ID the Future Intelligent Design, Evolution, and Science Podcast
Topic

God of the gaps

Ceuta, Spain Autonomous Spanish city in north Africa. Statue of Hercules known as the Pillars of Hercules. Greek mythology. Spain.
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ID the Future
Date
January 31, 2024
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Evolution’s Demigods: Reviewing the Tour/Cronin Debate

ID the Future
January 31, 2024

Do biologists give too much credit to natural selection and self-organization? What are the limits of a materialist approach to science? On this ID The Future, we bring you the second half of a panel discussion reviewing the recent debate between Rice University chemistry professor Dr. James Tour and University of Glasgow professor of chemistry Dr. Lee Cronin. In November 2023, Dr. Tour and Dr. Cronin participated in a roundtable debate on origin-of-life studies at Harvard University with a live audience of Harvard faculty and guests. Even if you haven’t seen the debate yet, you’ll get valuable insight into the state of origin-of-life research from this panel discussion, featuring three of our own: scientist and attorney Casey Luskin, physicist Brian Miller, and Center for Science and Culture Senior Fellow Dr. Stephen Dilley. It also featured Arizona State University Professor of Philosophy Owen Anderson. The second half of the conversation begins where Part 1 left off: with a critique of the seemingly limitless power attributed to natural selection. In the debate, Dr. Cronin called natural selection “the force that produces our stars.” Dr. Miller explains why natural selection wields so much power for scientists like Cronin: “What a lot of origin-of-life people do is they talk about natural selection as a demigod with creative agency. That’s how they rationalize away the evidence for design.” The panel also discusses how intelligent design is a legitimate threat to materialist science, and how Dr. Tour’s challenge is impacting the origin-of-life research community. They conclude with the reminder that a mind-first view of the natural world can not only help us personally, it can help society create better solutions for living. This discussion was recorded by the Kirkwood Center and hosted by Kirkwood president Anthony Costello and vice-president Lenny Esposito. We thank the Kirkwood Center for permission to share it. This is Part 2 of a two-part discussion. Listen to Part 1 if you missed it. Dig Deeper Listen to Dr. Stephen Meyer interview Dr. James Tour about the origin-of-life debate:

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ID the Future
Date
January 29, 2024
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Debate Review: Jim Tour vs Lee Cronin at Harvard

ID the Future
January 29, 2024
Are we close to cracking the origin of life problem or not? In 2021, chemist Dr. Lee Cronin declared publicly that "Origin of life research is a scam." Yet, scientists regularly claim to be close to creating simple and complex life from non-life in their labs, and the public is buying it. On this ID The Future, we bring you the first half of a panel discussion reviewing the recent debate on the origin of life between Rice University chemistry professor Dr. James Tour and University of Glasgow professor of chemistry Dr. Lee Cronin. This is Part 1 of 2. Read More ›
bad teacher
Angry teacher in retro style with pointer on blackboard
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Author
Tom Gilson
Date
March 20, 2023
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How a Teacher Wrecked Biology for Me, and How I Got Past It

Tom Gilson
March 20, 2023

On today’s ID the Future, Tom Gilson, a writer and editor for The Stream, shares his experiences in high school biology. Important mysteries (i.e., major problems) with evolutionary theory were hurried past and papered over, and yet his biology teacher could take an entire class period to tell Charles Darwin’s life story, and then repeat the same class, virtually verbatim, five more times that same semester. Tune in to hear how the class put Tom Gilson off of biology, but how he now finds the subject fascinating, thanks to the work of intelligent design researchers and the larger community of life scientists. Gilson’s commentary is taken from, and builds on, a recent essay of his, available at Evolution News.

galaxy parabola
Collision galaxies. Three-dimensional parabola with collision of galaxies. Universe with stars and stars. Starry sky
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Author
Paul Nelson
Date
August 13, 2022
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Paul Nelson on Freeing Minds Trapped in a Naturalistic Parabola

Paul Nelson
August 13, 2022

On this ID the Future from the vault, philosopher of biology Paul Nelson continues sharing with host Andrew McDiarmid about pursuing intelligent design theory in a science culture committed to naturalism. As Nelson puts it here, it’s about trying to communicate with scientists who are trapped in a “naturalistic parabola.” That parabola sets the rule and defines the boundaries for science: naturalistic answers only. And it extends to infinity, so no finite number of objections or counter-examples can force naturalistic scientists out of it. Nelson, however, offers an alternative strategy for drawing them out of the parabola.

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Casey Luskin
Date
April 6, 2022
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Casey Luskin and Adam Shapiro Debate Intelligent Design, Pt. 2

Casey Luskin
April 6, 2022

This ID the Future continues the debate between design theorist Casey Luskin, an editor of The Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith, and science historian Adam Shapiro, co-author of Science and Religion: A Very Short Introduction. Justin Brierley, of the popular British debate program Unbelievable?, hosts. In this second half of the conversation, Shapiro argues that intelligent design’s popularity seems to have waned. Casey Luskin counters, arguing that the number and frequency of New York Times articles on ID is a superficial metric and that the ID research program is exploding, with the number of peer-reviewed ID papers growing every year, and the number of interested graduate students, ID hubs, and conferences expanding around the world, including ID conferences attended by high-level scientists, including Nobel Laureates. Luskin and Shapiro also discuss religious and academic freedom as it relates to the teaching of evolution and intelligent design in the classroom. Shapiro is actually more sanguine than Luskin about the freedom of high school biology teachers to teach intelligent design. Luskin, who has both a PhD in geology and a law degree, strongly advises high school biology teachers in public schools against teaching ID in the classroom. Instead, he says, the better and legally safer approach is to teach evolutionary theory comprehensively, covering both the evidence for it but also some of the evidence in the peer-reviewed literature against it. Luskin and Shapiro also part company on the nature of the intelligent design argument, with Shapiro suggesting that in practice it often amounts to a presenter highlighting some amazing feature in biology and then giving glory to God. Luskin pushes back, reiterating that intelligent design is an argument based on positive evidence, and is an argument to the best explanation–intelligent design–one that employs standard methods of scientific reasoning. This program is presented here with permission of Justin Brierley. To see this and other Unbelievable? episodes, go here. The first half of this conversation can be found here.

barrenlandunsplash
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Eric H. Anderson
Date
August 19, 2020
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The Origin of Life and the Materialism of the Gaps

Eric H. Anderson
August 19, 2020

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 some set of purely blind, material forces, no intelligence allowed. Why? Stadler says it’s the “materialism of the gaps,” a dogmatic mindset undeterred by the growing tide of evidence in the opposite direction.

galaxy parabola
Collision galaxies. Three-dimensional parabola with collision of galaxies. Universe with stars and stars. Starry sky
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Paul Nelson
Date
June 22, 2020
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Paul Nelson on Freeing Minds Trapped in a Naturalistic Parabola

Paul Nelson
June 22, 2020

On this episode of ID the Future, philosopher of science Paul Nelson continues sharing with host Andrew McDiarmid about pursuing intelligent design theory in a science culture committed to naturalism. Or as Nelson puts it this time, it’s about trying to communicate with scientists who are trapped in a naturalistic parabola. That parabola sets the rule and defines the boundaries for science: naturalistic answers only. And it extends to infinity, so no finite number of objections or counter-examples can force naturalistic scientists out of it. Nelson, however, offers an alternative strategy for drawing them out of the parabola.

NonsenseAverick
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Moshe Averick
Date
March 6, 2019
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Averick Takes on the “God of the Gaps” Objection

Moshe Averick
March 6, 2019

On this episode of ID the Future, Rabbi Moshe Averick, author of Nonsense of a High Order: The Confused World of Modern Atheism, responds to the objection that intelligent design is a feeble “God of the Gaps” approach, an argument from ignorance. Provocative and entertaining, Averick describes the attack as “less than feeble.” He says it isn’t because of what we don’t know, but because of what we do know. He offers as an illustration the widespread skepticism in the physics community toward the possibility of anyone ever building a perpetual motion machine. Their skepticism is not driven by ignorance of how to build such a machine, Averick notes. It’s driven by their knowledge of the fundamental laws of physics. Please consider donating to support the IDTF Podcast.

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Sarah Chaffee
Date
January 2, 2019
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The ID Underground and Related Reflections

Sarah Chaffee
January 2, 2019

On this episode of ID the Future, host Sarah Chaffee talks with Center for Science and Culture Research Coordinator Brian Miller about the growing ID underground, based on his recent Evolution News article on the subject. As many as one-quarter of Harvard post-docs in relevant fields privately express sympathy for ID. More and more scientists who don’t agree with ID are at least standing up against common “sound-bite” misrepresentations. Compared to other major paradigm shifts in science history, ID is right on track. Please consider donating to support the IDTF Podcast.

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Author
Sarah Chaffee
Date
December 5, 2018
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Greg Koukl Talks Heretic: One Scientist’s Journey from Darwin to Design

Sarah Chaffee
December 5, 2018

On this episode of ID the Future, author, speaker, and radio talk show host Greg Koukl, president of Stand to Reason, talks through a review of Heretic: One Scientist’s Journey from Darwin to Design. It’s the autobiographical story, co-written by Jonathan Witt, of distinguished Finnish bioengineer Matti Leisola. His whole perspective on science changed when he asked himself the question Koukl likes to ask: “Do you want the right answers, or do you demand the right kinds of answers — those answers that comport with naturalism, materialism, and physicalism?” Please consider donating to support the IDTF Podcast.

Discovery Institute