ID the Future

ID the Future _{Intelligent Design, Evolution, and Science Podcast}

Walt Disney’s Views on Science and Its Dangers

_{2000
John G. West
January 3, 2025}

On this episode of ID The Future from the archive, John West, Associate Director of the Center for Science & Culture and author of Walt Disney and Live Action, talks about how science is portrayed in Walt Disney’s films and theme parks. Disney’s worldview was an interesting blend of 19th century morals with a 21st century vision for science and technology. A futurist, Disney was given to techno-utopianism and his works tended to reflect this, but they have also offered warning messages about the dangers posed by both science and technology. John West explores these interests both in Disney’s exhibits and his film works. Dig Deeper Read the book by Dr. West that inspired this episode: Walt Disney and Live Action This is Part 2 of a two-part discussion. Listen to …

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My Atmospheric Science Adventures at Mauna Loa Observatory

_{1999
Forrest M. Mims III
December 30, 2024}

Most people know Hawaii is famous for its beaches. But did you know it’s also home to one of the world’s leading stations for monitoring the atmosphere? On this ID The Future, self-taught citizen scientist Forrest Mims talks to host Andrew McDiarmid about the history and significance of the world-famous Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. He also shares some of his own experiences and adventures there over the last quarter century. In this episode, Mims reminds us of his dust-up with Scientific American, a controversy that would ultimately launch his career as an atmospheric scientist. He introduces us to some of the pioneering explorers and scientists who set the stage for atmospheric science in Hawaii, including Archibald Menzies, Charles Wilkes, and Robert Simpson. Mims …

Walt Disney’s Views on Evolution

_{1998
John G. West
December 27, 2024}

On this classic ID The Future from our archive, Dr. John West, author of Walt Disney and Live Action: The Disney Studio’s Live-Action Features of the 1950s and 60s, talks about Walt Disney’s life-long fascination with evolution. By exploring various messages embedded in Disney’s theme parks and animated features, from the Magic Skyway created for the 1964 World’s Fair to the 1948 animated film Fantasia, we see Disney’s recurring contemplation of evolution.

McLatchie: Intelligent Design in the Eukaryotic Cell Cycle

_{1997
Jonathan McLatchie
December 23, 2024}

On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid begins a short series with Dr. Jonathan McLatchie delving into the remarkable design and irreducible complexity of the eukaryotic cell cycle. The pair review the differences between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, the phases involved in eukaryotic cell division, and the concept of irreducible complexity. They explore how various components of the cell division process, such as kinetochores and microtubules, are essential for successful mitosis and why these systems are more likely the product of intelligent design rather than an unguided evolutionary process.

Physicist Eric Hedin: Information, Entropy, First Life

_{1996
Eric Hedin
December 20, 2024}

On today’s ID the Future out of the vault, Canceled Science author and physicist Eric Hedin concludes his conversation with host Eric Anderson about the challenge that the second law of thermodynamics poses for purely naturalistic scenarios of the origin of living organisms. The problem, Hedin argues, is generating the reams of exquisitely orchestrated biological information required for even the simplest self-reproducing cell. The fundamental principles of physics mitigate against chemical processes getting the job done. Hedin provides easy-to-grasp examples that illustrate his arguments. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation.

Stephen Meyer: Do Miracles Violate the Laws of Physics?

_{1995
Stephen C. Meyer
December 18, 2024}

On this episode of ID The Future, philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer concludes his conversation with Praxis Circle’s Doug Monroe. In this last section of a multi-part interview, Dr. Meyer explains why theistic evolution – the belief that God used the evolutionary process to create – is an incoherent position to take on the origin and development of life. There’s no need, Meyer says, to attempt to reconcile theistic belief with a dying theory. Meyer also discusses the topic of miracles. He thinks David Hume’s argument against miracles is weak and goes on to explain how miracles demonstrate the independent action of a conscious agent and why they don’t violate the laws of physics. It’s an intriguing conclusion to a wide-ranging conversation.

Stephen Meyer: Can There Be a Theory of Everything?

_{1994
Stephen C. Meyer
December 16, 2024}

On today’s ID The Future, philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer continues his conversation with Praxis Circle’s Doug Monroe. In this section of a multi-part interview, Dr. Meyer discusses two of the crucial arguments of his latest book Return of the God Hypothesis: the information embedded in DNA code that demands an explanation, and the fine-tuning of the physical properties of the universe and what’s wrong with recent attempts to explain that fine-tuning by resorting to a theory of multiple universes. Dr. Meyer also addresses the question: can there be a theory of everything? Dig Deeper Listen to another segment from this interview: Stephen Meyer: Did Belief in God Make Modern Science …

Physicist Eric Hedin Talks Entropy and the Origin of Life

_{1993
Eric Hedin
December 13, 2024}

On today’s ID the Future from the archive, host Eric Anderson sits down with Canceled Science author and physicist Eric Hedin to discuss Hedin’s new book and, in particular, the book’s take on the origin-of-life problem. Hedin says the second law of thermodynamics poses a serious problem for the idea of a mindless origin of the first single-celled organism from prebiotic materials. Such an event would have involved a breathtaking increase in new information, and Hedin says that physics tells us pretty clearly that mindless nature degrades information; it doesn’t create it. Are there workarounds? Listen in as he explains why he’s not optimistic.

Stephen Meyer: Did Belief in God Make Modern Science Possible?

_{1992
Stephen C. Meyer
December 11, 2024}

On this ID The Future, philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer sits down with Praxis Circle’s Doug Monroe to offer insights into the intersection of science, philosophy, and religion. In this section of a multi-part interview, Dr. Meyer begins by discussing the nature of information. He explains the difference between mathematical information, or Shannon information, and specified information, a more meaningful type of information that conveys the quality of the content, not just the quantity of it. Dr. Meyer then turns to the theistic assumptions that fueled the scientific revolution. Why did modern science begin where and when it did? What was the spark that ignited that famous flowering of human scientific thought? Dr. Meyer has answers.

How to Make a Bayesian Inference to the Best Explanation

_{1991
Timothy McGrew
December 9, 2024}

When we gain new information about beliefs we hold, it’s good practice to update our viewpoints accordingly to avoid incoherence in our thinking. On today’s ID The Future, host Jonathan McLatchie invites professor and author Dr. Tim McGrew to the show to discuss how Bayesian reasoning can help us maintain coherence across our set of beliefs. The pair also apply Bayesian logic to the debate over Darwinian evolution to show that a confidence in design arguments can be mathematically rigorous and logically sound. Bayesian logic provides a mathematical way to update prior probabilities with new information to produce a more realistic likelihood ratio. And when it comes to evaluating different hypotheses, small pieces of evidence can add up. “Even evidence that simply …

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