Engines of Our Ingenuity Netcasts

"The Engines of Our Ingenuity (EOI) is a radio program that tells the story of how our culture is formed by human creativity. Written and hosted by John Lienhard, it is heard nationally on Public Radio and produced by KUHF-FM Houston."

EOI episodes last about 5 minutes and cover many interesting topics. The website preserves most (if not all) of these episodes as transcripts and audio downloads. I subscribe to the netcast feed to get the latest episodes regularly.

John Lienhard and other occasional guest writers are decidedly evolutionary, atheistic scientists. However, the subjects they cover are far broader than that, including art, writing, politics, and anything else that influences, or is influenced by science. Many of the episodes focus on a person and I enjoy those. Some focus on a principle or theory, other on notable events.

John and his guests are usually good writers and commentators, though they all seem to be very traditional scientists and thus rather close-minded about opposing views. This taints a few of the episodes.

Occasionally, the Engines of Our Ingenuity episodes do flop for me. This usually happens when John strikes out at opposing views, like creationism, or religious influences in our educational system. He has a tendency to belittle "nicely", like many aged academics.

I find John's comments about the beauties of evolution rather enlightening as they are not usually irrefutably pro-evolution. When he sees a beauty in "evolution", I usually find a strong evidence for a shaping, creating God. So I continue to listen to the netcasts and ponder the humorous state of science as a theology for the masses. At the same time, I rejoice in the inquisitive minds that have shaped our lives, the boundless marvels that shape our worlds, and the silly errors and mistakes that shape our minds.