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SEATTLE, AUGUST 17 – The scientific debate over biological origins continues with Cambridge University’s publication of “Debating Design from Darwin to DNA,” co-edited by Discovery Institute senior Fellow William Dembksi and Florida State University professor Michael Ruse. More and more the heart of the controversy revolves around the scientific theory of intelligent design. Is the appearance of design in organisms Read More ›

This article, published by The Washington Times, contains a review of The Privileged Planet, by Discovery Institute Center for Science and Culture Senior Fellows Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay Richards:

Albert Einstein once remarked that the most incomprehensible thing about the universe was that it was comprehensible. For the past few centuries, no one has offered a satisfactory non-theological explanation as to why this should be so.

In recent years, however, a small group of scientists and thinkers have decided to try a novel approach combining science with theology, albeit not of the fundamentalist genre. The result has been the growing and increasingly influential “Intelligent Design” (ID) movement, a major project of the Seattle-based Discovery Institute, where I was a senior fellow for nearly 10 years. I never worked with the ID people, but found the effort fascinating, both as hard science and hard cultural and intellectual struggle.

Specifically, Intelligent Design holds that it is possible to study the biological and physical realms for evidence of design, without positing the identity, intent, or even the competence of the designer. Throughout the ’90s, ID fought mostly against the “sacred creation myth of the materialist West.”

Evolution, the best guess of a brilliant 19th-century scientist, has not been wearing well of late. A lot of little questions are starting to add up to One Big Question — much to the chagrin of the “If it isn’t matter, it doesn’t matter” crowds in science, education, and culture.

“The Privileged Planet,” however, is not about Charles Darwin. It addresses matters pertaining to life, intelligibility, and design in the cosmos as a whole.

Ever since astronomers first figured out that the universe is a pretty big place, the assumption has been that, life-wise, bigger is better. We all know the logic. Posit 100 billion galaxies with 100 billion stars each. If only one in a million has planets, and only one in a million of those can support life, the universe should still be a pretty fecund locale.

SEATTLE, AUGUST 13, 1985 — Discovery Institute is pleased to announce the publication of the provocative intellectual history, From Darwin to Hitler, Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics and Racism in Germany (Palgrave MacMillan), by Richard Weikart, a fellow with the Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. In this compelling and painstakingly researched work of intellectual history, Weikart convincingly makes the argument that Hitler Read More ›

Letter to the Editor: In her April 1 editorial-page commentary “The ‘Privacy’ Jihad1,” Heather Mac Donald fails to understand why many think tanks and privacy advocacy groups across the political spectrum are concerned about a number of government proposals that would further diminish privacy rights. We have had a long history of law-enforcement agencies going well beyond original mandates and Read More ›

Shorter version as published in Crisis Magazine Book review: Modern Physics and Ancient FaithStephen M. Barr, University of Notre Dame Press, 312 pages, $30 The overthrow of a dominant system can involve two kinds of revolutionaries. Some act as insurgents: they attack the system from within using whatever weapons are available to them as members of the system. Others function Read More ›

MOSCOW — There was a remarkable event last Friday evening in Moscow. Several of the world’s most prominent free-market reformers spent more than four hours in a spirited dialogue about economic reform with Russian President Putin. The participants included Ed Crane, president of the Washington-based libertarian Cato Institute; Jose Pinera who, as a Chilean government minister, began the world’s first Read More ›

SEATTLE — Missouri state legislator Wayne Cooper has asked CNN to stop spreading misinformation about a bill he sponsored on the teaching of evolution. On April 4th, CNN erroneously reported that Missouri and other states are currently considering proposals that “would fire teachers who refused to teach alternatives to evolution theory….” In a letter to CNN President Jim Walton on April Read More ›

Recently there has been extensive press coverage of Rep. Bernard Sanders’ opposition to the USA Patriot Act. Much of this coverage has been inaccurate, unbalanced and unnecessarily frightening to the public. It is time to set the record straight. As recognized in the Declaration of Independence, the first responsibility of government is to preserve the lives and liberty of the Read More ›