ID the Future

Samuel Wilberforce Critiques the ‘Unbounded Assumptions’ of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

_{1968
Andrew McDiarmid
October 16, 2024}

In June 1860, just seven months after Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, three men hotly debated the merits of Darwin's argument at a meeting of the British Association. Biologist Thomas Henry Huxley and botanist Joseph Hooker defended Darwin's theory. English bishop, speaker, and writer Samuel Wilberforce critiqued it. And though he was a man of the cloth, Wilberforce did not build a theological case against Darwin. Rather, he evaluated the argument for natural selection on scientific grounds, exposing its "loose statements and unfounded speculations" by weighing it "in the simple scales of logical examination." On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid treats you to excerpts from Wilberforce's powerful critique, published as a review a month after the debate in Quarterly Review.

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How Evolutionary Fitness Landscapes Bolster Design Arguments

_{1967
Brian Miller
October 14, 2024}

Imagine a large area with gentle rolling hills and valleys, or perhaps a rugged terrain complete with steep mountains and impassible gullies. Now imagine those scenes plotted out in a three-dimensional graph. What your picturing may look similar to the virtual fitness landscapes biologists generate to visualize the variation in population for some species. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes Dr. Brian Miller to discuss evolutionary fitness landscapes and how they bolster the conclusion of design in living things. Dr. Miller also discusses how fitness landscapes relate to the work of bio-engineer Stuart Burgess and to the arguments made by Dr. Stephen Meyer about epigenetic information at the heart of life.

Paul Nelson on Freeing Minds Trapped in a Framework of Naturalism

_{1966
Paul Nelson
October 11, 2024}

How often do we get to have a respectful conversation with someone who disagrees with us? On this ID the Future out of the archive, philosopher of biology Paul Nelson continues sharing with host Andrew McDiarmid about pursuing intelligent design theory in a science culture committed to naturalism. "In the bouncing of opinions off each other and the exchange of views," says Nelson, "truth should emerge." But how do you communicate with scientists and thinkers trapped in a framework of naturalism? Dr. Nelson explains.

Forrest Mims on Winning the Rolex Award (And How You Can Too!)

_{1965
Forrest M. Mims III
October 9, 2024}

Rolex is well-known the world over for crafting high-quality, innovative time-pieces. But did you know they also award funds to people with innovative ideas in science and technology? On this ID The Future, Texan engineer, writer, and self-taught scientist Forrest M. Mims recounts his experience of winning a Rolex Award for Enterprise in 1993 for his innovative proposal to track the ozone layer through a worldwide ground-based network that utilized his own homemade ozone instruments. Mims discusses the work that led to the honor, the memorable trip to Switzerland to collect the award, and how the Rolex Award propelled his career in science.

How Animal Joints Challenge Evolutionary Pathways

_{1964
Stuart Burgess
October 7, 2024}

Dr. Stuart Burgess has been studying the arrangement, design, and shape of vertebrate limbs and joints for years. He shares what he learns with engineers working in the field of biomechanics. On this ID The Future, Dr. Burgess discusses his new paper on multi-functioning animal joints with host Dr. Brian Miller.

Jonathan Wells Puts Natural Selection In Its Place

_{1963
Jonathan Wells
October 4, 2024}

Dr. Jonathan Wells was a true giant of the intelligent design research community. As we mourn his recent passing, we also celebrate anew his considerable contributions to the arguments for intelligent design and the debate over evolution. On this episode of ID The Future out of the vault, Dr. Wells continues a conversation with Tom Woodward on The Universe Next Door. Dr. Wells explains more of the icons of evolution he details in his popular book and why much of what we hear about evolution is wrong. Listen in as they discuss Darwin's finches, four-winged fruit flies, humans with tails, and more. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation.

Sunlight And Water: Uniquely Fit to Sustain Life

_{1962
Jonathan McLatchie
October 2, 2024}

f the sun didn't power the photosynthesis of green plants, we wouldn't be breathing right now. And without the finely tuned properties of water, Earth would be a frozen, lifeless wasteland. Coincidence? Or is something else at work? On this episode of ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid continues his ongoing series with Dr. Jonathan McLatchie unpacking the many features of our planet and the cosmos that allow for advanced life like ours to exist. Here, the discussion turns to the life-friendly properties of sunlight and water.

The Life-Friendly Properties of Carbon And Other Non-Metal Atoms

_{1961
Jonathan McLatchie
September 30, 2024}

In his book Darwin’s Black Box, biochemist Michael Behe writes that in order to understand the barriers to evolution, we have to “bite the bullet of complexity.” On this episode of ID The Future, Dr. Jonathan McLatchie is back to help us do just that! In the latest installment of an ongoing series, Dr. McLatchie talks with host Andrew McDiarmid about the remarkable properties of carbon and other non-metal atoms.

Jonathan Wells Discusses His Classic Book Icons of Evolution

_{1960
Jonathan Wells
September 27, 2024}

We were saddened to learn of the recent passing of Dr. Jonathan Wells, a true giant of the intelligent design research community. As we mourn his passing, we are also celebrating anew his considerable contributions to the argument for intelligent design and the debate over evolution. On this episode of ID the Future out of the vault, Dr. Wells begins a conversation on The Universe Next Door with Tom Woodward to talk about his popular book Icons of Evolution. This is Part 1 of a two-part interview.

Physician Howard Glicksman on Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia

_{1959
Howard Glicksman
September 25, 2024}

The culture of death wrongly interprets the term compassion to mean “to get rid of” rather than its true meaning, “to suffer with.” On this episode, host Eric Anderson welcomes hospice physician Dr. Howard Glicksman to the podcast to discuss physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia, the subjects of Dr. Richard Weikart's recent book Unnatural Death: Medicine's Descent From Healing to Killing.

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