Tag: Materialism | Page 4

^{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 ›

^{Type
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 ›

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post

Author
Michael Newton Keas

Date
August 12, 2020

Categorized
Science

Tagged
__edited, Ann Druyan, anti-theism, Brannon Braga, Carl Sagan, Jay W. Richards, Materialism, Michael Newton Keas, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, reductive materialism, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Theism, transhumanism}

The Schizophrenic Mythology of Cosmos: Possible Worlds

_{Michael Newton Keas

August 12, 2020

Science}

On this episode of ID the Future, host Jay Richards concludes his multi-episode conversation with science historian Michael Keas about the 2020 National Geographic series Cosmos: Possible Worlds. The two discuss a schizophrenia at the heart of the series–dour atheistic materialism one moment and gauzy, feel-good pantheism the next. Richards and Keas agree that if there’s one good thing to come of the series’ final episode,it’s that it brings the pantheistic religious mythology of the Cosmos franchise into the open. Everything comes together in a message that includes a creation myth, a story of sin (ecological sin), a salvation story, and even resurrection and ascension. Keas, author of Unbelievable: 7 Myths About the History and Future of Science and Religion, Read More ›

Classic radio tuner panel close-up. Black background

^{Type
post

Author
Andrew McDiarmid

Date
August 3, 2020

Categorized
Science

Tagged
__edited, Albert Einstein, Big Bang, Boltzmann brain, cosmological constant, expansion rate of the universe, fine-tuning, Gravity, Isaac Newton, Lee Strobel, Materialism, multiple universes, multiverse, Nutshell, Occam’s Razor, Paul Dirac, philosophical materialism, Richard Feynman, Stephen C. Meyer, strong nuclear force, Summer Seminars, The Case for a Creator}

Fine Tuning in a Nutshell: No Problem

_{Andrew McDiarmid

August 3, 2020

Science}

On this episode of ID the Future, Andrew McDiarmid interviews Robert Alston, Ph.D electrical engineer working at Picatinny Arsenal and co-author of the new book Evolution and Intelligent Design in a Nutshell. The two discuss the origin of the Nutshell book and the origin and fine tuning of the universe. Though cosmic fine tuning is often referred to as “the fine tuning problem,” Alston says it’s really no problem at all — not unless you’re trying to shoehorn it into the box of philosophical materialism.

Dark blue and glow dust particle abstract background, Light ray shine beam effect.

^{Type
post

Author
Andrew McDiarmid

Date
July 22, 2020

Categorized
Science

Tagged
__edited, Materialism}

Bits and Bytes at the Bottom

_{Andrew McDiarmid

July 22, 2020

Science}

On this episode of ID the Future, Andrew McDiarmid reads a recent article from Salvo magazine, “Bits and Bytes at the Bottom.” In the essay, systems engineer Ken Pedersen and Discovery Institute senior fellow Jonathan Witt begin by noting that scientific materialism sees reality as the result of accidental collisions and combinations of elementary particles — a worldview devoid of ultimate meaning and purpose. Many scientific materialists expressed confidence that any shortcomings in their paradigm would be shorn up by fresh discoveries soon enough, but as Pedersen and Witt explain, a funny thing happened on the way to the 21st century. A paradigm shift occurred, one famously summarized by renowned theoretical physicist John Wheeler: “Bit before it.”

^{Type
post

Author
Paul Nelson

Date
June 26, 2020

Categorized
Science

Tagged
__edited, Adolf Grünbaum, Aristotle, DNA sequencing, empirical attitude, epistemology, Francis Bacon, genome sequencing, genomic sequencing, Intelligent Design, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Materialism, Naturalism, Nature, On Certainty, orphan genes, philosophy of science, Robert Boyle, Royal Society of London, Sean Carroll}

Paul Nelson on Listening to Nature for Her Answers

_{Paul Nelson

June 26, 2020

Science}

On this episode of ID the Future, philosopher of science Paul Nelson concludes his talk with host Andrew McDiarmid on what it takes to converse effectively with scientists who are trapped in a naturalistic parabola — that is, researchers who draw their conclusions from naturalism’s authority rather than following the evidence wherever it leads. Nelson urges us to keep the third party in the conversation: Nature herself. We listen to nature through experiment, he says, and warns against the message from scientists such as CalTech’s Sean Carroll who have suggested that testing is “overrated.” If we listen and test, nature can keep revealing herself in surprising ways, says Nelson, which is what makes science so fun.

Collision galaxies. Three-dimensional parabola with collision of galaxies. Universe with stars and stars. Starry sky

^{Type
post

Author
Paul Nelson

Date
June 22, 2020

Categorized
Intelligent Design, Science

Tagged
__edited, Adolf Grünbaum, animal phyla, dialectic, God of the gaps, Materialism, methodological materialism, methodological naturalism, origin of life, Ron Numbers, Ronald Numbers}

Paul Nelson on Freeing Minds Trapped in a Naturalistic Parabola

_{Paul Nelson

June 22, 2020

Intelligent Design, Science}

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.

^{Type
post

Author
Michael Newton Keas

Date
May 11, 2020

Categorized
Culture, Science

Tagged
__edited, ancient medicine, Carl Sagan, conflict thesis, Contact movie, cosmos, Cosmos Possible Worlds, Jay W. Richards, Materialism, Michael Newton Keas, Mind Matters, National Geographic, Neal DeGrasse Tyson, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Possible Worlds, Ray Kurzweil, reductionism, techno-utopia, technological singularity, the singularity, transhumanism, Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence, warfare thesis}

Cosmos: Possible Worlds’ Religious Mythology

_{Michael Newton Keas

May 11, 2020

Culture, Science}

On this episode of ID the Future, science historian Michael Keas and philosopher Jay Richards continue their conversation about Neil deGrasse Tyson’s new National Geographic series Cosmos: Possible Worlds. As Keas explains, Tyson’s story of ancient superstition evolving at last into modern medicine gets both ancient and modern medicine factually wrong. His long-running “history” of the warfare between science and religion also is historically mistaken, Keas, author of Unbelievable: 7 Myths About the History and Future of Science and Religion insists. Curiously, Tyson has a future, quasi-religious myth of his own to promote: personal immortality through futuristic technology.

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post

Author
John G. West

Date
May 4, 2020

Categorized
Culture

Tagged
__edited, afterlife, Alfred Kinsey, Atheism, Christopher Ryan, Cornell University, cultural decay, Darwin Day in America, Darwinism, divine omnipotence, divine omniscience, Ethics, Evolution, faith, Finding Darwin’s God, fine-tuning, George Coyne, God, human exceptionalism, human zoos, Intelligent Design, Kenneth Miller, marriage, Materialism, moral relativism, National Public Radio, Neo-Darwinism, Philip Skell, Privileged Species, purpose, Religion, scientific Materialism, Sex at Dawn, sexual ethics, Social Darwinism, sociobiology, soul, theistic evolutionist, Thomas Nagel}

John West on Darwin’s Culturally Corrosive Idea, Pt. 2

_{John G. West

May 4, 2020

Culture}

On this episode of ID the Future, hear the second half of Discovery Institute’s John West’s talk given at the 2020 Dallas Conference on Science and Faith, on how Darwinism has corroded Western culture. In this portion he examines the morally poisoning effects of Darwinism on marriage, sexual ethics, and religion, such that virtually anything can be defended as OK, and no particular culture’s ethic is to be preferred over another. Humankind’s spiritual purpose has likewise been eroded. Yet West closes with hope: science in our generation is discovering more and more signs of intelligent design and purpose in nature, and young researchers are learning that materialism shouldn’t be the foregone conclusion of contemporary science.