Schedule for the February 4, 2023 Meeting at Biola University, “In Defense of Truth”

The scientific enterprise has historically rested on the belief that objective truth can be found, or at least well approximated, with sufficient effort and care. The Christian world view also embraces this view. Yet in the past 100 years, our society has moved toward other views, which see this approach as a power play by Western European controlling classes. While these alternate approaches have mostly gotten traction in the social sciences and humanities, they are having increasing traction in the “hard” sciences, as seen, for example, at this link.

This meeting will examine both the concept of truth in general, as well as specific arguments on what is true in the scientific world.

All talks will be at the Biola University Business Building, Room 109. The meeting will also be webcast on Zoom. The schedule is below. To register for the meeting (and to get the webcast link), go to this registration page.

8:30 AM. Registration, coffee and bagels

9:00 AM Pacific Time (12:00 PM Eastern Time). SESSION 1: “Thinking about Truth”

9:00 AM. David Snoke, Distinguished Professor of Physics, University of Pittsburgh

“How did we get here? A brief overview of modernism, postmodernism, and post-post-modernism”

9:30 AM Q&A

9:40 AM. Daniel Hitchcock, Associate Professor of Psychology, Regent University

“Interpreting Truth: Schemata, Paradigms, and Worldviews”

10:30 AM Q&A

10:40 AM. Mihretu Guta, Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, Biola University

“Why Truth Matters in Scientific Pursuits ”

11:20 AM Q&A

11:30 AM Discussion and Lunch Break


1:00 PM Pacific Time (4:00 PM Eastern Time). SESSION 2: “Case studies”

1:00 PM. Richard Jones, Professor of Physics, University of Connecticut

“Sometimes the majority is right: Evidence for the Big Bang”

1:40 PM. Q&A

1:50 PM Doug Axe, Maxwell Professor of Molecular Biology, Biola University

“Sometimes the majority is wrong: Evidence for intelligent design”

2:30 PM. Q&A

2:40 PM. Greg Shearer, Professor of Nutrition and Physiology, The Pennsylvania State University

“Do design hypotheses work as guides for scientific inquiry? My personal experience”

3:20 PM. Q&A

3:30 PM. Panel discussion with the speakers

Moderator: John Bloom, Professor of Physics, Biola University

9 responses to “Schedule for the February 4, 2023 Meeting at Biola University, “In Defense of Truth””

  1. Terry Rathman, PhD Avatar

    being in north carolina looks like there is no streaming opportunity. perhaps you are waiting for more responses like this one. the itinerary looks fantastic.

    will be praying for your mtg.

    will pay to per view.

    thanks for the tease. but thanks for the opportunity to say ‘hey’ in a small way.

  2. Mike Van Schoiack Avatar
    Mike Van Schoiack

    I tried to sign up for the Feb. 4th meeting as a non-member, zoom attendee but the application failed due to: Submission has failed due to the unsuccessful ReCaptcha verification.error.

    There was no ReCaptcha field on the application screen.

    Thanks

    1. Richard Jones
      Richard Jones

      Hello Mike,
      The v3 release of ReCaptcha does not ask you to enter any characters from a form, because spam bots have gotten too good at those. Instead it runs in the background on a form and tries to see if you are real. One way I have found to convince it is just to hit Submit twice. Can you verify that this works for you?
      -Richard Jones

      1. Joel Avatar
        Joel

        I had to submit twice, but I noticed some fields needed to be filled out before submitting the 2nd time. Not sure why. The first time the failure reported was an incorrect “security code”.

  3. Joel Avatar
    Joel

    Never got a link. Registered again with a different email address. Still no link.
    *shakes head*
    I tried leaving another comment here yesterday, and I don’t even see it here now.

  4. Joel Avatar
    Joel

    Is there still a way to watch these talks now?

    1. Richard Jones
      Richard Jones

      Hello Joel, yes. If you navigate to Resources -> Session Recordings and click on the link “2023 Annual Meeting” you should be taken to the video recordings website where all of the talks are posted for online viewing. If you are a member, you can bypass the $5 fee for watching any of the talks from your browser. Please get back to me with screenshots if any of this fails to work for you.
      -Richard Jones

  5. Joel Avatar
    Joel

    Is there still a way to watch these talks now?

    1. Richard Jones
      Richard Jones

      Hello Joel, yes. If you navigate to Resources -> Session Recordings and click on the link “2023 Annual Meeting” you should be taken to the video recordings website where all of the talks are posted for online viewing. If you are a member, you can bypass the $5 fee for watching any of the talks from your browser. Please get back to me with screenshots if any of this fails to work for you.
      -Richard Jones

Leave a Reply