On this classic ID The Future from our archive, Dr. John West, author of Walt Disney and Live Action: The Disney Studio’s Live-Action Features of the 1950s and 60s, talks about Walt Disney’s life-long fascination with evolution. By exploring various messages embedded in Disney’s theme parks and animated features, from the Magic Skyway created for the 1964 World’s Fair to the 1948 animated film Fantasia, we see Disney’s recurring contemplation of evolution. Source...
Dec 27, 2024•17 min•Ep. 1998
On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid begins a short series with Dr. Jonathan McLatchie delving into the remarkable design and irreducible complexity of the eukaryotic cell cycle. The pair review the differences between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, the phases involved in eukaryotic cell division, and the concept of irreducible complexity. They explore how various components of the cell division process, such as kinetochores and microtubules, are essential for successful mitosis and w...
Dec 23, 2024•26 min•Ep. 1997
On today’s ID the Future out of the vault, Canceled Science author and physicist Eric Hedin concludes his conversation with host Eric Anderson about the challenge that the second law of thermodynamics poses for purely naturalistic scenarios of the origin of living organisms. The problem, Hedin argues, is generating the reams of exquisitely orchestrated biological information required for even the simplest self-reproducing cell. The fundamental principles of physics mitigate against chemical proc...
Dec 20, 2024•16 min•Ep. 1996
On this episode of ID The Future, philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer concludes his conversation with Praxis Circle’s Doug Monroe. In this last section of a multi-part interview, Dr. Meyer explains why theistic evolution – the belief that God used the evolutionary process to create – is an incoherent position to take on the origin and development of life. There’s no need, Meyer says, to attempt to reconcile theistic belief with a dying theory. Meyer also discusses the topic of miracles. He ...
Dec 18, 2024•28 min•Ep. 1995
On today’s ID The Future, philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer continues his conversation with Praxis Circle’s Doug Monroe. In this section of a multi-part interview, Dr. Meyer discusses two of the crucial arguments of his latest book Return of the God Hypothesis: the information embedded in DNA code that demands an explanation, and the fine-tuning of the physical properties of the universe and what’s wrong with recent attempts to explain that fine-tuning by resorting to a theory of mu...
Dec 16, 2024•36 min•Ep. 1994
On today’s ID the Future from the archive, host Eric Anderson sits down with Canceled Science author and physicist Eric Hedin to discuss Hedin’s new book and, in particular, the book’s take on the origin-of-life problem. Hedin says the second law of thermodynamics poses a serious problem for the idea of a mindless origin of the first single-celled organism from prebiotic materials. Such an event would have involved a breathtaking increase in new information, and Hedin says that physics tells us ...
Dec 13, 2024•12 min•Ep. 1993
On this ID The Future, philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer sits down with Praxis Circle’s Doug Monroe to offer insights into the intersection of science, philosophy, and religion. In this section of a multi-part interview, Dr. Meyer begins by discussing the nature of information. He explains the difference between mathematical information, or Shannon information, and specified information, a more meaningful type of information that conveys the quality of the content, not just the quantity o...
Dec 11, 2024•27 min•Ep. 1992
When we gain new information about beliefs we hold, it’s good practice to update our viewpoints accordingly to avoid incoherence in our thinking. On today’s ID The Future, host Jonathan McLatchie invites professor and author Dr. Tim McGrew to the show to discuss how Bayesian reasoning can help us maintain coherence across our set of beliefs. The pair also apply Bayesian logic to the debate over Darwinian evolution to show that a confidence in design arguments can be mathematically ri...
Dec 09, 2024•45 min•Ep. 1991
On today’s ID the Future out of the vault, Biola University physicist John Bloom discusses his chapter in The Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith, an anthology co-edited by host Casey Luskin. Bloom argues that while the Babylonians and Greeks contributed some discoveries and insights that would eventually play into the rise of science, science did not take off, was not born, until a cluster of crucial ideas drawn from the Judeo-Christian worldview infused Western thought. Only then did astr...
Dec 06, 2024•21 min•Ep. 1990
When we look at feats of human engineering, like vehicles, skyscrapers, and computers, we don't doubt our intuition that they're intelligently designed. But when it comes to marvels of the natural world, like bird wings, whale flippers, and our own arms and legs, we're expected to suspend our design intuition and credit a gradual, undirected evolutionary process. Bio-engineer Dr. Stuart Burgess has been studying vertebrate limbs for over thirty years. On this episode of ID The Future, Burgess sh...
Dec 04, 2024•35 min•Ep. 1989
Did life on earth spring up early and easily through evolutionary processes? Or does the emergence of life represent another infusion of information into the biosphere that is best explained by intelligent design? On this episode of ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid and Dr. Casey Luskin discuss the implications of a recent study on the last universal common ancestor, also known as LUCA. They explore the nature of LUCA as a hypothetical organism, its complexity, and the challenges it poses to ...
Dec 03, 2024•20 min•Ep. 1988
Every Friday we repost a gem from our archive of hundreds of episodes. Today’s pick from the vault takes us to a conference in Turin, Italy, where scholar John West speaks about the roots of intelligent design, roots that stretch back to ancient Greek and Roman philosophers. In his talk, West also makes the case that design thinking was crucial to the rise of modern science, and he traces how Darwinism has eroded design thinking, fueled scientific racism, and undermined belief in human exception...
Nov 29, 2024•44 min•Ep. 1987
When Charles Darwin formulated his theory of evolution, he offered up a new god and a new understanding of mankind. But does his creation myth satisfy the scientific evidence we have today for the design and complexity of life? I'm Andrew McDiarmid. On this ID The Future, I read an excerpt of a new book that exposes the inadequacy of Darwinism and dispels the darkness of Darwinian materialism. A Catholic Case for Intelligent Design, by Father Martin Hilbert, is now available from Discovery Insti...
Nov 27, 2024•21 min•Ep. 1986
For too long now, Catholic scholars and many of the faithful have felt compelled to align themselves with a Darwinian account of life's origins. But as modern evolutionary theory faces a rising wave of disconfirming evidence, the evidence for both intelligent design and a first human couple, Adam and Eve, is stronger than ever. So it's a good time for Catholics to reevaluate their relationship with Darwin. On this ID The Future, physicist Dr. Brian Miller welcomes Father Martin Hilbert to the po...
Nov 25, 2024•34 min•Ep. 1985
On this ID the Future, Discovery Institute senior fellow Andrew McDiarmid explores the roots of the idea that our universe is just one of many universes, an idea stretching back to the ancient atomists and given new life in the modern era, first by physicist Hugh Everett. McDiarmid then looks at how the idea percolated into comic books and from there into popular culture. He caps off the episode with a reading of a recent article about the multiverse hypothesis by Stephen Meyer, author of the re...
Nov 22, 2024•18 min•Ep. 1984
In The God Proofs, two friends embark on an epic journey to tackle the ultimate mystery: does God exist? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid speaks to author Douglas Ell about his new graphic novel. Ell tells about his own journey from theism to atheism and what convinced him to return to belief in God. He describes how his experience as a successful attorney prepared him to argue the case for God in his books. He also unpacks the three lines of evidence featured in The God Proofs: the ...
Nov 20, 2024•30 min•Ep. 1983
Survive. Reproduce. Repeat. Is that all we're here for? Some people make this claim, including noted evolutionary biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins. But does it match up with the scientific evidence? On this ID The Future, we're sharing selections from a recent talk by geologist Dr. Casey Luskin on the origin and uniqueness of human beings. You’d be hard-pressed to find another lecture that accomplishes what Casey does here in 30 minutes: review the fossil history of hominids and humans to s...
Nov 18, 2024•32 min•Ep. 1982
We were saddened to learn of the recent loss of our friend and colleague Tom Gilson. You may have heard Tom occasionally hosting episodes of the podcast. And if you're a long-time listener, you've been listening to his work regularly. For several years, Tom sound engineered this podcast, taking raw audio files and producing a polished finished product. His reliable, professional work, coupled with his extensive knowledge of the arguments for intelligent design, made him an ideal candidate to wor...
Nov 15, 2024•14 min•Ep. 1981
On this ID The Future, enjoy the second half of an intimate conversation between philosopher of science and bestselling author Stephen Meyer and one of his dearest friends and longest-standing colleagues: Dr. David Berlinski. In Part 2, Berlinski discusses the books he has written, his career in teaching, and some of his memorable experiences critiquing the Darwinian paradigm. Don't miss the first half of the conversation, available in a separate episode. Learn more about Dr. Berlinski at davidb...
Nov 13, 2024•29 min•Ep. 1980
On this ID The Future, philosopher of science and bestselling author Stephen Meyer invites us to join him for an intimate conversation with one of his dearest friends and longest-standing colleagues: mathematician, writer, and thinker Dr. David Berlinski. The occasion for the exchange was a recent gathering of Discovery Institute supporters and colleagues in Cambridge, England. In Part 1, Berlinski shares the harrowing story of how his parents survived the Holocaust and immigrated to New York, h...
Nov 11, 2024•39 min•Ep. 1979
On today’s ID the Future from the archive, veteran radio host Michael Medved interviews biologist Michael Behe about Behe’s visually stunning YouTube series, Secrets of The Cell. Behe summarizes one of the key messages of the video series, namely that everything from the life-essential blood clotting system to a myriad of crucial protein structures in our bodies increasingly appear to be far beyond the reach of blind evolutionary mechanisms to build. Instead they appear to be the work of plannin...
Nov 08, 2024•19 min•Ep. 1978
At Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, we love connecting teachers and students with ID resources and encouraging them to follow the evidence wherever it leads. On today's ID The Future, you'll hear from a group of 10th grade biology students at a private school in North Carolina as they share their experience of learning about the evidence for intelligent design. Their teacher is a graduate of our CSC summer seminar program, where she learned in depth about the scientific evid...
Nov 06, 2024•27 min•Ep. 1977
Let's talk about your digits. No, not your phone number - your fingers and toes, those dangling things on the ends of our hands and feet! Ever wondered how they form during embryonic development? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes back Dr. Jonathan McLatchie to discuss the incredible process of apoptosis that shapes our fingers and toes, and why the operation is better explained by intelligent design than a stepwise evolutionary process. Source...
Nov 04, 2024•20 min•Ep. 1976
On today’s ID the Future out of the vault, Stairway to Life co-author Rob Stadler and host Eric Anderson delve deeper into Challenge to Origin of Life: Energy Harnessing, an episode of the Long Story Short intelligent design video series. Could the first cell have been much simpler than any current cell, making it easier for it to emerge through blind natural forces on the early Earth? Stadler and Anderson surface one big problem with that idea: in experiments to make relatively simple cells eve...
Nov 01, 2024•19 min•Ep. 1975
The urge to help people kill themselves has intensified in recent decades, even to the point of pushing the reluctant towards death. How did we reach this place? On this ID The Future, historian and author Dr. Richard Weikart joins veteran radio and podcast host Dr. Jerry Newcombe to discuss how the evolutionary ethic has undermined the value of human life, the topic of his latest book, Unnatural Death: Medicine’s Descent From Healing to Killing. Source...
Oct 30, 2024•17 min•Ep. 1974
How much do you know about intelligent design? How would you define the term? And are you prepared to defend intelligent design to friends, family, or associates who may be critical of the theory? On this episode of ID The Future, Dr. Casey Luskin brings to bear decades of experience as an attorney and ID theorist on the front lines of the evolution debate to give you the basics you’ll need to confidently discuss and defend intelligent design with others. Source...
Oct 28, 2024•32 min•Ep. 1973
On this ID The Future out of the vault, Origin-of-life specialist Rob Stadler joins host Eric Anderson to discuss a special problem facing all naturalistic origin-of-life scenarios: energy harnessing. To be viable, a cell must have sophisticated machinery, including ATP synthase, to turn raw energy into constructive energy. But how could prebiotic chemicals harness raw energy on the way to evolving into a viable self-reproducing cell without first having the sophisticated machinery to harness ra...
Oct 25, 2024•26 min•Ep. 1972
Zombies are make-believe, but zombie science is very real — and it threatens not just science but our whole culture. On this ID The Future, we’re sharing a conversation between Dr. Jonathan Wells and Hank Hanegraaf on the Hank Unplugged Podcast. This interview originally aired in 2018 shortly after Dr. Wells published Zombie Science, his highly anticipated follow-up to Icons of Evolution. With the recent passing of Dr. Wells, Hank and his team have re-released the interview with some words of tr...
Oct 23, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 1971
In 2004, Smithsonian Institute scientist Dr. Richard Sternberg was cancelled for daring to publish a paper by Dr. Stephen Meyer supportive of intelligent design in a peer-reviewed journal. On this ID The Future, writer and teacher Daniel Witt joins us to reflect on the controversy. Witt explains the rhetorical strategies Darwinists have used to deride intelligent design. He also reports on an encouraging trend of scientists willing to stand up to the censors and bullies who get in the way of pur...
Oct 21, 2024•24 min•Ep. 1970
On this ID the Future from the vault, 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 framework — 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. Dr. Nelson explains how. Source...
Oct 18, 2024•19 min•Ep. 1969
