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The Medical Background to Intelligent Design

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We’ve commented before that physicians (like engineers) have a special perspective on intelligent design. Why? Because they, more than evolutionary biologists, are acutely attuned to questions of function. Biological systems not only need to exist but to function properly. It’s no use tracing a hypothetical path of evolutionary descent unless every living thing along that path was fully functional in the real world.

On a new ID the Future podcast, biologist Michael Denton talks about the intellectual — including the medical — backdrop for his interest in researching and documenting the unique fitness of the universe for creatures like ourselves.

Download the podcast by clicking here:

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Speaking at the Northwest premiere of the new documentary Fire-Maker: How Humans Were Designed to Harness Fire and Transform Our Planet (on sale now!), which highlights his work, Dr. Denton explained that he first got interested in the issue of fitness while working as a physician in intensive care medicine. Subsequently, he read the classic The Fitness of the Environment (1913), by the Harvard Medical School-trained physician and biochemist Lawrence Henderson, which really opened his eyes.

Speaking of Fire-Maker, I had the opportunity to discuss it, and an interesting thematic connection with The Jungle Book, the other day with Seattle talk host Michelle Mendoza. You can listen to that here.

Nothing about medicine, but we chatted about the way science bears out certain profound and ancient human intuitions. Which in turn, by the way, is the theme of Doug Axe’s new book, Undeniable. Do you see how it all fits together?

Image: The Sick Woman, Jan Steen, via Wikicommons.

David Klinghoffer

Senior Fellow and Editor, Evolution News
David Klinghoffer is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute and the editor of Evolution News & Science Today, the daily voice of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture, reporting on intelligent design, evolution, and the intersection of science and culture. Klinghoffer is also the author of six books, a former senior editor and literary editor at National Review magazine, and has written for the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Seattle Times, Commentary, and other publications. Born in Santa Monica, California, he graduated from Brown University in 1987 with an A.B. magna cum laude in comparative literature and religious studies. David lives near Seattle, Washington, with his wife and children.

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