David Berlinski on the Immaterial, Alan Turing, and the Mystery of Life Itself

Intelligent Design the Future

Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture

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

4 • 993 Ratings

🗓️ 21 June 2023

⏱️ 25 minutes

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Summary

The new book Science After Babel is again in the spotlight here at ID the Future, with its author, philosopher and mathematician David Berlinski, and host Andrew McDiarmid teasing various elements of the work. The pair discuss the puzzling relationship between purely immaterial mathematical concepts (the only kind) and the material world; World War II codebreaker and computing pioneer Alan Turing, depicted in the 2014 film The Imitation Game; and the sense that the field of physics, once seemingly on the cusp of a theory of everything, finds itself at an impasse. Then, too, Berlinski writes, there is the mystery of life itself. If scientists thought that its origin and nature would soon yield to scientific reductionism, they have been disappointed. Life’s “fantastic and controlled complexity, its brilliant inventiveness and diversity, its sheer difference from anything else in this or any other world” remains before us, suggesting, as Berlinski puts it, “a kind of intelligence evident nowhere else.” Get your copy of the book at www.scienceafterbabel.com.

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0:00.0	I d the future a podcast about evolution and intelligent design
0:12.2	welcome to ID the future I'm your host Andrew McDermott. Today I'm very
0:16.6	pleased to bring back on the show Dr David Berlinski to finish discussing his
0:20.8	book Science After Babble in the final episode of a three-part interview.
0:25.0	Dr. Berlinski is a senior fellow at Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture.
0:30.0	He received his PhD in Philosophy from Princeton University and was later a postdoctoral
0:35.8	fellow in mathematics and molecular biology at Columbia University.
0:40.1	Dr. Berlinsky has taught philosophy, mathematics, and English at such universities as
0:45.1	Stanford, Rutgers, the City University of New York, and the University of Paris.
0:50.4	He is author of numerous books, including a tour of the calculus, the advent of the algorithm,
0:55.4	Newton's gift, and the Devil's Delusion.
0:58.4	His latest, Signs After Babble, is a collection of essays challenging the prevailing beliefs and pronouncements of contemporary science
1:06.0	with his unique blend of deep learning, close reasoning and sharp wit.
1:11.0	In it he reflects on everything from Newton, Einstein, and Goodle to catastrophe theory,
1:16.2	information theory, and the state of modern Darwinism.
1:19.4	mathematician, philosopher, and author of the design inference, William Dembski, says science after
1:25.8	Babel masterfully exposes the hubris of scientific pretensions with a wit that dances deftly between the lines, unveiling profound insights with a refreshing candor.
1:37.0	David, welcome back to ID the future.
1:39.0	Thank you so much.
1:41.0	Absolutely.
1:42.0	Well, I've thoroughly enjoyed our first two conversations
1:44.1	together where you covered your appraisal of modern Darwinism as well as the
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