ID the Future Intelligent Design, Evolution, and Science Podcast

Episodes | Page 3

bull
illustration of a fighting bull, smoky environment, image generated by AI

Ruminants, Moon Watchers Bedevil Darwin

On today’s ID the Future host Andrew McDiarmid brings listeners a couple of fascinating recent articles from Evolution News & Science Today by David Coppedge. The first is “Animals Tune Behavior by  Lunar Cycle; but How?” The second article is “Darwin, We Have a Problem: Horse Teeth Are Not Less Evolved.” In the first, some ingenious molecular engineering crops up in widely divergent creatures, giving them some impressive abilities to read lunar cycles. The evolutionists’ go-to explanation is “convergent evolution,” an incantation that fails to explain how something like this could have evolved even once, much less multiple separate times. And in the second, a much-beloved story of ruminant tooth evolution gets a kick in the teeth from a series Read More ›

Charles Darwin
World Darwin Day representing the evolotuion theory illustration generative ai

On Darwin Day, Honor Darwin’s Call to Academic Freedom

On this ID the Future from the vault, Casey Luskin presents his piece from U.S. News and World Report about a tension at the heart of that curious annual celebration, Darwin Day (February 12). Luskin describes how many contemporary evolutionists lionize Charles Darwin even while rejecting his call for academic freedom and intellectual openness in the debate over evolutionary theory. Luskin recounts an incident where Ben Stein, star of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, was himself “expelled” from the University of Vermont due to his contrarian views on modern Darwinism. Luskin’s original article can be read here.

dover beach cliffs
Aerial view of the White Cliffs of Dover. Close up view of the cliffs from the sea side. England, East Sussex. Between France and UK

From “Dover Beach” to Wokeness and Beyond

On today’s ID the Future, host Peter Robison continues a lively conversation with Douglas Murray, author of The War on the West, Tom Holland, author of Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World, and Stephen Meyer, author of Return of the God Hypothesis. Here in the concluding part of the interview, the four consider English Victorian poet Matthew Arnold’s elegiac depiction of the West bereft of religious faith. What does this retreating “sea of faith” mean in practical terms for Western culture, and what path, if any, is there to a renewal of Western culture? Can we embrace the Christian ethical framework without belief in God, miracles, and the afterlife? Meyer warns that attempting to borrow some form of Read More ›

empty church
interior view of the Cistercian church at Salem Palace in southern Germany

Tom Holland, Stephen Meyer, Douglas Murray: God and the West

On today’s ID the Future, Uncommon Knowledge host Peter Robinson talks with historian Tom Holland, journalist Douglas Murray, and philosopher of science Stephen Meyer about the decline of theistic faith in the West. Here in Part I of the conversation, the men consider possible causes for the decline of theistic faith. According to Meyer the decline has occurred in the face of increasing scientific evidence for the existence of God. So what gives? Tune in to hear their stimulating exploration of the question, and what each sees as the appropriate response. This material is used by permission of Peter Robinson and the Uncommon Knowledge podcast.

earth in space
planet earth in space

Giordano Bruno: A Martyr, Yes, But Not for Science

On this ID the Future from the vault, host Andrew McDiarmid continues his conversation with historian of science Michael Keas about Keas’ ISI book Unbelievable: 7 Myths About the History and Future of Science and Religion. In Chapter 4 of the work Keas explodes the myth that Giordano Bruno was a martyr for science, as science popularizers such as Neil DeGrasse Tyson make him out to be.  Bruno was indeed burned at the stake in 1600 for disagreeing with the Church — which Keas heartily agrees was a bad move on the Church’s part. But Bruno was executed not for his view that we live in a vast universe with vast numbers of planets. Rather, he was burned for his religious Read More ›

football goal posts
american football field goal post

James Tour: The Goalposts are Racing Away from the Origin-of-Life Community

On today’s ID the Future distinguished nanoscientist James Tour explains to host Eric Metaxas why the origin-of-life community is further than ever from solving the mystery of life’s origin, and how the public has gotten the false impression that scientists can synthesize life in the lab. Tour explains that origin-of-life scientists aren’t even close to intelligently synthesizing life from non-life in the lab. The problem, Tour says, is that some leading origin-of-life researchers give the impression they are right on the cusp of solving the problem. Not so, Tour says. He offers the analogy of someone claiming, in the year 1500, that he has the know-how to build a ship to travel to the moon, when no one yet knows Read More ›

graphene
3d Illustration structure of the graphene or carbon surface, abstract nanotechnology hexagonal geometric form close-up, concept graphene atomic structure, concept graphene molecular structure.

James Tour Talks Nanotech at Socrates in the City

Today’s ID the Future features the first part of a conversation between James Tour and Socrates in the City host Eric Metaxas on Tour’s astonishing work in nanotechnology and on the topic “How Did Life Come into Being?” Tour is the T. T. and W. F. Chao Professor of Chemistry, Professor of Computer Science, and Professor of Materials Science and Nanoengineering at Rice University. He is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading nano-scientists. This event took place at the River Oaks Country Club in Houston, Texas, and is presented here with permission of Eric Metaxas. Here in Part 1, Tour explains some of the inventions coming out of Tour’s Rice University lab, including molecular cars and astonishing graphene Read More ›

Copernicus-Jan-Matejko

Michael Keas Debunks Science-Faith Warfare Myth

On this ID the Future from the vault, host Andrew McDiarmid talks with science historian Michael Keas about Keas’ revealing work from ISI Books, Unbelievable: 7 Myths About the History and Future of Science and Religion. “Scientists do love a good story,” says Keas. “Turns out there are plenty of stories we shouldn’t believe, myths about science and Christianity supposedly at war with each other.” He also discusses a future-oriented ET myth that functions as a substitute for traditional religion. Listen in to learn more about Keas’ fascinating and informative book.

rusty shovel broken
old rusty shovel in the ground

Nature Paper: Groundbreaking Science on the Decline

On today’s ID the Future philosopher of science Paul Nelson discusses a new paper in Nature making waves in the scientific community, “Papers and Patents are Becoming Less Disruptive over Time.” According to Michael Park and his fellow researchers, the rate of groundbreaking scientific discoveries is declining while the percentage of consolidating (or incremental) science is coming to dominate. Is the spirit of groundbreaking scientific discovery withering, and if so, why? Nelson notes a 1997 book by John Horgan, The End of Science. Nelson credits Horgan for seeing the trend a generation ahead of the Park paper, but Nelson breaks with Horgan on the diagnosis. Horgan posits that groundbreaking science is declining because we have already made most of the Read More ›

mama bear cubs
Female Eurasian brown bear and her cubs in boreal forest

Mama Bear Apologetics Takes on Atheist Richard Dawkins

Today’s ID the Future puts atheist Richard Dawkins’s book Outgrowing God under the microscope and reveals multiple ways his argument smashes up against contrary scientific evidence. Walking us through the critique are author and Mama Bear Apologetics founder Hillary Morgan Ferrer and her co-host, Amy Davison. Dawkins invokes the beautiful order evident in the murmuration of bird flocks as evidence that complexity can evolve from simple algorithmic rules. But Ferrer explains why the phenomenon of bird murmuration doesn’t even begin to approach what we find when sophisticated engineering order emerges in the growth of embryos. Ferrer also considers the challenges of re-engineering sperm thermoregulation to move from how it works in marine life to how it works in land animals. Read More ›