The Design of Life: Discovering Signs of Intelligence in Biological Systems - Rilegato

William A. Dembski, Senior Fellow Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, Academic Editor FTE William Dembski authored the first book on intelligent design to be published by a major university press, The Design Inference: Eliminating Chance Through Small Probabilities (Cambridge University Press, 1998). In it he lays out a rigorous, scientific method for detecting design. Dembski's work has been featured on the front page of the New York Times and in many other publications. He has debated top Darwinists at the American Museum of Natural History, and he has appeared on numerous radio and television broadcasts, including Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" and ABC's "Nightline." He lectures around the globe on the topic of intelligent design (e.g., the Niels Bohr Institute in Denmark, Cambridge and Oxford Universities, U.C. Berkeley, UCLA, Princeton, Yale, MIT). He is the author or editor of more than ten books, including Darwin's Nemesis (IVP), a Festschrift volume in honor of Phillip E. Johnson. Christianity Today calls Dembski "Johnson's successor as the informal leader of the intelligent design community." Jonathan Wells, Senior Fellow Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, Author of The Design of Life Jonathan Wells holds two doctorates, one in molecular and cell biology from the University of California at Berkeley, the other in religious studies from Yale University. He has worked as a postdoctoral research biologist at the University of California at Berkeley, supervised a medical laboratory in Fairfield, California, and taught biology at California State University in Hayward. He has published articles in Development, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, BioSystems, Rivista di Biologia, The Scientist, and The American Biology Teacher. As the author of Icons of Evolution: Why Much of What We Teach about Evolution Is Wrong (Regnery, 2000), Wells has emerged as one of the key figures for reforming the teaching of evolution by correcting textbook errors and by insisting that the evidence that both confirms and disconfirms Darwinism be taught. He is a widely acclaimed lecturer and debater on the topic of intelligent design. He has inspired many younger scholars to develop intelligent design as a fruitful scientific research program.

William A. Dembski is a Senior Fellow with the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. He has authored or edited more than a dozen books, including the first book on intelligent design to be published by a major university press, The Design Inference: Eliminating Chance through Small Probabilities (Cambridge University Press, 1998). He has seven earned degrees, including two doctorates, one in philosophy from the University of Illinois at Chicago, the other in mathematics from University of Chicago. His work has been featured on the front page of the New York Times and he has appeared on numerous radio and television broadcasts, including ABC’s Nightline and Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show. Bill and his wife, Jana, live in Central Texas with their daughter and twin boys.

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Jonathan Wells is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. He holds a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California at Berkeley, and a PhD. in Religious Studies from Yale University. He has worked as a postdoctoral research biologist at the University of California at Berkeley and the supervisor of a medical laboratory in Fairfield, California, and he has taught biology at California State University in Hayward. He is the author numerous articles and several books including Icons of Evolution,The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design.

Inside flaps:“The illusion of purpose is so powerful,” writes Richard Dawkins, “that biologists themselves use the assumption of good design as a working tool.” As an ardent proponent of Darwinian evolution, Dawkins imagines that all design in biology is merely an illusion.By contrast, this book shows that biologists use the assumption of design with success precisely because design in biology is not an illusion but real. In this book, William Dembski and Jonathan Wells present a compelling scientific case for the intelligent design of biological systems. Their laser-like analysis, clear explanations, and brilliant analogies will captivate every reader, whether trained scientist or curious layperson.Intelligent design (ID), as the study of patterns in nature best explained by intelligence, is already accepted in many special sciences. Archeology, forensics, and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) all belong to ID in this broad sense. These sciences, however, are uncontroversial because any intelligence there could be an “evolved” intelligence.In biology, by contrast, intelligent design is highly controversial because any intelligence there would be an “unevolved” intelligence—it would not be the product of purely material evolutionary processes. Thus, to convinced materialists like Richard Dawkins, who dogmatically accept Darwinian orthodoxy, this book comes as a shot across the bow. Scientists who support the intelligent design of biological systems are routinely held up to ridicule, stripped of their status, denied tenure, and driven from their posts. Why? They do not agree that the universe, life, and the human mind are the accidental outworking of purely material forces. And why don’t they agree? Because the evidence of science shows otherwise. This book presents that evidence clearly and cogently. Written for the general reader, it will quickly enter the national conversation. In The Design of Life, Dembski and Wells make the most powerful and comprehensive case to date for the intelligent design of life. This is the book that promoters of unintelligent evolution do NOT want you to read.