Neil Thomas: “This Darwinism Business, It’s Rubbish, Isn’t It?”

Intelligent Design the Future

Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture

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

4 • 993 Ratings

🗓️ 29 October 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For decades, British professor and author Neil Thomas was a card-carrying Darwinist. It wasn't until after he retired from academia that he had the repose to think about things objectively. Then one day, in a scientific flash of inspiration, he came to the conclusion that the standard Darwinian story was "rubbish." In the second half of a conversation with Andrew McDiarmid, Thomas continues to explain why Darwinism fails as an adequate explanation for the history of life as he discusses his new book False Messiah: Darwinism As the God That Failed. Over two episodes, Thomas reveals the conceptual flaws and historical roots of the theory, the responses of major early dissenters of the theory, and how modern science is undermining the Enlightenment worldview upon which Darwinism relies. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Source

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I'm almost ashamed to admit this.
0:02.7	It was only after I had retired,
0:05.9	and I had the mental repose to think about things objectively.
0:11.0	But it somehow came to me.
0:13.6	It was a sort of waking dream that this dullness in business,
0:18.2	it's rubbish, isn't it?
0:19.3	And...
0:25.2	Who's as direct as that?
0:32.9	ID, The Future, a podcast about evolution and intelligent design.
0:40.3	Despite some series early criticisms and a raft of internal weaknesses, Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection has triumphed as the dominant theory of origins
0:45.9	for over 150 years. But is this success justified on scientific grounds? And how is modern
0:53.4	science undermining Darwin's theory and the worldview
0:56.6	on which it is based? Well, welcome to ID of the Future. I'm your host Andrew McDermott.
1:02.2	And today I welcome again Professor Emeritus and author Neil Thomas about his new book,
1:08.6	False Messiah, Darwinism as the God that Failed.
1:12.3	Over two episodes of the podcast, we're looking at some of the problems with the theory
1:16.1	itself and how it managed to triumph for so long, and of course how it's being eclipsed
1:21.5	now by recent scientific discoveries. Thomas is a reader emeritus in the University of Durham,
1:28.9	England, and a longtime member of the British Rationalist Association. He studied classical studies in European languages
1:34.4	at the universities of Oxford, Munich, and Cardiff, before taking up a post in the German
1:39.8	section of the School of European Languages and Literatures at Durham University in 1976.
1:46.3	He has published over 40 articles in a number of referee journals and is author of a number
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.