Discovery Institute

The Latest

Study Probes the Origins of Consciousness: Denyse O'Leary; May 2, 2025; 5; Neuroscience & Mind

In the Conventional Genetic Paradigm, “Something Is Missing, Something Big”: Evolution News; May 2, 2025; 2; Intelligent Design

Human Kidney Suppliers Should Be Donors, Not Vendors: Wesley J. Smith; May 2, 2025; 6; Human Exceptionalism

Why Work Works: Marvin Olasky; May 2, 2025; 5; Homelessness

Education Freedom in Our Country: American Center for Transforming Education; April 28, 2025; 4; Education

More of the Latest …

The Virtues of the “Knowledge Theory of Value”

_{Gale Pooley and George Gilder
May 2, 2025
3
Economics}

Kevin Hoover suggests that William Nordhaus relied on the labor theory of value in his paper on light (Letters, April 24). Yet Nordhaus actually used knowledge, not labor. He offered a method to measure innovation: the discovery and sharing of valuable new knowledge. Nordhaus measured the amount of knowledge per unit of time and observed that knowledge about light was growing exponentially, surpassing traditional measures of economic development. It is the time price over time that truly deserves our attention.

Video

Dr. Robert Marbut and Billy Baldwin Talk with Megyn Kelly About Fentanyl Film: Center on Wealth & Poverty; April 30, 2025; Homelessness

Keri D. Ingraham Discusses Federal Student Loans on NTD News: American Center for Transforming Education; April 23, 2025; Education

What Does It Cost?: Center on Wealth & Poverty; April 23, 2025; Energy

Larry Sanger on Wikipedia, AI, and Preserving Human Knowledge: Andrew McDiarmid; April 23, 2025; Intelligent Design

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Podcast

Can Evolutionary Processes Take Credit for Human Creativity?

_{Pat Flynn, Eric Holloway and Robert J. Marks II
May 1, 2025}

On today’s episode, guest host Pat Flynn welcomes Dr. Eric Holloway and Professor Robert J. Marks to the podcast to discuss the information cost of creativity. Today’s conversation is based on a chapter in the book Minding the Brain authored by Dr. Holloway and Marks. Essentially, they are addressing the following question: Can the marvels of human creativity, like novels, speeches, and ideas, really be explained by random processes and brain chemistry alone? As Holloway and Marks explain, even allowing for the computational capacity of the entire universe (and a hypothetical multiverse!), the probability of randomly generating a short, meaningful phrase is astronomically low. This suggests that human creativity cannot be fully explained by natural, random processes, and …

David Klinghoffer Reads From His New Book Plato’s Revenge

_{David Klinghoffer
April 30, 2025}

On this ID The Future, science writer David Klinghoffer reads from his new book Plato’s Revenge: The New Science of the Immaterial Genome, now available from Discovery Institute Press. This is a compact book, but it’s the story of a very big idea, and one that has the potential to usher in the next great revolution in biology. As Klinghoffer relates in the Introduction to Plato’s Revenge, Sternberg’s work is set to change the predominant conception of the genome: “All familiar thinking about the genome assumes that it is, of course, purely material: the twisting strands of DNA and a few other physical structures in the cell…Sternberg goes further. He argues–sometimes from common-sensical and accessible evidence and sometimes from highly technical …

Plato’s Revenge: An Interview with David Klinghoffer

_{David Klinghoffer
April 28, 2025}

You’re likely familiar with the genetic revolution — the discovery that physical structures in the cell, including DNA and RNA, shape every organism. But we are now overdue for another and more profound revolution in science, one you’ve probably heard very little about. Recent findings reveal that genetic and even epigenetic sources alone cannot account for the rich dynamism of life — not even close. Some other informational source is required. On this ID The Future, science writer and Discovery Institute Senior Fellow David Klinghoffer speaks with host Andrew McDiarmid about his new book Plato’s Revenge: The New Science of the Immaterial Genome. It’s a little book about a very big idea. It also tells the story of the scientist, Dr. Richard Sternberg, who has …

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