Tag: common descent

dog and cat play together. cat and dog lying outside in the yard. kitten sucks dog breast milk. dog and cat best friends. love between animals.

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post

Author
Michael Behe

Date
August 31, 2022

Categorized
Intelligent Design

Tagged
argument from knowledge, cichlid fish, common descent, Darwin Devolves, Darwin’s Black Box, Darwin’s finches, Darwinian Evolution, Darwinism, death before the Fall, devolution, Evolution, evolutionary theory, From the Crust of the Earth, genetic code, genetic information, genus, God, Hawaiian drosophila, Inference to the Best Explanation, Intelligent Design, Lake Victoria, macroevolution, Matthew Ramage, Michael Behe, Microevolution, Molecular Machines, Natural Selection, Naturalism, Pat Flynn, Philosophy for the People, Pope Benedict, proofs of God, purposeful arrangement of parts, random variation, Richard Dawkins, The Greatest Show on Earth, Thomas Aquinas, Thomism}

Behe and Ramage: Evolution’s Limits and the Fingerprints of Design

_{Michael Behe

August 31, 2022

Intelligent Design}

Today’s ID the Future wraps up a debate over evolution and intelligent design between Lehigh University biologist Michael Behe and Benedictine College theologian Michael Ramage. Both Behe and Ramage are Catholic, and they carry on their conversation in the context of Catholic thinking about nature and creation, in particular the work of Thomas Aquinas and contemporary Thomist philosophers. Ramage seeks to integrate his Thomistic/personalist framework with modern evolutionary theory’s commitment to macroevolution and common descent. Behe doesn’t discount the possibility of common descent but lays out a case that any evolution beyond the level of genus (for instance, the separate families containing cats and dogs) cannot be achieved through mindless Darwinian mechanisms and, instead, would require the contributions of a Read More ›

The student is sitting at the table and is looking for excuses for not being ready for the lesson. Photo by Dmitriy on Adobe Stock

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Author
Paul Nelson

Date
February 14, 2022

Categorized
Evolution

Tagged
amino acids, Casey Luskin, cells, common descent, Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith, Craig Venter, Darwinism, DNA, Eugene Koonin, evolutionary theory, genetic code, genetic codes, Jacques Monod, last universal common ancestor, Life’s Greatest Secret, LUCA, Matthew Cobb, Michael Syvanen, Neo-Darwinism, Paul Nelson, Proteins, Richard Dawkins, RNA, scientific predictions, testability, universal common ancestor, universal common descent, variant genetic codes}

How Universal Common Descent Survives Failed Predictions

_{Paul Nelson

February 14, 2022

Evolution}

On today’s ID the Future, philosopher of biology Paul Nelson discusses his chapter in a recent Harvest House anthology edited by host Casey Luskin, The Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith. Nelson says the theory of universal common descent, a key component of modern evolutionary theory, has generated multiple predictions that have failed. The prediction he discusses here is that there would turn out to be a single universal genetic code, since that’s what we should expect if all life on earth is descended from the last universal common ancestor (LUCA). Findings over the past three decades have proven that prediction spectacularly wrong. How does the theory of universal common descent shrug off this contrary empirical finding? The trick for Read More ›

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post

Author
Casey Luskin

Date
January 12, 2022

Categorized
Evolution

Tagged
ad hoc explanations, biogeography, camera eye, Casey Luskin, cephalopods, coalescence, common descent, common design, Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith, convergence, Convergent evolution, Emily Reeves, epicycles, evolutionary tree, falsifiability, Falsification, Fossil Record, Homology, human eye, Intelligent Design, lateral gene transfer, new world monkeys, octopus, octopus eye, old world monkeys, phylogenetic tree, primate rafting hypothesis, Science and faith, Simon Conway Morris, sloths, unfalsifiable, universal common ancestry, vertebrate eye}

Casey Luskin: Biogeography Is No Friend of Common Descent

_{Casey Luskin

January 12, 2022

Evolution}

On this ID the Future, geologist Casey Luskin discusses biogeography and the problems it poses for the idea of universal common descent. To make it work, evolutionists have to propose, for instance, that old world monkeys rafted across the Atlantic from Africa to South America on a natural raft. Really? That’s some raft. And how did the monkeys not starve to death? Or die of thirst? They couldn’t drink salty ocean water, after all. And talk about a genetic bottleneck! That’s just one of several problems Luskin raises with the idea that all species gradually evolved from a universal common ancestor. In his conversation with host Emily Reeves, he also touches on the problem of convergence, as when two creatures Read More ›

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post

Author
Jonathan Wells

Date
October 13, 2021

Tagged
cancel culture, Casey Luskin, common descent, Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith, Darwinism, Discovery Institute, dogmatic Darwinism, Evolution, evolutionary theory, Extended Evolutionary Synthesis, Icons of Evolution, Intelligent Design, Is Darwinism a Theory in Crisis?, Jonathan Wells, Neo-Darwinism, scientific dogmatism, scientific Materialism, scientific paradigm, the journal Nature, The Myth of Junk DNA, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn, Zombie Science}

Is Darwinism a Theory in Crisis?

_{Jonathan Wells

October 13, 2021}

Today’s ID the Future spotlights The Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith, and specifically, an essay in the new anthology by biologist Jonathan Wells, “Is Darwinism a Theory in Crisis?” As Wells and host Casey Luskin note, the essay title alludes to philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn’s influential 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Kuhn argued there that if one studies the history of scientific revolutions, one finds that when the scientific evidence has begun to turn against a dominant scientific paradigm—when its days are numbered— its adherents do not simply concede defeat. Instead they use all their institutional power to suppress dissent and punish proponents of any competing paradigm. This is the period of crisis, which can last Read More ›

Fossil dinosaur lizard. Fossil of prehistoric lizard skeleton on the rock

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post

Author
Jonathan Wells

Date
October 6, 2021

Categorized
Faith and Science

Tagged
Casey Luskin, Change Over Time, common descent, convergence, Darwinism, descent with modification, Evolution, fruit flies, Galapagos finches, Homology, human eye, Icons of Evolution, Jonathan Wells, macroevolution, Microevolution, molecular phylogenies, Natural Selection, octopus eye, peppered moths, random variation, Simon Conway Morris, The Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith, unguided evolution}

Jonathan Wells and The Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith, Pt. 1

_{Jonathan Wells

October 6, 2021

Faith and Science}

Today’s ID the Future spotlights a new book, The Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith: Exploring the Ultimate Questions about Life and the Cosmos, and specifically a chapter by biologist Jonathan Wells titled “What are the Top Scientific Problems with Evolution?” Wells is the guest, and the host is geologist and Center for Science and Culture associate director Casey Luskin, who co-edited the anthology from Harvest House Publishers. In this episode the first problem that Wells highlights concerns homology and convergence. A second problem involves fossils. Darwin anticipated “innumerable transitions” in the fossil record, but such a rainbow of transitional forms has never been found. Not even close. Another problem, molecular phylogenies. Another: the lack of observational evidence that natural Read More ›

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post

Author
Michael Behe

Date
July 30, 2021

Categorized
Intelligent Design

Tagged
aesthetic judgment, bad design, common descent, Darwinian Mechanism, Darwinism, devolution, Evolution, Immanuel Kant, Intelligent Design, Jim Madden, Michael Behe, Natural Selection, optimal design, Pat Flynn, purpose, purposeful arrangement of parts, random mutations, random variation, science stopper, the problem of evil, Thomism, Thomists, unguided evolution, vertebrate eye}

Darwin Devolves Author Michael Behe Tangles with Two Philosophers, Pt. 3

_{Michael Behe

July 30, 2021

Intelligent Design}

On this ID the Future, ID biologist Michael Behe continues fielding tough questions from philosophers Pat Flynn and Jim Madden. Here in Part 3 of 3, Behe responds to the claim that some designs in biology are bad designs and to criticisms leveled at ID from some Thomists. Also in the mix, the issue of academic pressure to distance oneself from ID, even before those involved understand what the theory of intelligent design actually is. Madden also asks Behe what reforms he’d pursue if he suddenly found himself in charge of the National Academy of Sciences. Tune in to hear Behe’s response, and much more. This three-part series is borrowed, with permission, from Flynn’s podcast, which can be found on his Read More ›

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Author
William A. Dembski

Date
May 19, 2021

Categorized
Intelligent Design

Tagged
abiogenesis, argument from evil, chance, common descent, conservation of information, Douglas Axe, Evolution, genetic code, homochirality, Intelligent Design, Junk DNA, law of small probability, Miller-Urey experiment, minimal complexity of a cell, multiple universes, multiverse, Natural Selection, origin of life, probabilistic resources, replicator, self-reproducing machines, simple life, theistic evolution, universal probability bound}

James Tour Interviews William Dembski, Pt. 2

_{William A. Dembski

May 19, 2021

Intelligent Design}

Today’s ID the Future again features Rice University synthetic organic chemist James Tour and intelligent design pioneer William Dembski. Here in Part 2 they discuss information theory, probability theory, the origin of life, evolution, the multiverse hypothesis, and Dembski’s contributions to the theory of intelligent design. Their conversation is borrowed, with permission, from Dr. Tour’s Science & Faith podcast.

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post

Author
Casey Luskin

Date
January 27, 2021

Categorized
Intelligent Design

Tagged
Ann Gauger, Brian Miller, Casey Luskin, citrate, common descent, common design, Darwin Devolves, degradative mutations, dependency graph model, devolution, Douglas Axe, E. coli, Evolution, evolutionary tree, genetic data, genetics, human origins, ID 3.0, Intelligent Design, Jeremy England, Jerry Coyne, Journal of Bacteriology, Journal of BIO-Complexity, Journal of Theoretical Biology, Michael Behe, Ola Hössjer, origin of life, polar bear evolution, Richard Lenski, Scott Minnich, useful adaptations, William Dembski, Winston Ewert}

Casey Luskin Returns, Teases a New Book, Celebrates ID 3.0

_{Casey Luskin

January 27, 2021

Intelligent Design}

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 ID work and is now putting a foot back in the ID waters. Also on tap in today’s conversation, Luskin and Dembski’s upcoming appearance Read More ›

walnuts black hats on stone and gray background. Creative food design poster. Macro view selective focus photo

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Author
Robert P. Waltzer

Date
July 6, 2020

Categorized
Evolution, Science

Tagged
__edited, cardiopulmonary system, Charles Darwin, common descent, hemoglobin, information, Intelligent Design, irreducible complexity, neutral evolution, Proteins, Tree of Life}

In a Nutshell: Three Great Problems for Evolution

_{Robert P. Waltzer

July 6, 2020

Evolution, Science}

On this episode of ID the Future, Andrew McDiarmid continues his conversation with Robert Waltzer, chair of the department of biology at Belhaven University and co-author of Evolution and Intelligent Design in a Nutshell, on three big problems faced by naturalistic evolutionary theory. First, it appears that science has turned up several instances of what is known as irreducible complexity, something that Darwin himself said would falsify his theory if ever discovered. Second, various proposed “trees of life” conflict with each other, a problem that has grown worse as additional evidence and methods have arisen, a trend that makes theories of common descent difficult to sustain. And third, we know of no case where information is generated or improved without Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Andrew McDiarmid

Date
June 29, 2020

Categorized
Evolution, Intelligent Design, Science

Tagged
__edited, Change Over Time, common descent, ENCODE project, gradualism, historical science, irreducible complexity, Junk DNA, macroevolution, Microevolution, Natural Selection, non-coding DNA, Nutshell}

Robert Waltzer on Evolutionary Theory’s Room for Humility

_{Andrew McDiarmid

June 29, 2020

Evolution, Intelligent Design, Science}

On this episode of ID the Future, biologist and professor Robert Waltzer talks with host Andrew McDiarmid about Waltzer’s chapter in the new Discovery Institute Press volume Evolution and Intelligent Design in a Nutshell. Waltzer’s chapter covers some key terms in the evolution/ID conversation that are often misunderstood or misused. These include the word “evolution” itself, “change over time,” “common descent,” and “natural selection.” He offers quick definitions and explains some of the confusion surrounding them. Waltzer also describes an encouraging success story of his about fostering open dialogue and exploration of the evidence for design in nature.