Podcasts

Podcasts

Discovery Institute Podcast

A Designed Universe Makes Meaning Real, Not Illusory

Eric Hedin
September 28, 2026
Why are we here? Does life, or the universe, mean anything? And if it does, what? Today on ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid explores those questions and more with physicist and author Dr. Eric Hedin. Using the recent documentary film The Story of Everything as a springboard for discussion, Hedin shows that cumulative scientific evidence is pointing to a purposeful universe, not a cosmic accident. Materialist narratives portray human existence as the product of mindless physical processes, something Dr. Hedin characterizes as a pandemic of meaninglessness, where human purpose is reduced to an illusion. But modern science, says Hedin, is actually telling a very different story. Key scientific discoveries of the last century point toward an intelligent mind behind the cosmos. Hedin …

Why Carbon is Finely Tuned for Life

Jonathan McLatchie
September 25, 2026
In his book Darwin’s Black Box, biochemist Michael Behe writes that in order to understand the barriers to evolution, we have to “bite the bullet of complexity.” On this classic episode of ID The Future from the vault, Dr. Jonathan McLatchie is back to help us do just that. In the latest installment of an ongoing series, Dr. McLatchie talks with host Andrew McDiarmid about the remarkable properties of carbon and other non-metal atoms. Nature doesn’t owe us a life-friendly environment. As McLatchie notes, there are far more ways the universe could have developed that are non-conducive to life than there are life-friendly ways. And yet, here we are, able to live and study the universe around us. “On the assumption of atheism or naturalism,” says McLatchie, …

Scoring the Universe: A Rubric for Cosmological Design

Bruce Gordon
September 23, 2026
By now, you’re likely familiar with the multiverse hypothesis, which is actually just one of dozens of cosmological models proposed to explain away the significance of a beginning to the universe and the evidence for fine-tuning. But you may not know there’s a rigorous method to evaluate these models, which can prove helpful in understanding the flaws of each. On today’s ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid continues his conversation about evaluating cosmological models with philosopher of physics Bruce Gordon and physicist Brian Miller. In Part 1, the conversation started with a quick review of the Dr. Stephen Meyer’s recent debate with science communicator Phil Halper before looking at key questions that the debate turns on. Bruce and Brian also gave us answers to …

Mind Matters

Tech Entrepreneur David Copps on Building Real-World AI

396
Robert J. Marks
September 18, 2026
How can entrepreneurs incorporate the benefits of AI while maintaining their dedication to serving fellow human beings? On this bingecast episode of Mind Matters News, enjoy the full uninterrupted conversation between host Robert J. Marks and David Copps, a renowned entrepreneur, technologist, and thought leader with over two decades of experience pioneering advancements in artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.

Angus Menuge: Powers of the Soul That Are Beyond AI

395
Robert J. Marks
September 2, 2026
In this episode of the Mind Matters News podcast, Dr. Robert J. Marks and Pat Flynn welcome returning guest Dr. Angus Menuge, professor of philosophy at Concordia University Wisconsin, to discuss his paper “Powers of the Soul Beyond AI.” Dr. Menuge breaks down the philosophical and logical limits of artificial intelligence, targeting the concept of anthropic mechanism to explain why material machines cannot replicate the immaterial aspects of human agency. Through the lens of five distinct powers—including insight, meta-insight, and free will—Menuge explores why large language models and advanced computing systems fall short of genuine understanding and human consciousness.

The Algorithmic Mind and the Limits of Computation

394
Robert J. Marks
August 21, 2026
On this bingecast archive episode of Mind Matters News, guest host Pat Flynn welcomes Dr. Winston Ewert to the show to discuss Ewert’s chapter in the volume Minding the Brain.  In his contribution, titled “The Human Mind’s Sophisticated Algorithm and Its Implications,” Dr. Ewert argues that the human mind’s problem-solving cognition can be modeled as a sophisticated algorithm. Ewert explains that any cognitive task can be expressed as a version of the halting problem from computer science, where an algorithm either halts or continues infinitely. He suggests that humans are able to solve a large and sophisticated subset of these problems, but are limited in the same way that no algorithm can solve all halting problems. Ewert contends that this algorithmic view of human cognition has implications that challenge reductive materialist and neo-Darwinian views, despite resistance from some thinkers who believe human abilities transcend any algorithm.

ID the Future

A Designed Universe Makes Meaning Real, Not Illusory

2270
Eric Hedin
September 28, 2026
Why are we here? Does life, or the universe, mean anything? And if it does, what? Today on ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid explores those questions and more with physicist and author Dr. Eric Hedin. Using the recent documentary film The Story of Everything as a springboard for discussion, Hedin shows that cumulative scientific evidence is pointing to a purposeful universe, not a cosmic accident. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 next!

Why Carbon is Finely Tuned for Life

2269
Jonathan McLatchie
September 25, 2026
In his book Darwin’s Black Box, biochemist Michael Behe writes that in order to understand the barriers to evolution, we have to “bite the bullet of complexity.” On this classic episode of ID The Future out of the vault, Dr. Jonathan McLatchie is back to help us do just that! In the latest installment of an ongoing series, Dr. McLatchie talks with host Andrew McDiarmid about the remarkable properties of carbon and other non-metal atoms.

Scoring the Universe: A Rubric for Cosmological Design

2268
Bruce Gordon
September 23, 2026
By now, you’re likely familiar with the multiverse hypothesis, which is actually just one of dozens of cosmological models proposed to explain away the significance of a beginning to the universe and the evidence for fine-tuning. But you may not know there’s a rigorous method to evaluate these models, which can prove helpful in understanding the flaws of each. On today’s ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid continues his conversation about evaluating cosmological models with philosopher of physics Bruce Gordon and physicist Brian Miller. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation.

Humanize

Mayor Warren Wilson on Environmentalists Caring More About Birds Than the Lives of King Cove Residents

1
Warren Wilson
September 20, 2026
King Cove is a remote town in the Aleutian Islands, adjacent to the 300,000-acre Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. In 1980, the refuge was designated a wilderness area. That caused a severe problem for the people of King Cove. The nearest full-service hospital is in Anchorage, 900 miles away. The town does not have an all-weather airport. This means that people needing lifesaving care may not be able to access it during inclement weather. A town 20 miles away called Cold Bay does have an all-weather airport from which sick and injured people could be flown for medical help in bad weather — if they could only get there. So, the people of King Cove sought permission to cut a gravel road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge to Cold Bay. They even offered a land swap that …

Robert J. Marks II on the Benefits and Potential Perils of Artificial Intelligence

16
Robert J. Marks II
August 10, 2026
We are in the age of artificial intelligence. But what does that mean for the human future? Some claim that AI is merely a very sophisticated tool that will lead to stunning societal improvements such as miraculous medical breakthroughs, greater economic efficiency, and an exponential increase in human knowledge. But others worry that an out-of-human-control AI could destroy liberty, create immeasurable societal destruction, and perhaps, even unleash a technological Armageddon that brings about the end of the human race. Which is it? Or are both potential possibilities? To sort it all out for us, on this special summer edition of Humanize, Wesley asked Discovery Institute’s Robert J. Marks II to return for his third appearance. An electrical engineer by education and …

Stephen C. Meyer on “The Story of Everything”

15
Stephen C. Meyer
June 15, 2026
In 50 BC, the great Roman statesman Cicero expressed a thought that has been echoed by thinkers down the generations: “The celestial order and beauty of the universe compel me to admit that there is some excellent and eternal Being who deserves the respect and homage of men.” But in our own day, the evolutionary biologist and atheism proselytizer Richard Dawkins has claimed, “The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.” Dawkins believes that complex life and the cosmos arose through gradual, evolutionary mechanisms, not through any influence of a creator or purposeful creation. But which worldview does the scientific evidence …