Denton gained a medical degree from Bristol University in 1969 and a PhD in biochemistry from King's College London in 1974. He was a senior research fellow in the Biochemistry Department at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand from 1990 to 2005. He later became a scientific researcher in the field of genetic eye diseases. He has spoken worldwide on genetics, evolution and the anthropic argument for design. Denton's current interests include defending the "anti-Darwinian evolutionary position" and the design hypothesis formulated in his book Nature’s Destiny.^[2] Denton described himself as an agnostic.^[3][4][5] He is currently a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture.

Evolution: A Theory in Crisis edit

In 1985 Denton wrote the book Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, presenting a systematic critique of neo-Darwinism ranging from paleontology, fossils, homology, molecular biology, genetics and biochemistry, and argued that evidence of design exists in nature. Some book reviews criticized his arguments.^[6] He describes himself as an evolutionist and he has rejected biblical creationism.^[7] The book influenced Phillip E. Johnson, the father of intelligent design, Michael Behe, a proponent of irreducible complexity,^[8] and George Gilder, co-founder of the Discovery Institute, the hub of the intelligent design movement.^[9] Since writing the book Denton has changed many of his views on evolution; however, he still believes that the existence of life is a matter of design.^[10]

Nature's Destiny edit

Denton still accepts design and embraces a non-Darwinian evolutionary theory. He denies that randomness accounts for the biology of organisms; he has proposed an evolutionary theory which is a "directed evolution" in his book Nature's Destiny (1998). Life, according to Denton, did not exist until the initial conditions of the universe were fine-tuned (see Fine-tuned universe).^[11] Denton was influenced by Lawrence Joseph Henderson (1878-1942), Paul Davies and John D. Barrow who argued for an anthropic principle in the cosmos (Denton 1998, v, Denton 2005). His second book Nature's Destiny (1998)^[12] is his biological contribution to the anthropic principle debate, dominated by physicists. He argues for a law-like evolutionary unfolding of life.^[13]

• Evolution: A Theory in Crisis. Adler & Adler, 1985. ISBN 0-917561-52-X
• Nature's Destiny: How the Laws of Biology Reveal Purpose in the Universe, New York: Free Press, 1998. ISBN 0-7432-3762-5
• Evolution: Still a Theory in Crisis. Seattle, Washington: Discovery Institute, 2016. Paperback: ISBN 978-1936599325

• Are We Spiritual Machines? Ray Kurzweil Vs. the Critics of Strong A.I. with an essay by Michael Denton
• Denton's Genetic-Medicine Work at University of Sindh^{[permanent dead link]}