David Berlinski

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Letter from Paris: The Bells Are Silent

_{David Berlinski
April 16, 2019}

I would go into the cathedral and light a candle for M.-P. Schützenberger. He had wished to return as one of the gargoyles, and, perhaps, he had.

David Berlinski: The Devil’s Delusion, pt. 2

_{David Berlinski
January 13, 2014}

On this episode of ID the Future, Dr. David Berlinski and Casey Luskin continue their conversation on some of the big topics that Berlinski explores in his book The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and its Scientific Pretensions. Listen in as they discuss theistic and materialistic arguments about cosmic fine-tuning, Richard Dawkins’s conclusions about the improbability of God, and whether humans are just another type of …

David Berlinski: The Devil’s Delusion, pt. 1

_{David Berlinski
January 1, 2014}

On this episode of ID the Future, Dr. David Berlinski talks with Casey Luskin about a key topic of his book The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and its Scientific Pretensions: the first cause of the universe. Berlinski compares materialist and theistic explanations for the origin of the universe, discussing big bang cosmology and religious accounts of …

David Berlinski: Is Human Nature Improving? Pt. 2

_{David Berlinski
December 27, 2013}

On this episode of ID the Future, Dr. David Berlinski continues his conversation with Casey Luskin as they examine Steven Pinker’s claim that humanity is becoming less violent. Listen in as Berlinski and Luskin discuss war trends and crime rates and consider the question: are humans fundamentally good or …

A One-Man Clade

_{David Berlinski
July 18, 2013}

Had Stephen Meyer better appreciated the tools of modern cladistics, Nick Matzke believes, he would not have drawn the conclusions that he did in his book Darwin's Doubt, or argued as he had.

A Graduate Student Writes

_{David Berlinski
July 9, 2013}

Having for years defended Darwin’s theory, Nick Matzke has determined to learn something about it as a graduate student at UC Berkeley, an undertaking in the right spirit but the wrong order.

The Ineffable Higgs

_{David Berlinski
November 16, 2012}

The image appropriate to physics in the 20th century is Brueghel's Tower of Babel.

Pt. 3: David Berlinski at “Socrates in the City”

_{David Berlinski
October 3, 2012}

On this episode of ID the Future, David Berlinski continues his examination of modern scientism. In the previous segment, Berlinski addressed the shortcomings of New Atheism; tune in as he closes his talk by discussing the “arrogance of the scientific …

Pt. 2: David Berlinski at “Socrates in the City”

_{David Berlinski
September 26, 2012}

On this episode of ID the Future, hear more of David Berlinski’s talk at a Socrates in the City event in Manhattan. In the following segment, Berlinski discusses the impact of modern scientism and evaluates the social phenomena of New …

Pt. 1: David Berlinski at “Socrates in the City”

_{David Berlinski
September 24, 2012}

On this episode of ID the Future, listen to the first segment of CSC Sr. Fellow David Berlinski’s talk at Socrates in the City, hosted by biographer and humorist Eric Metaxas. Tune in as Dr. Berlinski traces modern scientism, and its antipathy to religious belief, to the dawn of the …

A Flower of Chivalry: Berlinski on Hitchens, 1949-2011

_{David Berlinski
December 16, 2011}

"Advancing calmly toward death" in full public view, his friends and retainers at his side, "proud of having been the instrument of the final, the fugitive, the anachronistic triumph of honor."

Majestic Ascent: Berlinski on Darwin on Trial

_{David Berlinski
November 20, 2011}

Phil Johnson ascended majestically above the usual point of skepticism. It was the great case of Darwin et al v. the Western Religious Tradition that occupied his attention.

“A Matter of Dismal Wet Plops”: Stephen Meyer Interviews David Berlinski on Darwinism

_{David Berlinski
February 3, 2010}

This episode of ID the Future features a clip from the recent “Signature in the Cell” event in Tampa, FL, featuring Stephen Meyer, Michael Medved, David Berlinski and Tom Woodward. Listen in as Dr. Meyer interviews Dr. Berlinski about the questions that led him to criticize …

Responding to Stephen Fletcher’s Views in the Times Literary Supplement on the RNA World

_{David Berlinski
January 15, 2010}

To the EditorThe Times Literary SupplementThe RNA World Sir:Having with indignation rejected the assumption that the creation of life required an intelligent design, Mr Fletcher has persuaded himself that it has proceeded instead by means of various chemical scenarios. These scenarios all require intelligent intervention. In his animadversions, Mr Fletcher suggests nothing so much as a man disposed to denounce alcohol while sipping sherry. The RNA world to which Mr Fletcher has pledged his allegiance was introduced by Carl Woese, Leslie Orgel and Francis Crick in 1967. Mystified by the appearance in the contemporary cell of a chicken in the form of the nucleic acids, and an egg in the form of the proteins, Woese, Orgel and Crick argued that at some time in the past, the chicken …

An Open Letter to Donald Prothero

_{David Berlinski
December 16, 2009}

Hey Don — I want you should do me a favor. I noticed that you put up this real negative review of Steve Meyer’s Signature in the Cell on Amazon. I want to tell you, I loved the stuff about the slow fuse and all. It brought back memories of the time Boom Boom Salacio was a Senior Fellow at the DI. The Putznagel Salami Fire? That was Boom Boom. We all miss the Big Guy at the DI. But here’s the thing. The moment your review hit the stands, bang! sales of Meyer’s book go through the roof. I mean you’re taking Boom Boom to a whole new level. So I was thinking that maybe you could give my book a negative review too? Make it a real scorcher and all. It’s called The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and its Scientific Pretensions. I mean, how long did it take to …

I Told You So

_{David Berlinski
December 8, 2009}

From the introduction to The Deniable Darwin: My own view, repeated in virtually all of my essays, is that the sense of skepticism engendered by the sciences would be far more appropriately directed toward the sciences than toward anything else. It is not a view that has engendered wide-spread approval. The sciences require no criticism, many scientists say, because the sciences comprise a uniquely self-critical institution, with questionable theories and theoreticians passing constantly before stern appellate review. Judgment is unrelenting. And impartial. Individual scientists may make mistakes, but like the Communist Party under Lenin, science is infallible because its judgments are collective. Critics are not only unwelcome, they are unneeded. The biologist Paul Gross has made …

How David Berlinski Became a Scientific Critic

_{David Berlinski
November 11, 2009}

This episode of ID the Future features David Berslinski on his new book, The Deniable Darwin & Other Essays and the identity he found as a scientific critic and his notorious Commentary essay attacking Darwinian theory. Listen in as Berlinski discusses origin of life research, the essay he considers his best, and the legacy of Darwin’s On the Origins of …

Darwin and the Mathematicians

_{David Berlinski
November 7, 2009}

ENV: In the past, you’ve remarked about mathematicians and their opinions of Darwin’s theory of evolution. They were skeptical, you said; very skeptical. John Von Neumann was an example. How do you know that about him and about other mathematicians? DB: How do I know? Here’s how: I have been close to a number of mathematicians, and friends with others: Daniel Gallin (who died before he could begin his career), M.P. Schutzenberger (my great friend), René Thom (a friend as well), Gian-Carlo Rota (another friend), Lipman Bers (who taught me complex analysis and with whom I briefly shared a hospital room, he leaving as I was coming), Paul Halmos (a colleagues in California), and Irving Segal (a friend by correspondence, embattled and distraught). Some of these men I …

David Berlinski on The Deniable Darwin and Commentary

_{David Berlinski
November 5, 2009}

Q: Many of the most important and lengthiest essays in The Deniable Darwin were originally published in Commentary magazine. How did that fruitful partnership, or patronship, come about? Did you encounter any resistance from the Commentary readership? DB: My association with Commentary was a stroke of good luck. I wanted a wider readership. Who doesn’t? So I wrote Neal Kozodoy a letter. It was 1994. Neal, for reasons of his own, thought it important to broaden Commentary‘s intellectual horizons. We had been struck by the fact that science as an institution lacks for critics. To a very surprising extent, it gets a free pass. So our association began. I’ve never known a better editor. “The Deniable Darwin” provoked a great deal of controversy when it was …

In a Charitable Mood: David Berlinski Reviews Richard Dawkins’ The Greatest Show on Earth

_{David Berlinski
November 2, 2009}

How is Richard Dawkins like a squid? Find out on this episode of ID the Future as David Berlinski reviews The Greatest Show on Earth in an interview by Casey Luskin. What does this book recapture for Dawkins, and where does it fail? And how does Darwin’s On the Origins of Species fit into all this? Tune in and find …