Bøger udgivet af Discovery Institute

Renowned Brazilian scientist Marcos Eberlin uncovers nature's artful solutions to major engineering challenges in chemistry and biology, solutions that point beyond blind evolution to the workings of an attribute unique to minds-foresight.

Tucked away in Charles Darwin's surviving papers is a manuscript of almost 300,000 words that he never completed. It was his sequel to The Origin of Species. It was the book he had promised would finally supply solid empirical evidence for the creative power of natural selection, evidence he admitted was absent from the Origin, which he repeatedly described as a "mere abstract." Darwin soon abandoned his sequel, though he never revealed that decision to those who awaited its appearance. The mystery of why Darwin didn't finish his sequel has never been satisfactorily resolved. In this fascinating piece of historical detective work, Robert Shedinger draws on Darwin's letters, private notebooks, and the unfinished manuscript itself to piece together the puzzle and reveal an embarrassing truth: Darwin never finished his sequel because in the end he could not deliver the promised goods. His book, begun in earnest, devolved into a bluff.

Is your mind the same thing as your brain, or are there aspects of mind beyond the brain's biology? This is the mind-body problem, and it has captivated curious minds since the dawn of human contemplation. Today many insist that the mind is completely reducible to the brain. But is that claim justified? In this stimulating anthology, twenty-five philosophers and scientists offer fresh insights into the mind-brain debate, drawing on psychology, neurology, philosophy, computer science, and neurosurgery. Their provocative conclusion? The mind is indeed more than the brain.

In 2013 Stephen Meyer's book Darwin's Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design became a national bestseller, provoking a wide-ranging debate about the adequacy of Darwinian theory to explain life's history. In Debating Darwin's Doubt: A Scientific Controversy that Can No Longer Be Denied, leading scholars in the intelligent design community respond to critiques of Meyer's book and show that the core challenge posed by Meyer remains unanswered: Where did the influx of information essential to the creation of new body plans come from? In addition to ten chapters by Stephen Meyer, Debating Darwin's Doubt also includes contributions from biologists Richard Sternberg, Douglas Axe, and Ann Gauger; philosopher of biology Paul Nelson; mathematicians William Dembski and David Berlinski; and Center for Science and Culture research coordinator Casey Luskin. In forty-four chapters, these contributing authors explore topics such as orphan genes, cladistics, small shelly fossils, protein evolution, the length of the Cambrian explosion, the God-of-the-Gaps objection to intelligent design, and criticisms raised by proponents of theistic evolution. Anyone who wants to understand the cutting-edge of current scientific debates over modern Darwinian theory needs to read this book.

In this revised and expanded collection of essays on origins, mathematician Granville Sewell looks at the big bang, the fine-tuning of the laws of physics, and (especially) the evolution of life. Sewell explains why evolution is a fundamentally different and much more difficult problem than others solved by science, and why increasing numbers of scientists are now recognizing what has long been obvious to the layman, that there is no explanation possible without design. This book summarizes many of the traditional arguments for intelligent design, but presents some powerful new arguments as well.

Neil deGrasse Tyson's reboot of the classic TV series Cosmos struck a chord with viewers, garnered 12 Emmy Award nominations, and is headed straight into schools as a science teacher's instructional aid. It's also an agenda-driven vehicle for scientific materialism, casting religion as arch foe of the search for truth about nature and pressing its message that human beings occupy no special place in the universe. In The Unofficial Guide to Cosmos, contributors Casey Luskin, Jay W. Richards, Douglas Ell, and David Klinghoffer dissect each episode of the new series and explain where Tyson veers from objective science to science-flavored, fact-challenged preaching. Students, parents, and teachers will find this lively compendium a useful counterpoint.

In this updated and expanded second edition, Sleepwalking with the Bomb shows how we can forestall nuclear catastrophe. It offers familiar faces, cases and places to illustrate how the civilized world can face the most pressing nuclear dangers. Drawing from both history and current events, John Wohlstetter assembles in one place an integrated, coherent and concise picture that explains how best to avoid the "apocalyptic trinity"--suicide, genocide and surrender--in confronting emerging nuclear threats.

"Biologist Michael Denton argues that the cosmos is stunningly fit not just for cellular life, but for bipedal, land-roving, technology-pursuing creatures like humans"--

How do some birds, turtles, and insects possess navigational abilities that rival the best manmade naviagational technologies? Who or what taught the honey bee its dance, or its hive mates how to read the complex message of the dance? How do blind mound-building termites master passive heating and cooling strategies that dazzle skilled human architects? In "The Origin of Species" by Charles Darwin conceded that such instincts are "so wonderful" that the mystery of their origin would strike many "as a difficulty sufficient to overthrouw my whole theory." In "Animal Algorithms," Eric Cassell surveys recent evidence and concludes that the difficulty remains, and indeed, is a far more potent challenge to evolutionary theory than Darwin imagined. -- Back cover

The Miracle of the Cell provides compelling evidence that long before life emerged on our planet, the design of the carbon-based cell was foreshadowed in the order of nature, in the exquisite fitness of the laws of nature.

"Are life and the universe a mindless accident-the blind outworking of cosmic, chemical, and biological evolution? That's the official story many of us were taught somewhere along the way. But what does the science actually say? Drawing on recent discoveries in astronomy, cosmology, chemistry, biology, and paleontology, Evolution and Intelligent Design in a Nutshell shows how the latest scientific evidence suggests a very different story"--

Artificial intelligence expert Robert J. Marks investigates the potential military use of lethal AI and examines the practical and ethical challenges. Marks provocatively argues that the development of lethal AI is not only appropriate in today's society-it is unavoidable if America wants to survive and thrive into the future.

Conventional wisdom holds that the murder rate has plummeted since the Middle Ages; humankind is growing more peaceful and enlightened; man is shortly to be much improved: better genes, better neural circuits, better biochemistry; and we are approaching a technological singularity that well may usher in utopia. Human Nature eviscerates these and other doctrines of a contemporary nihilism masquerading as science. In this wide-ranging work polymath David Berlinski draws upon history, mathematics, logic, and literature to retrain our gaze on an old truth many are eager to forget: there is and will be about the human condition beauty, nobility, and moments of sublime insight, yes, but also ignorance and depravity. Men are not about to become like gods.

"Metamorphosis: The Case for Intelligent Design in a Chrysalis" includes essays exploring both the science and artistry of butterflies, how butterflies challenge Darwinian evolution, and how they point toward intelligent design. A companion to the Illustra Media documentary "Metamorphosis," this 94-page book includes more than twenty stunning full-color photos (many taken during the production of the film) and is introduced by a special message from best-selling novelist Dean Koontz. Contributing authors include David Klinghoffer, philosopher of biology Paul Nelson, biologist Ann Gauger, historian Michael Flannery, lepidopterist Bernard d'Abrera, and literary expert Jonathan Witt.

Evidence for a purely Darwinian account of human origins is supposed to be overwhelming. But is it? In this provocative book, three scientists challenge the claim that undirected natural selection is capable of building a human being, critically assess fossil and genetic evidence that human beings share a common ancestor with apes, and debunk recent claims that the human race could not have started from an original couple.

The Long War refers to the struggle against radical strains of Islam, which will take generations; the Short War refers to the effort to stop a WMD attack that would inflict grave damage on America and the West. The author is optimistic that the West will prevail in the Long War, but pessimistic about the Short War, because we are not doing all we that can-and must-do to stop a catastrophic WMD strike. Should we lose the Short War, we may well find victory hollow in the Long War. We must act now to prevail in both.