Discovery Institute has been producing the ID The Future Podcast for a few months, and already iTunes listeners are giving it rave reviews. What follows is a brief highlight of the reviews and some brief commentary to thank the reviewers:

Comment by SeanG:

“A timely and well needed podcast that will foster dialogue and knowledge of what a large portion of the American public believe. I have many political, philosophical and scientific “blurbs” on my I-Pod, and this new addition to the scientific/philosophical debate by the many fine doctorate holding professors and research scientists at the Discovery Institute will do nothing but add clarity to an issue that demands such. Many of the issues found herein are merely current ruminations of a chain of thought going all the way back to Plato and others. This is rarely addressed by the critics.”

Response: Thanks, Sean, for the kind words about the podcast! Sean is absolutely right that the whole ID-debate goes back to the Greek and Roman philosophers–not just to Aquinas and Paley, as in the Kitzmiller version of history. He’s also right that the podcast has interviews with scientists and other scholars who are Discovery Fellows.

Comment by Anonymous:

“These podcasts are to-the-point, informative, and well-made…Exactly what I’m looking for. I hear they might start posting longer podcasts, for those who have the time and want more in-depth info on intelligent design.”

Response: Thanks to the anonymous commenter for the kind words — we’ll try to make them longer, but we’re very busy with many projects and it takes a lot of work just to synthesize what’s already there.

Comment by neutrin…

“Interesting how the Discovery Institute hasn’t yet done a show about its infamous ‘wedge document.”’

Response: That’s a great idea — stay tuned, and maybe we’ll cover it! In truth, we’ve responded to the conspiracy claims already — see The “Wedge Document”: So What?.

Comment by ShaneP:

“interesting discussion but where is the real peer-reviewed science applied … This podcast is just discussion based on opinion and beliefs, not reality.”

Response: Well, there is plenty of peer-reviewed literature that supports ID-claims (see here for some examples). This postmodern critique of our podcast could easily apply to any viewpoint held by anyone. But regardless of what ShaneP thinks of our “opinions” on the subject, the facts speak for themselves. The cell still contains billions of bits of specified and complex information, something which, in our experience, only comes from intelligence. If you need to pierce through the hype and learn about intelligent design, then check out the ID the Future Podcast. The Podcast is just the sort of tool independent-thinking people rely on to judge the truth for themselves.

Comment by Nate123:

“Intelligent Design (creationism) is NOT science, it is a Christian fundamentalist religion”

Response: I wonder what Antony Flew would think about that statement? Such comments make it appropriate to end with an interesting comment titled “Heresy” by someone going by the name of “bohemianlikeyou”:

“Pay no attention to the negative reviews – most haven’t listened to the podcasts. This is a great podcast by those committed to the scientific principles of observation and going where the evidence leads…Current, scientifically solid, and fascinating. Detractors would love to dismiss I.D. as “Creationism” because they have no credible replies to challenges of I.D. … Those who ignore the message of I.D. and choose instead to insult the messengers will have about the same success as those who initially labeled rock and roll nothing but a “Negro fad.”

And don’t forget to check out the ID The Future Podcast!

[edited for clarity and grammatical mistakes immediately after posting.]