Skeptic to Believer: Wikipedia Co-Founder Larry Sanger’s Intellectual Journey

Intelligent Design the Future

Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture

Science, Philosophy, Astronomy, Society & Culture, Life Sciences

4 • 993 Ratings

🗓️ 21 April 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On this ID The Future, Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger joins hosts Andrew McDiarmid and Nathan Jacobson to delve into his personal evolution from longtime skeptical philosopher to belief in God. After falling out of faith in his teens, Sanger became a committed skeptic and agnostic, adhering to the principle of methodological skepticism for decades as he evaluated traditional arguments for the existence of God and found them wanting. And while Sanger was unconvinced by the claims of "new atheists" like Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett, he found himself drawn to the arguments of intelligent design scientists like Stephen Meyer, Michael Behe, and William Dembski. In this first half of a conversation, Sanger recounts his fascinating intellectual journey while unpacking the intelligent design arguments he found most convincing along his journey. This is Part 1 of a two-part interview. Look for Part 2 in a separate episode. Source

Transcript

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0:00.0	ID the Future, a podcast about evolution and intelligent design.
0:14.6	Welcome to ID the Future. I'm Andrew McDermid.
0:17.9	And today I'm sharing the hosting mic with Nathan Jacobson, our director of media and brand at Discovery Institute.
0:24.8	Well, we're excited to sit down today with Larry Sanger, best known for his role in co-founding Wikipedia.
0:31.7	Sanger has developed a number of educational and reference sites over the years, and he's currently president of the Knowledge Standards
0:37.9	Foundation, a non-profit defining tech standards for encyclopedias. Sanger is also a long-time philosopher,
0:45.6	with a PhD in philosophy from Ohio State University. Larry, welcome to ID the Future.
0:52.0	Hi, well, it's good to join you.
0:56.1	Well, we do have a lot to talk about.
1:01.9	You've recently written about your journey as a skeptical philosopher and your decision to return to Christianity.
1:08.7	We want to unpack that intellectual journey with you and just how the arguments of intelligent design have played a role in it.
1:10.9	We also want to talk to you about Wikipedia,
1:16.1	your foundational work on the well-known site, as well as the challenges that Wikipedia has had,
1:22.2	and still has, in presenting information about important or controversial ideas accurately and fairly, something we in the intelligent design research community know a thing or two about.
1:30.3	So, Nate, take it away. Yes, I intend to focus a little bit more on some of your technological interests and your work at the Knowledge Standards Foundation,
1:38.3	your effort to make sure that we can decentralize and keep access to the world's knowledge and wisdom available for future generations.
1:47.0	You presented at a Cosm Conference by Discovery Institute this last year and was very intrigued by that talk.
1:55.0	So I'm excited to unpack some of your thoughts on that front.
1:58.0	Yeah. Well, let's jump right into it. Larry, you were born in
2:02.4	our neck of the woods, Bellevue, Washington, not far from Seattle, where Discovery Institute is
2:07.5	headquartered. At age seven, your family moved to Anchorage, Alaska. Tell us a bit about your early
2:13.3	years, your parents, and what inspired your love of philosophy?
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