Discovery Institute

The Latest

Meyer, Klavan: Is Materialism Stuck in the Past?: Andrew McDiarmid; April 15, 2023; 1

Is a New Design-Based Paradigm of Biology Emerging?: Evolution News; April 14, 2023; 1

What Is the Problem with K-12 Public Education? Don Nielsen author of Every School: Donald Nielsen; April 15, 2023; 1

What Did You Learn on the School Board? Don Nielsen author of Every School: Donald Nielsen; April 14, 2023; 1

Why Did You Run for the Seattle Public School Board? Don Nielsen author of Every School: Donald Nielsen; April 13, 2023; 1

More of the Latest …

Georgia Fails on School Choice but Lays Groundwork for 2024

_{Keri D. Ingraham
April 14, 2023
5}

Though under Republican control, the Georgia legislature recently failed to do what several other red-state legislatures have done: enact universal school choice legislation. The measure didn’t fail because of a lack of commitment from its champions but because too many Republicans were persuaded by the weak arguments made by opponents of educational freedom.

Video

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What Did You Learn on the School Board? Don Nielsen author of Every School: Donald Nielsen; April 14, 2023

Why Did You Run for the Seattle Public School Board? Don Nielsen author of Every School: Donald Nielsen; April 13, 2023

What Did You Learn Traveling the Country? Don Nielsen author of Every School: Donald Nielsen; April 12, 2023

Jonathan Choe Discusses Seattle's Drug Crisis with Jesse Watters: Jonathan Choe; February 23, 2023

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Podcast

Todd Myers on Democratizing Environmentalism by ‘Thinking Small’

_{Wesley J. Smith
April 10, 2023}

The environmental movement is growing ever-more extreme. Radical ideas such as granting rights to nature—including geological features like rivers, lakes, and glaciers—are gaining popularity as a means of “saving the planet.” But is there another way? Can we fulfill our human duty to be good stewards of the environment without undermining human exceptionalism and impeding our thriving? According to my guest Todd Myers, the answer is definitely, yes. In his interesting new book, Time to Think Small, Myers writes that “nimble environmental technologies can help solve the planet’s biggest problems.” Through the power of smart phones, Myers argues, coupled with the ingenuity of software apps, we can all help promote a healthy environment through millions of …

Aeschliman on Three Great Authors Critiquing Scientism

_{Andrew McDiarmid
March 24, 2023}

On this episode of ID the Future from the vault, Andrew McDiarmid concludes a two-part conversation with Michael Aeschliman, author of the recently revised and expanded The Restoration of Man: C. S. Lewis and the Continuing Case Against Scientism. Here Aeschliman places Lewis among a strong line of thinkers critiquing scientism. These include the philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal, who showed that scientific knowledge on its own could never be sufficient for being fully human, as well as the theologian and physicist Stanley L. Jaki, who brilliantly integrated science and theology. Aeschliman’s list also includes the great English author Jonathan Swift, whose satirical work skewered the illusions of scientific reductionism. …

Blake Lemoine and the LaMDA Question

_{Robert J. Marks II
March 9, 2023}

In this continuation of last week’s conversation, ex-Googler Blake Lemoine tells Robert J. Marks what originally got him interested in AI: reading the science fiction of Isaac Asimov as a boy in rural Louisiana. The two go on to discuss and debate sentience in AI, non-computable traits of human beings, and the question of the soul. Additional Resources Robert J. Marks at Discovery.org Blake Lemoine at Twitter Full audio performance of the conversation between Blake Lemoine and LaMDA Full audio performance of the conversation between Blake Lemoine and LaMDA-Transcript LaMDA: Language Models for Dialog Applications Computing Machinery And Intelligence By A. M. Turing Video on LaMDA 2 Thomas Ray Tierra: The Character of Adaptation “Join us in the AI Test Kitchen” Test …

Events

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April
04
Apr
28
28
2023}

Socrates in the City with Michael Medved

_{John Felts
Date
April
04
Apr
28
28
2023
Arctic Club Hotel
Seattle, WA}

Michael Medved, Senior Fellow of Discovery Institute’s Center for Wealth & Poverty, will be interviewed on Socrates in the City, a conversational forum that engages with the big questions in life. Hosted by Eric Metaxas, a longtime friend of the Center for Science & Culture, Socrates in the City has interviewed many renowned thinkers of our time, including Stephen C. Meyer, John Lennox, David Berlinski, and many more. Continue on for a description provided by the conference organizers: SITC host Eric Metaxas welcomes special guest Michael Medved for an interview on The American Miracle. The event will take place at the Arctic Club in Seattle, Washington. Born in Philadelphia, Michael attended public schools in San Diego and Los Angeles before starting Yale …

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June
06
Jun
1
01
2023}

Conference on Engineering in Living Systems

_{John Felts
Date
June
06
Jun
1
01
2023
Camp Copass
Denton, TX}

We are pleased to announce that the Conference on Engineering in Living Systems (CELS) is set for 2023 and will again be held in Denton, Texas. CELS brings together leading engineers and biologists in order to: (1) apply engineering principles to better understand biological systems, (2) craft a design-based theoretical framework that explains and predicts the behaviors of living systems, and (3) develop research programs that demonstrate the engineering principles at work in living systems. This year’s conference will follow a workshop-like format of discussion-oriented sessions in a collegial setting, with a goal of fostering active participation and establishing concrete results and action items. Join us as we build a theoretical framework and research programs …

^{Date
June
06
Jun
26
26
2023}

C.S. Lewis Fellows Program on Science and Society

_{The Center for Science and Culture
Date
June
06
Jun
26
26
2023
Glen Eyrie
Colorado Springs, CO}

The C.S. Lewis Fellows Program on Science and Society will explore the growing impact of science on politics, economics, social policy, bioethics, theology, and the arts during the past century. The program is named after celebrated British writer C.S. Lewis, a perceptive critic of both scientism and technocracy in books such as The Abolition of Man and That Hideous Strength. Topics to be addressed include the history of science, the relationship between faith and science, the rise of scientific materialism, the debate over Darwinian theory and intelligent design, evolutionary conceptions of ethics, science and economics, science and criminal justice, stem cell research and abortion, eugenics, family life and sexuality, ecology and animal rights, climate …

More Events …

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May
05
May
4
04
2023}

Superabundance: Combatting the Ideology of Scarcity

_{Center on Wealth & Poverty
Date
May
05
May
4
04
2023
Mercer Island Community and Event Center
Mercer Island, WA}

Conventional wisdom has long posited that population growth leads to scarcer resources. In 2021, for example, one widely publicized report argued, “The world’s rapidly growing population is consuming the planet’s natural resources at an alarming rate . . . the world currently needs 1.6 Earths to satisfy the demand for natural resources . . . could rise to 2 planets by 2030.” But is that true? Join us on Thursday, May 4 for a reception and lecture as Discovery Institute Senior Fellow Gale Pooley discusses his new book Superabundance: The Story of Population Growth, Innovation, and Human Flourishing on an Infinitely Bountiful Planet. Contrary to the anti-human theory of overpopulation, Pooley and his coauthor Marian Tupy found that resources actually became more …