer speak before a live audience, highlighting contradictions at the heart of theistic evolution. They also answer logical challenges directed back at intelligent design theory and highlight crucial problems with thinking that science thrives best on its own, apart from strong support from both philosophy and theology. The live event spotlights a major Crossway book, Theistic Evolution: A Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Critique, for which Moreland and Meyer served as editors. Source …read more Source: id the future     

By Eric Hedin Today’s ID the Future spotlights Canceled Science: What Some Atheists Don’t Want You to See. Host Robert Crowther and author Eric Hedin begin by revisiting the atheist attack on Professor Hedin and his Ball State University course, the Boundaries of Science. The course was an interdisciplinary honors course exposing students to some basic astrophysics and cosmology, as well as to some of the big questions raised by such discoveries as the Big Bang and the fine-tuning of the laws and constants of physics for life. The course included mention of world-leading scientists who saw evidence of design [More]

By James Tour Today’s ID the Future features audio of the first in a series of YouTube videos by Dr. James Tour on the origin-of-life problem. Here Tour, a renowned synthetic organic chemist and professor at Rice University, explains why he is addressing the origin-of-life issue, also known as abiogenesis, and touches on some common misconceptions about the field. He says the organizing impetus for the series is a YouTube video by Dave Farina, “Elucidating the Agenda of James Tour: A Defense of Abiogenesis.” As Farina’s title suggests, he begins his video with an ad hominem attack, seeking to discredit [More]

By Jay Richards In this classic ID The Future, CSC’s Logan Gage interviews philosopher Jay Richards about William Paley, David Hume, and contemporary arguments for intelligent design. Richards begins with a description of William Paley’s 1802 book Natural Theology, in which the author infers from the natural world that there must be some intelligent agent (God) responsible for its design. This includes Paley’s famous watch analogy, which Richards also summarizes. Richards then addresses David Hume’s critique of analogical arguments like those used by Paley. Richards closes by differentiating between analogical arguments and arguments for intelligent design. Source …read more Source: [More]

By Tom Gilson On this ID the Future author and blogger Tom Gilson offers advice to ID opponents on how to improve their persuasive strategy. Getting ID theory right instead of criticizing a made-up straw man would be a good start, he says. He then offers several additional suggestions, all of which have the incidental effect of highlighting the many suspect rhetorical strategies commonly employed by prominent opponents of ID. Gilson is the author of six books on faith, culture, and philosophy, and has a background in organizational strategy and organizational psychology. He is a blogger, a senior editor at [More]

By Günter Bechly On today’s ID the Future, German paleontologist Günter Bechly unpacks what Charles Darwin referred to as an “abominable mystery,” the sudden appearance in the fossil record of a certain group of flowering plants. It was a mystery to Darwin because according to his theory, there should have been a long succession of precursors gradually evolving toward the flowering plants of the Cretaceous. Bechly and host Eric Anderson focus their conversation around a recent paper by Richard Buggs in the American Journal of Botany showing that the problem for evolutionary theory has actually grown more acute since Darwin’s [More]

By Winston Ewert On this ID The Future from the vault, Robert J. Marks and Winston Ewert, both of the Evolutionary Informatics Lab, continue their conversation about three of their recently published papers dealing with evolution, biological information, and what is known as algorithmic specified complexity. In this final podcast of the series, Dr. Ewert explains the role of context in measuring meaning in images. A non-humanoid gelatinous alien might assign no meaning to the faces on Mount Rushmore if the alien had never seen a humanoid. But humans, and especially humans familiar with major figures in American history, have [More]

By Jay Richards On this ID the Future philosopher Jay Richards responds to Mark Vernon’s charge that intelligent design is bad theology. No, Richards says, the charge itself is based on bad theology, bad reasoning, and a faulty understanding of both intelligent design theory and theism. First, the theory of intelligent design doesn’t specify the identify of a designer or the specific means of causation. It merely makes an argument to intelligent design as the best explanation for certain features of the natural world. Second, even if it did involve arguing that the designer was God and that God had [More]

By Jonathan Wells On this ID The Future from the vault, Casey Luskin interviews biologist Jonathan Wells about evolution, intelligent design, scientific revolutions and historian of science Thomas Kuhn. Kuhn argued from the history of science that reigning scientific paradigms do not give way gently and rationally before new and conflicting evidence; instead, the proponents of the old paradigm tend to dig in their heels and resist till the bitter end. Wells sees this dynamic at work with the reigning paradigm in origins biology, the modern theory of evolution, now challenged by the theory of intelligent design. Wells describes examples [More]

By Geoffrey Simmons On this ID The Future from the vault, Casey Luskin interviews CSC fellow and physician Geoffrey Simmons on what led him from card-carrying Darwinist to Darwin skeptic. Simmons has a BS in biology; coursework completed for an MS in microbiology, University of Illinois; an M.D., University of Illinois Medical School; Internship and Residency in Internal Medicine, LAC-USC Medical Center; Boarded in Internal Medicine since 1974. He is the author of several books, including What Darwin Didn’t Know (2004), Billions of Missing Links (2007), and Are We Here to Re-Create Ourselves?: The Convergence of Designs (2019). Source …read [More]

By Bill Dembski On this ID the Future, intelligent design pioneer William Dembski talks with host Robert Crowther about his return to the intelligent design arena and what he’s been up to during his time away from the front lines of the ID movement. He also gives a sneak preview of the talk he plans to give at this Saturday’s Dallas Conference on Science and Faith. The February 20 conference is open to both in-person and live online attendance. To learn more about this exciting event, and to register, go here. Source …read more Source: id the future     

By Cornelius G. Hunter On this ID the Future, biophysicist Cornelius Hunter and host Eric Anderson discuss the RNA World hypothesis, an explanation for how the first self-reproducing organism might have arisen via mindless chemical processes. Hunter and Anderson have each written on the topic, and together they unpack some of the many and growing problems with this RNA-first explanation for the origin of life. They also spotlight some recent admissions in mainstream scientific publications that it’s time to move on from the cherished but embattled RNA World. The conversation pivots off of a recent essay by Hunter at Evolution [More]

By Robert J. Marks Can artificial intelligence algorithms prove Darwinian evolution? Why won’t some scientists admit the information and intelligent design inherent in evolutionary computing? Do random processes disprove intelligent design? Professor of neurosurgery Michael Egnor hosts Robert J. Marks, Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Baylor University, and Director of Discovery Institute’s Walter Bradley Center for Natural & Artificial Intelligence. The two discuss evolutionary computing, the no free lunch theorem, Aristotle, and the contextual role of purpose in recognizing chance events. Source …read more Source: id the future     

By Bill Dembski On this ID the Future, we pull a classic from the vault to celebrate the return of Casey Luskin and William Dembski to the intelligent design sphere. Both will be speaking at the upcoming Dallas Conference on Science and Faith, open this year to in-person and online participation. In today’s conversation Dembski offers advice to those who want to get involved in the intelligent design movement. One piece of advice he offers the academically inclined: go get your PhD. Interestingly, that’s exactly what Luskin did, and is just back from the University of Johannesburg to resume work [More]

By Michael Behe Today’s ID the Future concludes our series on A Mousetrap for Darwin, Lehigh University biochemist Michael Behe’s new book on evolution and intelligent design. Here Behe and host Eric Anderson tackle an objection to Behe’s work from evolutionary biologist Larry Moran. Moran says that while the Darwinian process may find it difficult to find any particular solution requiring evolutionary innovation, there are countless possible solutions to a given problem, not just the one solution that evolution did hit upon and that is under investigation. According to Moran, Behe failed to take this into account, a factor that [More]

By Casey Luskin On today’s ID the Future, Rob Crowther continues his conversation with Casey Luskin, the intelligent design proponent who previously worked for Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture and has now returned. As Luskin explains, he left to pursue a PhD in geology at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. The two discuss the wild conspiracy theories circulated by opponents of intelligent design when Luskin stepped away from Discovery Institute five years ago. Luskin also tells about an upcoming book he’s been working on with William Dembski, another intelligent design proponent who stepped away from day-to-day [More]

By Casey Luskin On this ID the Future, Rob Crowther interviews geologist Casey Luskin, recently back from getting his PhD in geology at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. Luskin, who formerly worked for Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture, and has just now rejoined the CSC, tells about his adventures doing field research in Africa, his side interest in human origins, his cross-cultural experiences, the amazing game parks, museums, and fossil sites he visited, and a little bit about his PhD, including some evidence suggesting that parts of Africa and Western Australia used to be connected. Source [More]

By Editor On today’s ID the Future, host Andrew McDiarmid presents an Evolution News essay, “How to Destroy Love with Darwinism.” Altruism as defined by evolutionists means “behavior by an animal that may be to its disadvantage but that benefits others of its kind.” It’s not an easy fit with Darwinism, since Darwinian evolution is all about passing your favored genes onto your offspring. How can a creature do that if she gives her life for another, particularly when it’s not even her own children, and before she has produced any offspring? Such individuals fail to pass on their own [More]

By Michael Behe Today’s ID the Future features an excerpt from the Michael Medved Show spotlighting intelligent design proponent Michael Behe. The two Michaels do a quick flyover of Behe’s hard-hitting new book, A Mousetrap for Darwin: Michael Behe Answers His Critics. Along the way they discuss some random mutations often touted as proof of evolution’s power, including some found in dogs. On closer inspection, this dog of an argument for evolution won’t hunt. Tune in to hear Behe’s lucid explanation. Source …read more Source: id the future     

By Wesley J. Smith On this new episode of ID the Future, The Price of Panic co-author and philosopher Jay Richards hosts bioethicist Wesley J. Smith to discuss a Tweet from Physics-Astronomy.org. The Tweet read, “Imagine a world ruled by scientists, not politicians.” The drift of the Tweet was, wouldn’t rule by scientists be wonderful! Smith immediately threw up a great big “Don’t go there” sign at the Epoch Times. As Smith and Richards emphasize, such an approach to governance would be disastrous, and would actually be anti-science. It would tend to corrupt the practice of science, thrust scientific specialists [More]

By Michael Behe Today’s ID the Future extends the discussion of A Mousetrap for Darwin: Michael Behe Answers His Critics, the newest book from Discovery Institute Press. Here the focus is on Parts 4 and 7 of the new book, and in particular Richard Lenski’s Long Term Evolution Experiment at Michigan State. What has this long-running project demonstrated? As Behe explains in the book (and elaborates on in today’s podcast), “The study has addressed some narrow points of peculiar interest to evolutionary population geneticists, but for proponents of intelligent design the bottom line is that the great majority of even [More]

By Michael Behe Today’s ID the Future provides another peek at A Mousetrap for Darwin: Michael J. Behe Answers His Critics. Here Behe and host Eric Anderson discuss the new book’s section on malaria evolution. Evolutionists say malaria’s ability to evolve resistance to the antimalarial drug chloroquine is powerful evidence of unguided microbe-to-man evolution. Behe discusses how this evolutionary innovation required two coordinated mutations and lies at the outside edge of what blind evolution can manage. But many innovations in the history of life require three or more coordinated mutations, which Behe argues is so improbable as to lie beyond [More]

By Winston Ewert On this ID The Future from the vault, Robert Marks and Winston Ewert, both of the Evolutionary Informatics Lab, discuss three of their papers written with design theorist William Dembski. The focus here is evolutionary informatics, algorithmic specified complexity, and information theory as it relates to biology and evolutionary theory. Ewert discusses the mathematical foundation for why we know Mount Rushmore is designed in a way that Mount Fuji isn’t. In particular he unpacks a recent advance in information theory, the theory of algorithmic specified complexity. Also in the conversation mix, snowflakes and … poker. To find [More]

By Günter Bechly On this ID the Future, German paleontologist Günter Bechly explains why the Precambrian fossil Namacalathus fails as a transitional precursor to the Cambrian explosion. Darwinists want to find transitional precursors to the Cambrian animals to minimize how poorly the Cambrian explosion fits with Darwinism’s story of a gradual evolutionary development. Dr. Bechly gives other examples of such efforts as well and shows how each fails. As he says, the more we learn about the Cambrian and Precambrian, the more dramatic the Cambrian explosion appears and the poorer it fits with modern evolutionary theory. As he also notes, [More]

By Michael Behe On this ID the Future Lehigh University biologist Michael Behe dives deeper into A Mousetrap for Darwin. Behe and host Eric Anderson pivot to the new book’s section defending Behe’s earlier work, The Edge of Evolution. In that earlier book, Behe reviewed hard data from evolution studies of malaria parasites, HIV, and E. coli, showed that blind evolutionary processes face severe limits as to what they can build, and argued that intelligent design was required for the origin of life’s great diversity. In this new conversation Behe touches on some of the attempts to refute that argument [More]

By Michael Behe On this ID the Future, Michael Behe continues discussing his new book, A Mousetrap for Darwin, with host Eric Anderson. Here the focus is the blood clotting cascade. Behe has argued it’s irreducibly complex, like a mousetrap, and that blind evolution couldn’t build it one small functional step at a time. Behe says a better explanation is that it was intelligently designed. His critics have responded to his argument over the years. Here Behe returns the favor. His most prominent interlocutor on the matter is the recently deceased Russell Doolittle. Behe shows that Doolittle misread the paper [More]

By Brian Miller Today’s ID the Future is Part 3 of a conversation between Rice University chemist/inventor James Tour and Brian Miller, research coordinator for Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. In this concluding portion of their conversation, Miller fields questions Tour pulls from his mailbag. They cover everything from how simple can a cell get and still survive and reproduce to questions of design detection, bouncing cosmologies, the possibility of alien life, and the similarities between computers and cells in how they process information. The interview is borrowed, with permission, from Tour’s Science and Faith podcast, available here. [More]