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Intelligent Design the Future

Berlinski: Why Humans Are Unique in the World of Matter

Intelligent Design the Future

Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture

Science, Philosophy, Astronomy, Society & Culture, Life Sciences

4993 Ratings

🗓️ 2 October 2023

⏱️ 35 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Eminent paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould has argued that humans differ only in degree, not kind, from other organisms, and to think otherwise betrays an ancient and outdated prejudice. But does this match up with what science has revealed in the last century? On this ID The Future, we are pleased to share the first half of an engaging conversation between Dr. David Berlinski and host Eric Metaxas on the subject of Berlinski's recent book Human Nature. Some argue that humans are growing more peaceful, enlightened, and improved by the year, and that a coming technological singularity may well usher in utopia. Berlinski isn't buying it. "There is no society without its underlying ideology," he writes in Human Nature. A universal civilization requires a universal theory, and the prevailing grand narrative preferred by most materialist scientists today is fueled largely by Darwin's theory of evolution. But is the world of matter the only world that matters? In this conversation and in his book, Berlinski argues that human beings have a fundamental essence that is radically different from the essence of other organisms and that cannot be changed at will. It's a view that is supported by the latest evidence about life and the universe in biology, chemistry, physics, and even cosmology. And it represents a fatal flaw in the Darwinian story. This is Part 1 of a 2-part conversation. This interview originally aired as a Socrates in the City event in 2022. We are grateful to Eric Metaxas for permission to share it. Watch the conversation in video form on YouTube.

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0:00.0

I. D. The Future, a podcast about evolution and intelligent design.

0:12.0

Greetings, I'm Tom Gilson.

0:14.0

Today's ID the future episode features two of the most intellectually stimulating yet fond conversationalists on the planet, Eric Mataxus and David Berlinski.

0:25.6

Eric Mataxus is well known as a best-selling author and cultural commentator and

0:31.4

he'll introduce David Berlinski for us. This is the first of two

0:35.5

episodes we're bringing you from one of Eric Mataxes Socrates and the city events in

0:40.9

New York City. They're focusing on David Berlinski's book on human

0:45.7

nature.

0:48.7

Wow! Thanks again all of you for being here at Socrates and City. We've been doing

0:58.1

these roughly monthly, some of you I know have been here to each one of these and we we aim to be

1:05.4

eclectic for example you'll remember May 31st we had Apollo 16 astronaut Charlie Duke who walked on the moon 50 years ago.

1:18.5

And I'm sorry to say none of the guests we've had since then has walked on the moon.

1:25.0

And I feel we're doing the best we can.

1:28.6

We tried, but there really was,

1:31.8

there was no one else who walked on the moon who was willing to be our

1:33.8

guests so from here on in I think it's going to be mostly

1:38.4

terrestrially bound guests and again I apologize I'm sorry I want to say to those of you unfamiliar with

1:48.9

the concept of Socrates in the city Socrates famously said the unexamined

1:52.3

life is not worth living and then he blew

1:56.2

his brains out in an alley.

1:59.0

That's not true.

2:00.8

He said the unexamined life is not worth living and we thought I think 20 something years ago that you know New Yorkers in particular lead particularly unexamined lives

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