Can artificial intelligence be applied to the scientific theory of Darwinian evolution to help us evaluate its strengths and weaknesses? On a new episode of ID the Future, host Casey Luskin concludes his conversation with two distinguished PhD scientists who are asking tough questions of neo-Darwinism: Olen Brown, Professor Emeritus of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Missouri, and David Hullender, Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Texas, Arlington. Over two episodes, Luskin unpacks three recent scientific papers written by Brown and Hullender warning that neo-Darwinism must be updated if it has any hope of surviving as a theory.

In Part 2, Luskin discusses the latest paper from Brown and Hullender, published in Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, titled “Darwinian Evolution has Become Dogma; AI Can Rescue What is Salvageable.” In it, the authors argue that general AI has strong but unrealized potential both for assessing and also for solving major problems with the prevailing naturalistic account of life’s origins. “Evolution…is a puzzle,” say Brown and Hullender. “It necessarily involves the absurdly improbable self-assembly of many complex biological machines using simpler parts. We propose that [AI] would work well for assessing ideas about biological evolution, especially the problem of self-assembly.” 

Go here to find and listen to the podcast. This is Part 2 of a two-part discussion. Listen to Part 1.

Dig Deeper

Read more of our coverage on artificial intelligence and its impact on the debate over evolution:

• “Artificial Intelligence Promises to Level the Playing Field for Intelligent Design“
• “Science Paper: Use Artificial Intelligence to Challenge Evolution“
• “Inferring the Best Explanation Via Artificial Intelligence“