George Gilder

On April 5th, Steve Forbes, Chairman & Editor-In-Chief of Forbes Media, and Discovery Institute co-founder George Gilder were in Seattle to discuss some of the biggest issues facing today’s economy. Their discussion covered a wide range of pertinent topics–including trade, technological shifts, increased regulatory and tax burdens, and monetary uncertainty. Visit our YouTube channel to watch our taping of Charting a New Course: How New Ideas on Trade & Money Can Revive the U.S. Economy..

I helped Bruce Chapman form Discovery Institute some 25 years ago and over that period, if I may use the term, it has evolved. Bruce and I believe that this evolution expresses an intelligent design, a unified vision that transcends the various programs at Discovery Institute. We do not only believe in intelligent design in the universe; we believe such a design manifests itself across the sciences and pervades economics and culture. Not only is God the creator; but human beings are creative in his image, in the image of the creator. This is a scientific proposition, following the insights of a great new science called information theory. Information theory upholds the idea of a hierarchical universe and underlies all Read More ›

I remember a Seattle Weekly article circa 2000 — around the time that I was hired as Executive Director — that described Discovery Institute as a think tank where people “sit around a big table and think really hard.” Needless to say, the article was neither friendly, nor indicative of the role that think tanks really play in policy development. It missed a bigger point, too. Discovery Institute is more than a think tank. While we still maintain an interest in public policy, we are increasingly a cultural institution — one that examines and challenges the worldview assumptions and cultural influences that drive public policy. If policies and the culture flow like a river, we work at the headwaters. Other think tanks do admirable work in the rivers and tributaries. This unique approach is one that has developed over our twenty-five year history. For those of you who are not familiar, here is a brief retelling of that story.

It’s time for a new paradigm of economic thought. The key to understanding–and instigating–economic growth, Gilder argues, lies in information theory. Hear from economist and NYT bestselling author George Gilder as he expounds on the key messages of his latest book The Scandal of Money: Why Wall Street Recovers but the Economy Never Does at the 2016 FreedomFest conference in Read More ›