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Intelligent Design the Future

Giving Up Darwin’s Brilliant and Beautiful Theory

Intelligent Design the Future

Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture

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

4993 Ratings

🗓️ 10 July 2024

⏱️ 37 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Five years ago, Yale University professor of computer science David Gelernter wrote that he was bidding farewell to neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory. Why would he take such a bold step? What convinced him that the neo-Darwinian paradigm no longer satisfied the scientific evidence? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid marks the fifth anniversary of Gelernter's important essay by reading it aloud in full. If you’ve read the essay, this will likely be a good refresher on Gelernter’s arguments. If you haven’t read it yet, by all means enjoy! Source

Transcript

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0:00.0

I. Welcome to ID the Future. I'm your host Andrew McDermott. Today I'm reading for you an essay by Yale University Professor of Computer Science David Galernter, published in the spring 2019 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.

0:26.8

It's titled Giving Up Darwin, a fond farewell to a brilliant and beautiful theory. Galernter's essay raised many an eyebrow when it was

0:35.7

published five years ago and for good reason. Here's an accomplished writer, artist and

0:41.1

thinker, famed both for his specific scientific expertise and for his cultural, political and historical reflections, publicly declaring that Darwin's brilliant and beautiful scientific theory has now been overtaken by science.

0:56.8

Galerntar credits reading Stephen Meyer's book Darwin's Doubt as the primary cause of his rejecting Neo-Darweenian evolution, calling Darwin's doubt

1:06.2

one of the most important books in a generation. Few open-minded people will finish it

1:11.9

with their faith in Darwin intact.

1:14.3

Galerntar is no creationist, nor is he a proponent of intelligent design.

1:19.9

But he is one of a growing number of scientists and thinkers bold enough to look beyond a Darwinian paradigm

1:26.4

to explain the development of life on Earth. I'm reading Galerner's essay to mark the five-year anniversary of its publication.

1:34.7

If you've read it, this will likely be a good refresher on Galerinter's arguments.

1:39.3

If you haven't read it yet, by all means enjoy. We'll also post a link to the article in the show notes for this episode

1:46.4

at ID the Future.com. Giving up Darwin a fond farewell to a brilliant and beautiful theory by David Galernter.

1:57.0

Darwinian Evolution is a brilliant and beautiful scientific theory.

2:01.0

Once it was a daring guess. Today it is basic to the Creto that defines the modern

2:07.0

worldview. Accepting the theory as settled science, no more subject to debate than the earth being round or the sky blue, or force being mass times

2:16.2

acceleration, certifies that you are devoutly orthodox in your scientific views, which in turn is an essential first step towards being taken seriously

2:26.0

in any part of modern intellectual life. But what if Darwin was wrong? Like so many others, I grew up with Darwin's theory and I had always

2:34.5

believed it was true. I had heard doubts over the years from well-informed,

2:38.7

sometimes brilliant people, but I had my hands full cultivating my garden and it was easier to let biology take care of itself.

2:46.0

But in recent years reading and discussion have shut that road down for good.

2:52.0

This is sad. It is no victory of any sort for religion. It is a defeat for human ingenuity.

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