Speaker: Eric Anderson

^{Type
post

Author
Eric H. Anderson

Date
September 2, 2020

Categorized
Human Origins, Science

Tagged
__edited, abiogenesis, Intelligent Design, Materialism, membrane first, metabolism first, Naturalism, OOL, origin of life, protocell, RNA first, RNA world, scientific Materialism}

New Origin-of-Life Proposal Revives a Hopeful Monster

_{Eric H. Anderson

September 2, 2020

Human Origins, Science}

On this episode of ID the Future, host Eric Anderson talks with scientist and fellow engineer Rob Stadler about a recent origin-of-life paper and how the authors paint themselves into a corner. The context for the paper is this: Decades of research have undermined the three great hopes for a purely naturalistic origin of life — scenarios starting with some sort of metabolism, scenarios starting with some kind of membrane, and scenarios starting with RNA. All three are necessary for cellular life; none seems able to have come ahead of the others. So now some recent work described in an article in New Scientist suggests it all happened at once in a sort of “chemical big bang.” It’s the return Read More ›

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post

Author
Eric H. Anderson

Date
August 19, 2020

Categorized
Human Origins, Science

Tagged
__edited, abiogenesis, DNA, God of the gaps, Materialism, materialism of the gaps, methodological naturalism, origin of life, repair mechanisms, spontaneous generation, Stairway to Life}

The Origin of Life and the Materialism of the Gaps

_{Eric H. Anderson

August 19, 2020

Human Origins, Science}

On this episode of ID the Future, host Eric Anderson speaks again with medical engineer Rob Stadler, co-author with molecular biologist Change Laura Tan of the new book Stairway to Life: An Origin of Life Reality Check. Here in Part 2 of their conversation, Stadler says that following the Miller-Urey experiments in the mid-twentieth century, researchers were optimistic that a purely naturalistic explanation for the origin of the first life was just around the corner, but since then the field has run into one obstacle after another. The challenge to mindless origin-of-life scenarios is now far greater than it was 60-70 years ago. And yet many in the field still cling to the belief that life must have arisen by Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Eric H. Anderson

Date
August 17, 2020

Categorized
Science

Tagged
__edited, abiogenesis, chirality, Craig Venter, DNA, homochirality, Materialism, methodological naturalism, origin of life, repair mechanisms, spontaneous generation, Stairway to Life}

New Book: The Stairway to Life Is Really a Cliff

_{Eric H. Anderson

August 17, 2020

Science}

On this episode of ID the Future, guest host Eric Anderson speaks with medical engineer Rob Stadler, co-author with molecular biologist Change Laura Tan of the new book Stairway to Life: An Origin of Life Reality Check. Stadler explains that it’s a “reality check” because many of the “stairway steps” that have to be mounted for chemistry to become biology must, very inconveniently, happen all at once. DNA can’t survive without repair enzymes, for example, but those enzymes are able to exist because they’re coded in DNA. The reality check is needed, says Stadler, because the media eagerly touts every oversold “advance” in origin-of-life research, ignore the mounting difficulties for an unguided origin of life posed by various fresh discoveries, Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Michael Newton Keas

Date
July 17, 2020

Categorized
Science

Tagged
__edited, __repeat, design detection, DNA, etymology of intelligence, information, information in nature, intelligence}

DNA as Clue: How Intelligence Detects Information, and Creates It

_{Michael Newton Keas

July 17, 2020

Science}

On this episode of ID the Future from the vault, attorney and engineer Eric Anderson continues his discussion hosted by Mike Keas on what it means that there’s information in DNA, and how this distinguishes it from most other physical objects. He talks about what intelligence really is and does — and why we know it’s involved in creating the unique information in DNA. And he recommends an answer we can give to those who “dig their heels in” and disagree on what information is about. Please consider donating to support the IDTF Podcast.

View of Saturn from Titan. Elements of this image furnished by NASA

^{Type
post

Author
Michael Newton Keas

Date
July 10, 2020

Categorized
Evolution, Science

Tagged
__edited, __repeat, Biological Information, Eric Anderson, information theory, Intelligent Design, Mike Keas}

Answering Our ID Critics: Distinguish Information In from Information About

_{Michael Newton Keas

July 10, 2020

Evolution, Science}

In this episode of ID the Future from the vault, Mike Keas interviews attorney and engineer Eric Anderson about the first of two mistakes ID antagonists often make regarding information in nature. There is information to be gained about natural phenomena, like Saturn’s rings for example, but is there information actually in Saturn’s rings, or is that information produced by intelligent agents studying Saturn’s rings? The answer to that question should be clear — and it makes a huge difference in how we understand information and intelligence. Eric Anderson is the co-author of the new Discovery Institute press book Evolution and Intelligent Design in a Nutshell.

^{Type
post

Author
Eric H. Anderson

Date
June 15, 2020

Categorized
Science

Tagged
__edited, abiogenesis, Charles Darwin, Darwinian Evolution, Evolution, James M. Tour, origin of life, perpetual motion machines, Richard Dawkins, RNA, self-replicating 3-D printers, self-replicating molecule, self-replicators}

New ID Book Zeroes in on Evolution’s Zero-Probability Problem

_{Eric H. Anderson

June 15, 2020

Science}

On this episode of ID the Future, Andrew McDiarmid concludes his conversation with Eric Anderson, one of the co-authors of the new Discovery Institute Press book Evolution and Intelligent Design in a Nutshell. Today they talk about Anderson’s second of two chapters in the book, where he explores the challenges of building a self-replicating 3D printer, and the light this sheds on the origin-of-life community’s search for their Holy Grail, a self-reproducing molecule that could have kickstarted the evolutionary process on the early earth. In their conversation, Anderson suggests that there are engineering principles involved in the origin of life that may mean that a naturalistic origin of life is less like winning a long-odds lottery, and more like the Read More ›

Purple transparent molecule model over purple

^{Type
post

Author
Eric H. Anderson

Date
June 10, 2020

Categorized
Intelligent Design, Science

Tagged
__edited, abiogenesis, biochemists, control systems, Emperor’s New Clothes, information, James M. Tour, Nutshell, origin of life, parasites, self-replicating molecule, Signature in the Cell, spontaneous generation}

New ID Book Puts “Self-Replicating Molecules” Under the Microscope

_{Eric H. Anderson

June 10, 2020

Intelligent Design, Science}

On this episode of ID the Future, Andrew McDiarmid interviews Eric Anderson, one of the co-authors of the new book Evolution and Intelligent Design in a Nutshell. The two discuss Eric’s chapters on the origin-of-life problem. There’s the problem of generating the information required of the first life form. And there’s another problem, one Anderson uses his engineering background to explore — the insuperable challenges to generating a self-replicating molecule, a hypothetical entity at the heart of some recent attempts to render plausible the evolution of non-life into cellular life.

A unicorn silhouette in a galaxy nebula cloud. Raster illustration.

^{Type
post

Author
Eric H. Anderson

Date
May 27, 2020

Categorized
Academic Freedom, Science

Tagged
__edited, abiogenesis, Evolution and Intelligent Design in a Nutshell, irreducible complexity, molecular machinery, Molecular Machines, OOL research, Origin of Life Research, protoplasm, Richard Dawkins, self-reproducing molecule, self-reproduction, Teach the Controversy, The Selfish Gene}

Evolution and Intelligent Design in a Nutshell — An Excerpt

_{Eric H. Anderson

May 27, 2020

Academic Freedom, Science}

On this episode of ID the Future, Eric H. Anderson reads from his newly co-authored book Evolution and Intelligent Design in a Nutshell, written to provide a clear and simple introduction to the evolution/ID controversy, and broad overview of the evidence for design in nature — including fine tuning and the Big Bang, the origin of life, irreducibly complex machines, and the Cambrian Explosion. In this chapter excerpt, Anderson tells of Richard Dawkins’ glib assurances that the mystery of the origin of life is one not far from being solved. Not so, Anderson says. Origin-of-life researchers haven’t found a pathway to a self-replicating biological entity, the beginning point for any sort of Darwinian evolution. And it’s not for lack of Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Michael Newton Keas

Date
June 20, 2018

Tagged
__edited, design detection, DNA, etymology of intelligence, information, information in nature, intelligence}

DNA as Clue: How Intelligence Detects Information, and Creates It

_{Michael Newton Keas

June 20, 2018}

On this episode of ID the Future, attorney and engineer Eric Anderson continues his discussion hosted by Mike Keas on what it means that there’s information in DNA, and how this distinguishes it from most other physical objects. He talks about what intelligence really is and does — and why we know it’s involved in creating the unique information in DNA. And he recommends an answer we can give to those who “dig their heels in” and disagree on what information is about. Please consider donating to support the IDTF Podcast.

^{Type
post

Author
Michael Newton Keas

Date
June 13, 2018

Tagged
__edited, Biological Information, Eric Anderson, information theory, Intelligent Design, Mike Keas}

Answering Our ID Critics: Distinguish Information In from Information About

_{Michael Newton Keas

June 13, 2018}

In this episode of ID the Future, Mike Keas interviews attorney and engineer Eric Anderson about the first of two mistakes ID antagonists often make regarding information in nature. There is information to be gained about natural phenomena, like Saturn’s rings for example, but is there information actually in Saturn’s rings, or is that information produced by intelligent agents studying Saturn’s rings? The answer to that question should be clear — and it makes a huge difference in how we understand information and intelligence.