Center on Human Exceptionalism

The mission of Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism is to affirm and uphold the intrinsic nature of human dignity, liberty, and equality. In resistance to a growing movement against unique human personhood, we aim to revitalize a commitment to the traditional Western view of human rights and human responsibilities — summed up by the term “human exceptionalism.” Read more

Humanize

Mayor Warren Wilson on Environmentalists Caring More About Birds Than the Lives of King Cove Residents

Warren Wilson
September 20, 2026
3
King Cove is a remote town in the Aleutian Islands, adjacent to the 300,000-acre Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. In 1980, the refuge was designated a wilderness area. That caused a severe problem for the people of King Cove. The nearest full-service hospital is in Anchorage, 900 miles away. The town does not have an all-weather airport. This means that people needing lifesaving care may not be able to access it during inclement weather. A town 20 miles away called Cold Bay does have an all-weather airport from which sick and injured people could be flown for medical help in bad weather — if they could only get there. So, the people of King Cove sought permission to cut a gravel road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge to Cold Bay. They even offered a land swap that …

Push On to Grant “Rights” to Arctic Sea Ice

Wesley J. Smith
September 19, 2026
6
Nature and Conservation

Italian Doctors Under Threat of Criminal Prosecution for Refusing Participation in Assisted Suicide

Wesley J. Smith
September 18, 2026
4
Conscience

Real Hope for Ethical Way to Reduce Wait for Organs

Wesley J. Smith
September 17, 2026
2
Health Care

Should Scientists Decide Policies About Wealth Inequality?

Wesley J. Smith
September 13, 2026
4
Technocracy

Wesley J. Smith Speaks with Janet Parshall About Suicide Prevention Hypocrisy

Editor
September 11, 2026
1
Euthanasia

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Podcast

Mayor Warren Wilson on Environmentalists Caring More About Birds Than the Lives of King Cove Residents

1
Warren Wilson
September 20, 2026
King Cove is a remote town in the Aleutian Islands, adjacent to the 300,000-acre Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. In 1980, the refuge was designated a wilderness area. That caused a severe problem for the people of King Cove. The nearest full-service hospital is in Anchorage, 900 miles away. The town does not have an all-weather airport. This means that people needing lifesaving care may not be able to access it during inclement weather. A town 20 miles away called Cold Bay does have an all-weather airport from which sick and injured people could be flown for medical help in bad weather — if they could only get there. So, the people of King Cove sought permission to cut a gravel road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge to Cold Bay. They even offered a land swap that …

Robert J. Marks II on the Benefits and Potential Perils of Artificial Intelligence

16
Robert J. Marks II
August 10, 2026
We are in the age of artificial intelligence. But what does that mean for the human future? Some claim that AI is merely a very sophisticated tool that will lead to stunning societal improvements such as miraculous medical breakthroughs, greater economic efficiency, and an exponential increase in human knowledge. But others worry that an out-of-human-control AI could destroy liberty, create immeasurable societal destruction, and perhaps, even unleash a technological Armageddon that brings about the end of the human race. Which is it? Or are both potential possibilities? To sort it all out for us, on this special summer edition of Humanize, Wesley asked Discovery Institute’s Robert J. Marks II to return for his third appearance. An electrical engineer by education and …

Stephen C. Meyer on “The Story of Everything”

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Stephen C. Meyer
June 15, 2026
In 50 BC, the great Roman statesman Cicero expressed a thought that has been echoed by thinkers down the generations: “The celestial order and beauty of the universe compel me to admit that there is some excellent and eternal Being who deserves the respect and homage of men.” But in our own day, the evolutionary biologist and atheism proselytizer Richard Dawkins has claimed, “The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.” Dawkins believes that complex life and the cosmos arose through gradual, evolutionary mechanisms, not through any influence of a creator or purposeful creation. But which worldview does the scientific evidence …

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