If your summer isn’t fully booked yet and you’d like to enjoy Seattle without rain (when it’s gorgeous and just hot enough), consider applying for the Discovery Institute’s summer seminars for college students July 10-18.
For those unfamiliar with the Discovery Institute (disclosure: I worked there right out of college), this free-market think tank is particularly interested in how science affects policy and culture.
It’s best known for advocating intelligent design, the theory that the universe displays purpose and that mainstream scientific opinion is unnecessarily entangled in a purely materialistic paradigm:
The seminar will explore cutting-edge ID work in fields such as molecular biology, biochemistry, embryology, developmental biology, paleontology, computational biology, ID-theoretic mathematics, cosmology, physics, and the history and philosophy of science. This seminar is open to students who intend to pursue graduate studies in the natural sciences or the philosophy of science.
Another seminar named after the writer and Christian apologist C.S. Lewis “will explore the growing impact of science on politics, economics, social policy, bioethics, theology, and the arts,” and is open to students “who intend careers in the social sciences, humanities, law, or theology.”
Costs are largely covered for both seminars, and need-based scholarships are available to cover other expenses. The application deadline is April 7. The institute is reserving a few spots for “a special cohort of professors, scientists, teachers, pastors, and other professionals” as well.
You could say that Discovery was the first place I saw firsthand the importance of academic freedom. Its allies and scholars have often found themselves harassed and attacked within their own institutions for simply questioning prevailing scientific views and teaching students to think critically about society’s most sacred cows.
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