Intelligent Design The Future

On this episode of ID the Future Dr. Robert J. Marks, Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Baylor University and former President of the IEEE Neural Networks Council, argues that computer programs cannot be genuinely creative. Computer programs also won’t be able to experience consciousness, he says, never mind all the media hype on this point. Marks concedes that a computer code can surprise us, as when a program playing the game Go makes a surprising move. But when it does this, it’s following a rigorous algorithm that neatly explains the move. Marks says this isn’t true creativity. If the Go Program learned chess without programming for chess, or invented chess, that would be creative. Marks then defines creativity: “A computer program will be creative if it responds with an output that is inexplicable, that can’t be explained by the computer programmer.” Marks also discusses deep learning and computational neural networks, their promise and limitations. As for quantum computing, it will be dramatically faster but he insists it won’t provide a leap into consciousness. The episode concludes with a discussion of how automation and AI will impact the workplace over the next few decades.

On this episode of ID the Future from the vault, Tod Butterfield reads from the beginning of Heretic: One Scientist’s Journey from Darwin to Design, by Jonathan Witt and Matti Leisola. It’s an exciting book that tells the story of how one major European scientist who applied the maxim, “Scientists are supposed to investigate mysteries with an open mind; not assume an explanation from the outset.” Leisola came to see that arguments insisting on purely material causes in nature are based on assumptions, not evidence. He noted how history shows that scientific consensus doesn’t always mean scientific truth. And ultimately — in spite of serious opposition from mainstream science — he came to see that the evidence in nature really points to intelligent design.

This episode of ID the Future features biologist Jonathan Wells and computer scientist Winston Ewert. Dr. Wells speaks on embryo development and the current mystery of ontogenetic development, which relies on continually updating information not found in DNA. Dr. Ewert describes his research on the “dependency graph of life.” This is an alternate explanation for the tree of life, which he says fits the data better than the usual answer, common descent.

On this episode of ID the Future, Scotsman Andrew McDiarmid reads from Marcos Eberlin’s recent book Foresight: How the Chemistry of Life Reveals Planning and Purpose. In this excerpt, the distinguished Brazilian scientist highlights the challenge the Venus flytrap poses for evolutionary theory. Dr. Eberlin, the former president of the International Mass Spectrometry Association, describes the problem: The Venus flytrap, like all carnivorous plants, had no use for its insect-trapping function unless it also had an insect-digesting function. And vice versa. Did they really both evolve together? And how when there would be no functional advantage along much of the evolutionary pathway to the sophisticated finished system? Finally, how did this “evolutionary miracle” also happen in four other carnivorous plant genera? (See the Venus flytrap here, as mentioned in the podcast.)

On this episode of ID the Future from the vault, Brian Miller interviews Paul Nelson about orphan genes. What are these genes? How common are they? What is the pan-genome? And how does all this impact the evolution-intelligent design debate? Nelson argues that these little orphans spell big trouble for Neo-Darwinism. Please consider donating to support the IDTF Podcast: idthefuture.org/donate.

On this episode of ID the Future, physicist Dr. Brian Miller explains several challenges to the origin of life, from thermodynamic challenges to the need for complex systems to create complex systems: information processing, energy production, manufacturing, auto-assembly, control systems, and feedback loops are all required from the start.. Dr. Miller also speaks to the “intellectual captivity” imposed on science students who don’t accept prevailing theories of scientific materialism. Please consider donating to support the IDTF Podcast: idthefuture.org/donate.

On this episode of ID the Future, Stephen Meyer, director of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture and author of Darwin’s Doubt, gives advice to students and recent graduates interested in intelligent design. He encourages students to recognize how pervasive philosophical naturalism is in the academy; master the material; do good work; and stand firm. When should you keep your head down, letting discretion be the better part of valor, and when should you speak out, publicly supporting the case for intelligent design? Meyer also offers advice about this.  Please consider donating to support the IDTF Podcast: idthefuture.org/donate.

On this episode of ID the Future from the vault, Ray Bohlin interviews Jonathan Wells about the interaction of evolutionary theory and medicine. Has Darwinism furthered healthcare? What about our understanding of antibiotic resistance? And might learning about evolution become a requirement for medical students?

On this episode of ID the Future, internationally distinguished scientist Marcos Eberlin, author of the new book Foresight: How the Chemistry of Life Reveals Planning and Purpose, talks about evolution’s “water gate” problem. There’s no conspiracy here, just life’s astonishing answer for admitting water into cells through “gates” while keeping lethal acidifying proteins out. There’s also a chicken-egg problem involving proteins and molecular chaperones. That and more, Eberlin argues, add up to the conclusion that life required foresight. Please consider donating to support the IDTF Podcast: idthefuture.org/donate.

On this episode of ID the Future, distinguished Brazilian organic chemist Marcos Eberlin talks about chemical evolution and the origin of life, pivoting off of comments by Rice University synthetic organic chemist James Tour in Science Uprising Episode 5, and off of Eberlin’s own Nobel laureate-endorsed book Foresight: How the Chemistry of Life Reveals Planning and Purpose. The idea of an unguided origin of the first life has been “sold to us,” he says, but its assumptions are “insane … many, many times impossible.” He illustrates from three essential cell features: the cell membrane, protein folding, and molecular chaperones. We’re “further away than ever” from making life in the lab, he says, and it’s time now to “surrender to the data,” which he argues, points to the works of foresight and planning in the origin of the first life.

On this episode of ID the Future from the vault, Ann Gauger discusses physiological, anatomical, cultural and behavioral differences between humans and chimpanzees. How long would it take to acquire needed mutations by Darwinian mechanisms? Much, much longer than the available timeframe, says Dr. Gauger.

On this episode of ID the Future, Cambridge-trained bestselling author Stephen Meyer discusses some good questions posed to him at a recent science seminar he lectured at in Seattle. Then he unveils details of his forthcoming book The Return of the God Hypothesis: Compelling Scientific Evidence for the Existence of God--evidence pointing not just toward any designer, but toward a transcendent, rational, intelligent being such as the one Jews and Christians worship.

A biology professor who grew up under communism shares what it was like to live in a society based on Darwin’s theory of evolution. He also discusses some amazing evidence of intelligent design in our cells. Biologist Jonathan Wells, author of Zombie Science, and political scientist John West, author of Darwin Day in America, both respond. This conversation was taped live in Hollywood during a discussion after the final performance of Disinherit the Wind, a play that tells the story of a neurobiologist who sues his university for the right to challenge neo-Darwinian evolution.

On this episode of ID the Future, Stephen Meyer, Director of the Center for Science and Culture, discusses the two lectures he gave to a private audience at Discovery Institute’s 2019 Summer Seminar on Intelligent Design. One talk focused on the fossil record, and the other on the Big Bang. Please consider donating to support the IDTF Podcast: idthefuture.org/donate.

On this episode of ID the Future from the vault, Ann Gauger discusses so-called “junk” DNA. She explains species-specific mobile genetic elements and how our DNA is used. Listen in to learn about our computer-like genome!