Bøker utgitt av 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.

"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

"Eric Hedin was enjoying a productive career as a physics professor at Ball State University when the letter from a militant atheist arrived and all hell broke loose. The conflict spilled first onto the pages of the local newspaper, and then into the national news. The atheist attack included threats from the Freedom from Religion Foundation, which targeted Hedin after learning his Boundaries of Science course exposed students to an evidence-based case for design and purpose in cosmology, physics, and biochemistry. Canceled Science tells the dramatic story of the atheist campaign to cancel Hedin's course, reveals the evidence the atheists tried to bury, and explores discoveries that have revolutionized our understanding of the nature and origin of matter, space, and even time itself."--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.

Beloved for his Narnian tales for children and his books of Christian apologetics for adults, best-selling author C.S. Lewis also was a prophetic critic of the growing power of scientism in modern society, the misguided effort to apply science to areas outside its proper bounds. In this wide-ranging book of essays, contemporary writers probe Lewis's warnings about the dehumanizing impact of scientism on ethics, politics, faith, reason, and science itself. Issues explored include Lewis's views on bioethics, eugenics, evolution, intelligent design, and what he called "scientocracy." Contributors include Michael Aeschliman, author of C.S. Lewis and the Restitution of Man; Victor Reppert, author of C.S. Lewis's Dangerous Idea; Jay Richards, co-author of the New York Times bestseller Indivisible; and C. John Collins, author of Science and Faith: Friends or Foes?

For years Alfred Russel Wallace was little more than an obscure adjunct to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Remembered only for prompting Darwin to write On the Origin of Species in 1859 by writing his own letter proposing a theory of natural selection, Wallace was rightly dubbed by one biographer "the forgotten naturalist." In 1998 Sahotra Sarkar bemoaned Wallace's "lapse into obscurity," noting that "at least in the 19th century literature, the theory of evolution was usually referred to as 'the Darwin and Wallace theory'. In the 20th century, the theory of evolution has become virtually synonymous with Darwinism or neo-Darwinism." While the complaint still has a ring of truth, a decade of recent interest in Wallace has done much to bring him back from history's crypt of forgotten figures. This shouldn't suggest unanimity of opinion, however. Some regard him as a heretic, others as merely a misguided scientist-turned-spiritualist, still others as a prescient figure anticipating the modern Gaia hypothesis. Perhaps Martin Fichman's phrase hits closest and most persistently to the truth--"the elusive Victorian." Can the real Wallace be found? If so, what might we learn in that rediscovery? The provocative thesis of this new biography is that Wallace, in developing his unique brand of evolution, presaged modern intelligent design theory. Wallace's devotion to discovering the truths of nature brought him through a lifetime of research to see genuine design in the natural world. This was Wallace's ultimate heresy, a heresy that exposed the metaphysical underpinnings of the emerging Darwinian paradigm.