Andrew McDiarmid

Director of Podcasting and Senior Fellow

Andrew McDiarmid is Director of Podcasting and a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute. He is also a contributing writer to Mind Matters. He produces ID The Future, a podcast from the Center for Science & Culture that presents the case, research, and implications of intelligent design and explores the debate over evolution. He writes and speaks regularly on the impact of technology on human living. Discovery Institute co-founder and bestselling author George Gilder has called McDiarmid "a scintillating venturer beyond the surfaces of technology to their hidden depths and meanings." His work has appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Post, Houston Chronicle, The Daily Wire, San Francisco Chronicle, Real Clear Politics, Newsmax, The American Spectator, The Federalist, Technoskeptic Magazine, and elsewhere. In addition to his roles at the Discovery Institute, he promotes his homeland as host of the Scottish culture and music podcast Simply Scottish (Apple, Spotify, Google). Andrew holds an MA in Teaching from Seattle Pacific University and a BA in English/Creative Writing from the University of Washington. Learn more about his work at andrewmcdiarmid.org.

Archives

The Non-Algorithmic Nature of Life: Physicist Dr. Brian Miller

Andrew McDiarmid and Brian Miller
June 4, 2025
For decades, we’ve thought the control center of life lies in DNA. But a new scientific framework is emerging that challenges that idea, and suggests that vast portions of the genome are immaterial and lie outside the physical world. Today, physicist Dr. Brian Miller joins host ‪Andrew McDiarmid‬ to share his perspective on the cutting-edge, potentially revolutionary research of mathematical biologist Dr. Richard Sternberg on the immaterial aspects of the genome. Immaterial? As in not material? It’s a daring proposition, to be sure, and one that has the power to change everything we understand about life. Sternberg’s proposal runs dramatically counter to the conventional physicalist view of the gene. But recent findings reveal that genetic and even epigenetic sources alone …

A Neurosurgeon Pulls Back the Curtain on the Soul

Andrew McDiarmid and Michael Egnor
June 2, 2025
In a new interview for the ID The Future podcast, host ‪‪Andrew McDiarmid‬ is thrilled to welcome back renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Egnor to continue discussing his new book The Immortal Mind: A Neurosurgeon’s Case for the Existence of the Soul. The book tackles provocative ideas, making a case that the human soul exists and that the mind is immortal. In this compelling conversation, we unpack more of the powerful arguments and evidence Dr. Egnor has marshaled. In Part 2, we explore the fascinating question of how much brain the mind needs to function, learning that significant portions, like association areas, can be removed or injured without necessarily affecting the mind, a reality that challenges textbook materialism. Dr. Egnor shares powerful examples. We also delve …

Why Life is the Most Unnatural Thing in the Universe

Andrew McDiarmid and Eric Hedin
May 26, 2025
We usually think of life as the most natural thing there is – blooming plants, flowing water, the cycles of nature. But what if that perspective is fundamentally challenged by the very laws of physics that govern our universe? On this ID The Future, host ‪Andrew McDiarmid‬ welcomes physicist Dr. Eric Hedin to the podcast to discuss the compelling idea that life is the most “unnatural” thing in the universe. Dr. Hedin contends that the complex, organized nature of life defies the natural tendency of matter and energy towards disorder and equilibrium, suggesting that life requires something only an intelligent designer could provide. If the natural state of matter is movement toward the lowest possible energy state, then why aren’t all of us lumps of organic matter lying in …

No Mark Zuckerberg, AI ‘Friends’ are not Good for Mental Health

Andrew McDiarmid
May 24, 2025
Think you could use a few more friends? Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says AI will do the trick. In a recent interview, the Silicon Valley titan said the average American has fewer than three friends but a desire to have “something like fifteen.” Zuckerberg thinks computer code will fill the gap.

The Immortal Mind: How Neuroscience Points Beyond Materialism

Andrew McDiarmid and Michael Egnor
May 20, 2025
Is your mind more than just your brain? Does the soul actually exist? These questions have been pondered for millennia. What does the latest scientific research suggest? On this episode of the ID The Future podcast, renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Egnor begins a conversation with host ‪Andrew McDiarmid‬ about his new book The Immortal Mind: A Neurosurgeon’s Case for the Existence of the Soul. Egnor makes a powerful case that our capacity for thought, reason, and free will points to something beyond mere brain function. After defining terms, Egnor begins exploring the compelling evidence he has gathered across four decades of practice in neurosurgery. He recounts the remarkable results of split-brain surgery, where patients whose brain hemispheres are functionally disconnected …

Evolved or Engineered? A Geneticist Evaluates the Panda’s Thumb

Andrew McDiarmid
May 5, 2025
In 1980, influential paleontologist and evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould wrote that “we can know that evolution has happened by the imperfections and oddities that life shows.” But is that true? And what if we take a closer look at those assumed evolutionary oddities and see instead evidence of engineered elegance? On this episode of the ID The Future podcast, host ‪Andrew McDiarmid‬ welcomes retired geneticist Dr. Wolf-Ekkehard Lönnig to discuss his new paper reviewing the debate over the panda’s thumb. Giant pandas have an elongated wrist bone, the radial sesamoid, that allows them to handle and eat bamboo with great dexterity. Some claim it’s an imperfectly and inefficiently formed structure that is clear evidence of evolutionary processes at work. Others call it …