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

information theory

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Casey Luskin on the Nature and Fruits of Intelligent Design

On today’s ID the Future, guest Casey Luskin and host Eric Anderson untangle the differences between creationism, intelligent design, and theistic evolution. There are important distinctions as well as areas of overlap, Luskin explains, but the theory of intelligent design focuses on the book of nature, rather than on the Bible or some other sacred book, and offers evidence that certain features of the natural world are best explained by reference to an intelligent cause. The case for intelligent design includes negative arguments against competitor explanations, such as neo-Darwinism, as well as positive evidence for design. And Luskin notes that increasingly this paradigm is fueling fruitful scientific research in everything from protein science to pharmacology and cosmology. To support this important work and Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture, click here for options.

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James Tour Interviews William Dembski, Pt. 1

Today’s ID the Future features Rice University synthetic organic chemist James Tour and intelligent design pioneer William Dembski discussing information theory, information as a meaningful reduction of possibilities, Shannon information versus specified information, and how natural selection has come to function as a God substitute for many scientists, despite the lack of evidence. The conversation is borrowed, with permission, from Dr. Tour’s Science & Faith podcast.

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Gregory Chaitin Talks Gödel, Incompleteness … and Children

In today’s ID the Future, we’re pleased to feature a cross-post from our sister site, Mind Matters. Here host Robert J. Marks begins a conversation with trailblazing mathematician and computer scientist Gregory Chaitin. The two discuss Chaitin’s beginnings in computer science, his growing up in the 1960s a stone’s throw from Central Park, his thoughts on historic scientists in his field such as Leonard Euler and Kurt Gödel, and the story of Chaitin’s cold calling the famed German-Austrian logician, mathematician, and philosopher, and how a snowstorm and Gödel’s quirky personality thwarted a meeting. Also touched on: Gödel’s ontological proof for the existence of God and how children can be said to have solved Chaitin’s incompleteness problem.  Image Credit: Kurt Gödel by AK Rockefeller at Flickr, CC-BY-SA 2.0.

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Dembski’s ID Filter — the Sea His Critics Swim In

On this episode of ID the Future, Robert Crowther interviews Eric Holloway, Associate Fellow at the Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence, about Holloway’s recent article answering a common criticism of intelligent design theory. The criticism centers on William Dembski’s explanatory filter for detecting design, especially Dembski’s crucial innovation, which was to include specification as the filter’s final step. Critics say specification is an ad hoc addition, conjured up by ID theorists for no good reason except to prop up ID theory. No one else uses it, they say. They’re wrong, says Holloway. Dembski accurately formalized a filter we use so often that we’re like fish in the sea. We are unaware of it because it’s ubiquitous. To prove his point, Holloway comes armed with powerful examples from information theory, communication theory, and cryptography.

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Information, Specified Complexity and the Explanatory Filter

On this episode of ID the Future, we hear the third and final portion of a talk given at the 2020 Dallas Science and Faith conference. Daniel Reeves, education outreach coordinator at Discovery Institute, rounds out his extended explanation of intelligent design theory. Far from being “Gee whiz that’s complicated; it must be designed!,” the theory relies on well-defined concepts such as specified complexity and an explanatory filter that allows one to distinguish designed events from either chance, necessity, or a combination of the two. The key in the molecular biological realm: detecting functional information.

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Answering Our ID Critics: Distinguish Information In from Information About

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.

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Data collection in colorful containers - 3D Rendering

The Taxonomy of Information, Pt. 2

On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin continues his discussion on the taxonomy of information. He delves into the definitions of semantic information and complex & specified information, detailing their relationship and explaining how to use information to make a design inference.

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A buffalo (bison) stands on a grassy hill and looks back at you.  Behind it lies a valley full of fir trees and the rising sun. 3D Rendering

Dr. Bill Dembski: Being As Communion

On this episode of ID the Future, CSC Associate Director John West sits down with Mathematician and Philosopher Dr. Bill Dembski to discuss his new book Being as Communion: A Metaphysics of Information. Dr. Dembski describes his book as “trying … to make sense of the world of matter is not the most fundamental thing, but information is.” Tune in to this fascinating discussion about our understanding of information, and how it can transform our view of the world. Purchase Being as Communion at Amazon.