Join Heterodox Academy (HxA) at Cornell University for a talk by Michael Behe on intelligent design in biology. Throughout history, most people, including most scientists, thought that the intricate mechanisms of life were purposefully designed. The design hypothesis fell out of favor in academia after 1859, the year Charles Darwin instead proposed that life evolved by utterly unguided random variation sifted by natural selection. In the past 75 years, however, much has been learned about the molecular basis of life that was completely unknown in Darwin’s era. In this talk, Michael Behe will argue that the astonishing discoveries of modern biochemistry require a reversal of our evaluation of Darwin versus design: the conclusion that, in large part, life was purposely designed has once again become rationally compelling.

Michael J. Behe is a Professor of Biochemistry at Lehigh University. He is the author of three books — Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution (1996); The Edge of Evolution: The Search for the Limits of Darwinism (2007); and Darwin Devolves: The New Science of DNA That Challenges Evolution (2019) — all of which argue that living systems at the molecular level are best explained as being the result of deliberate intelligent design. The books have been reviewed by the New York Times, Nature, Philosophy of Science, Christianity Today, and many other periodicals.

When: Tuesday, September 16 at 5:30-7:00 PM

Where: Cornell University - 186 Myron Taylor Hall

All are welcome to attend this free event. Questions? Contact Randy Wayne at row1@cornell.edu