Winston Ewert

Winston Ewert is a software engineer and intelligent design researcher. He received his PhD from Baylor University in electrical and computer engineering. He specializes in computer simulations of evolution, genomic design patterns, and information theory. A Google alum, he is a Senior Research Scientist at Biologic Institute and a Senior Fellow of the Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence.

Archives

Mendel’s Peas and More: Inferring Data Falsification in Science

_{William A. Dembski and Winston Ewert
November 28, 2023}

What keeps scientific fraud in check is our ability to detect it, and it’s the design inference that does the detecting.

Natural Selection as the Great Designer Substitute

_{William A. Dembski and Winston Ewert
November 27, 2023}

In this way, the majority of evolutionary biologists, insofar as they understand the design inference at all, rationalize it away.

An Argument from Ignorance?

_{William A. Dembski and Winston Ewert
November 17, 2023}

Richard Dawkins, better than anyone, has publicly championed the dogma that Darwinian pathways can and must always exist for any biological system.

Jonathan Wells and Winston Ewert at the CSC Summer Seminar

_{Winston Ewert
August 28, 2019}

This episode of ID the Future features biologist Jonathan Wells and computer scientist Winston Ewert. Dr. Wells speaks on embryo development and the current mystery of ontogenetic development, which relies on continually updating information not found in DNA. Dr. Ewert describes his research on the “dependency graph of life.” This is an alternate explanation for the tree of life, which he says fits the data better than the usual answer, common …

Is the Human Mind a Computer?

_{As a software engineer, I'd say we need to be clear what the question is before answering it}_{Winston Ewert
July 24, 2019}

Once we understand clearly what a computer is, we will see why consciousness is not a form of computation.

Remember the Luddites!

_{The Luddites became famous for breaking machinery during the Industrial Revolution. Were they entirely wrong?}_{Winston Ewert
January 25, 2019}

People often think that the Luddites were merely anti-technology because they opposed automation during the Industrial Revolution (1760–1840). The story is more complex. As we face increasing automation today, we might want to see what we can learn from their history.

Will the Free Market Help or Hurt Us in an AI-Empowered World?

_{We may need new institutions, such as insurance against job obsolescence}_{Winston Ewert
January 18, 2019}

If humans are free to experiment with new institutions, I believe we will find an excellent solution. However, there is a great danger that those who benefit from the status quo will use their influence to prevent the adoption of new institutions.

Is Technology Neutral?

_{Or does it change our world whether we like it or not?}_{Winston Ewert
October 30, 2018}

People tend to be one of two minds when it comes to technology. One group views technology as directional—altering those cultures it reaches. They construct plausible narratives about how this or that technology has changed our culture. The second group views technology as neutral. They dismiss the narrative put forward by the first group, explaining that such changes are due to forces within the culture, not to technology.

Dependency Graph, Pt. 2: Winston Ewert Defends His Groundbreaking New ID Model

_{Winston Ewert
October 15, 2018}

On this episode of ID the Future, Dr. Winston Ewert continues unpacking his new hypothesis challenging Darwin’s tree of life. Ewert is a software engineer, and his new model is inspired by the coder strategy of repurposing existing code, called modules, for different projects. Moreover, some of these modules depend on other modules, meaning you can generate a dependency graph to better understand the similarities and differences among software programs that share modules. Ewert argues that a dependency graph model better explains the pattern of similarities and differences in the history of life, better than a model of common descent by unguided evolution. As he also explains, the new model is testable in multiple …

Winston Ewert Unpacks his New ID Model, the Dependency Graph–Pt. 1

_{Winston Ewert
October 10, 2018}

On this episode of ID the Future, guest host Robert J. Marks talks with Dr. Winston Ewert about Ewert’s groundbreaking new hypothesis challenging Darwin’s common descent tree of life. The new model is based on the well-established technique of repurposing software code in different software projects. Ewert, a senior researcher at Biologic and the Evolutionary Informatics Lab, describes the nested hierarchical pattern of life and how any credible theory of life’s origin and diversity must explain it. He then describes how Darwin’s basic theory fits, and doesn’t fit, the pattern, and the various ancillary mechanisms invoked to close the gaps. These patches include horizontal gene transfer, convergent evolution, and incomplete lineage sorting. Ewert then cues up what he argues is …

Why Digital Cambrian Explosions Fizzle … Or Fake It

_{Winston Ewert
June 7, 2017}

This episode of ID the Future features a follow-up interview with Winston Ewert, co-author of An Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics. Ewert and host Ray Bohlin dive deeper into the sometimes surreal world of computer evolution simulations. And they take a closer look at attempts to simulate one of biology’s great mysteries, the Cambrian …

Author of New Book Tells Why Evolution Simulations … Don’t

_{Winston Ewert
May 1, 2017}

On this episode of ID the Future, Ray Bohlin interviews Winston Ewert, Ph.D., co-author with William Dembski and Robert Marks II of the new book, An Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics. Ewert argues that Richard Dawkins’ “Methinks It is Like a Weasel” simulation doesn’t prove biological evolution and isn’t even very interesting. Ewert says there are some interesting computer evolution simulations, but he argues that they fail to model anything biologically …

Haarsma’s Pykaryotes — Another Failed Evolution Simulation

_{Winston Ewert
April 18, 2016}

If Professor Haarsma's name sounds familiar that may be because he is the husband of BioLogos president Deborah Haarsma.

Ev Ever Again — Eying an Evolutionary Simulation

_{Winston Ewert
March 23, 2016}

Imagine coming across a dubious salesman with an allegedly magic swimming pool. He claims that the pool fills itself with water.

Algorithmic Specified Complexity Part III: Measuring Meaning in Images

_{Winston Ewert
February 10, 2016}

On this episode of ID The Future, Robert Marks and Winston Ewert, both of the Evolutionary Informatics Lab, discuss three of their recently published papers dealing with evolutionary informatics, algorithmic specified complexity and how information makes evolution work. In this, the third and final podcast of the series, Dr. Winston Ewert explains the role of context in measuring meaning in images. A non-humanoid gelatinous alien would assign no meaning to the faces on Mount Rushmore if the alien had never before seen a humanoid. Humans, on the other hand, have the context of familiarity with human heads and historical figures that allow them to assxign high algorithmic specified complexity when viewing Mount Rushmore. Information theoretic-based algorithmic specified complexity …

Algorithmic Specified Complexity Part II: Application to Conway’s Game of Life

_{Winston Ewert
February 8, 2016}

On this episode of ID The Future, Robert Marks and Winston Ewert, both of the Evolutionary Informatics Lab, discuss three of their recently published papers dealing with evolutionary informatics, algorithmic specified complexity and how information makes evolution work. This is the second of three segments. Conway’s Game of Life is played on a rectangular grid. Cells live or die depending on the cells that surround them. Hobbyists have designed highly complex and interesting patterns using Conway’s four simple rules of birth, death and survival. Patterns include oscillators, spaceships and glider guns. Dr. Winston Ewert explains how the theory of algorithmic specified complexity can be applied to measure, in bits, the degree to which these cellular automata life forms are …

Steiner Wars: An Exchange with Dave Thomas

_{Winston Ewert
February 3, 2016}

To visualize a Steiner tree, think about a collection of cities to be connected by a road network.

Algorithmic Specified Complexity Part I: Genesis

_{Winston Ewert
February 3, 2016}

On this episode of ID The Future, Robert Marks and Winston Ewert, both of the Evolutionary Informatics Lab, discuss three of their recently published papers dealing with evolutionary informatics, algorithmic specified complexity and how information makes evolution work. This is the first of three segments. Dr. Winston Ewert, a Senior Research Scientist at both Biologic Institute and the Evolutionary Informatics lab, discusses the mathematical foundation for why we know Mount Rushmore is designed and Mount Fuji isn’t. The mathematical theory of algorithmic specified complexity is introduced and illustrated. A single complex snowflake, for example, displays essentially zero algorithmic specified complexity whereas two identical snowflakes earns a high algorithmic specified …

Beating a Dead Straw Horse

_{Winston Ewert
January 5, 2016}

My recent series on specified complexity and conservation of information provoked responses that I would like to address.

Breaking Sticks

_{Winston Ewert
December 5, 2015}

A large portion of post by ID critic Tom English is devoted to an example of conservation of information involving broken sticks.