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How Marcos Eberlin Discovered Intelligent Design

World-class chemist Marcos Eberlin was in Seattle this week and I had the opportunity to pose some questions to him. His new book is Foresight: How the Chemistry of Life Reveals Planning and Purpose. First, I asked how he initially learned of the theory of ID:

Today, Dr. Eberlin is probably the leading proponent of intelligent design in Brazil. But he’s hardly the only one, with a branch of Discovery Institute in São Paulo now going strong at Mackenzie Presbyterian University. His journey in our direction started in 2008 when he was teaching at Brazil’s top university, the University of Campinas, which is also one of the finest in Latin America. Intrigued by Eberlin’s response to a prominent magazine’s cover story about Darwin, “The Man Who Killed God,” his students challenged him to give his next lecture on design versus evolution. He cheerfully agreed and decided to make a study of the arguments for ID. Very quickly he found himself debating a leading evolutionist before a university audience. “I killed the guy,” laughs Marcos, who is a delightful man as you’ll see here.

In the book, Eberlin describes features of life, chemistry, and the cosmos that, to have come into existence, demand an explanation involving “foresight,” careful planning on the part of a master engineer, chemist, and astrophysicist. If just one of these features — cell membranes, for instance — is truly beyond the reach of aimless material causes, then the game is up for strict materialist origins theories.

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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astrophysicsBrazilcell membranesCharles DarwinChemistryDiscovery InstituteEngineeringevolutionintelligent designLatin AmericaMackenzie Presbyterian UniversityMarcos EberlinSão PauloUniversity of Campinas