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The Immaterial Origins of Human Creativity

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Engineering
Intelligent Design
Neuroscience & Mind
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On a new episode of ID the Future, we’re sharing a conversation that first aired on Mind Matters News, another podcast from Discovery Institute that focuses on the intersection of artificial and natural intelligence. In this episode, guest host Pat Flynn welcomes engineer Dr. Eric Holloway and professor Robert J. Marks to discuss the information cost of creativity. The conversation is based on a chapter in the recent volume Minding the Brain, authored by Dr. Holloway and Dr. Marks. 

Holloway and Marks address the following question: Can the marvels of human creativity, like novels, speeches, and ideas, really be explained by random processes and brain chemistry alone? As the two men explain, even allowing for the computational capacity of the entire universe (and a hypothetical multiverse!), the probability of randomly generating a short, meaningful phrase is astronomically low. This suggests that human creativity cannot be fully explained by natural, random processes, and may require a non-material or external source of information and guidance. 

Join Flynn and his guests as they climb the metaphorical mountain of information to address the origins of human creativity!

Download the podcast or listen to it here. We’re grateful to the Mind Matters News team for permission to share this conversation on ID the Future. Enjoy more episodes of Mind Matters News here or wherever you enjoy podcasts.

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Andrew McDiarmid

Director of Podcasting and Senior Fellow
Andrew McDiarmid is Director of Podcasting and a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute. He is also a contributing writer to Mind Matters. He produces ID The Future, a podcast from the Center for Science & Culture that presents the case, research, and implications of intelligent design and explores the debate over evolution. He writes and speaks regularly on the impact of technology on human living. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Post, Houston Chronicle, The Daily Wire, San Francisco Chronicle, Real Clear Politics, Newsmax, The American Spectator, The Federalist, Technoskeptic Magazine, and elsewhere. In addition to his roles at Discovery Institute, he promotes his homeland as host of the Scottish culture and music podcast Simply Scottish. Andrew holds an MA in Teaching from Seattle Pacific University and a BA in English/Creative Writing from the University of Washington.
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