ID the Future, a podcast about evolution and intelligent design.

Welcome to ID the Future. I'm your host, Andrew McDermid. Today, I'm speaking with Dr. Jonathan

McClatchy, fellow and resident biologist at the Discovery Institute's

Center for Science and Culture. Jonathan was previously an assistant professor at Sadler

College in Boston, where he lectured biology for four years. He holds a bachelor's degree in

forensic biology, a master's degree in evolutionary biology, a second master's degree in medical and molecular

bioscience, and a PhD in evolutionary biology.

His research interests include the scientific evidence for design and nature, arguments

for the existence of God, and New Testament scholarship.

Jonathan is also founder and director of Talkabout Doubtz.com. Jonathan, welcome.

Great to be here, Andrew. How are you doing? I'm doing well. Thank you very much. Well, today,

I'd like your help giving ID the future listeners a beginner's guide to Bayesian reasoning and how we can

apply that kind of reasoning to the hypothesis of design in the natural

world. Now, listeners, don't run away or turn this off, just at the word Bayesian. Don't be

afraid of it. We are going to break it down for you, and you'll begin to understand how to use it

in your own life and in your own arguments. Now, until recently, I myself, didn't know about Bayesian reasoning.

I'd heard of it.

I'd heard it mentioned here and there by ID theorists and in the literature about design arguments.

And it's an idea that really appeals to me.

We know that science is provisional, and it progresses as hypotheses get tested again and again by different people

at different times and in different settings until a preponderance of evidence points definitively

to a likely conclusion. And given that provisional state of the scientific pursuit, it's often

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