Putting Ourselves Back in the Equation

Putting Ourselves Back in the Equation PDF Author: George Musser
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0861547209
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Distant galaxies, dark matter, black holes – elusive, incomprehensible and inhospitable – these are the building blocks of modern physics. But where do we fit in this picture? For centuries, we have separated mind from matter. While physicists have pursued a theory of ‘everything’ with single-minded purpose, the matter of the mind, of human consciousness, has been conveniently sidestepped and ignored – consigned to priests, philosophers and poets. With the ambition of Stephen Hawking, Carlo Rovelli and Brian Cox, Putting Ourselves Back in the Equation sets out a bold new vision for theoretical physics, unrestricted by sleek equations and neat formulations. Combining cutting-edge neuroscience with the latest in quantum mechanics, acclaimed writer Musser offers a new interpretation of human consciousness. From bizarre cognitive phenomena, like lucid dreaming and self-taught synaesthesia, to the latest technological developments in AI, Musser asks: what can physics teach us about what it means to be human?

Putting Ourselves Back in the Equation

Putting Ourselves Back in the Equation PDF Author: George Musser
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0861547209
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Get Book Here

Book Description
Distant galaxies, dark matter, black holes – elusive, incomprehensible and inhospitable – these are the building blocks of modern physics. But where do we fit in this picture? For centuries, we have separated mind from matter. While physicists have pursued a theory of ‘everything’ with single-minded purpose, the matter of the mind, of human consciousness, has been conveniently sidestepped and ignored – consigned to priests, philosophers and poets. With the ambition of Stephen Hawking, Carlo Rovelli and Brian Cox, Putting Ourselves Back in the Equation sets out a bold new vision for theoretical physics, unrestricted by sleek equations and neat formulations. Combining cutting-edge neuroscience with the latest in quantum mechanics, acclaimed writer Musser offers a new interpretation of human consciousness. From bizarre cognitive phenomena, like lucid dreaming and self-taught synaesthesia, to the latest technological developments in AI, Musser asks: what can physics teach us about what it means to be human?

Spooky Action at a Distance

Spooky Action at a Distance PDF Author: George Musser
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0374298513
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
Long-listed for the 2016 PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award "An important book that provides insight into key new developments in our understanding of the nature of space, time and the universe. It will repay careful study." --John Gribbin, The Wall Street Journal "An endlessly surprising foray into the current mother of physics' many knotty mysteries, the solving of which may unveil the weirdness of quantum particles, black holes, and the essential unity of nature." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) What is space? It isn't a question that most of us normally ask. Space is the venue of physics; it's where things exist, where they move and take shape. Yet over the past few decades, physicists have discovered a phenomenon that operates outside the confines of space and time: nonlocality-the ability of two particles to act in harmony no matter how far apart they may be. It appears to be almost magical. Einstein grappled with this oddity and couldn't come to terms with it, describing it as "spooky action at a distance." More recently, the mystery has deepened as other forms of nonlocality have been uncovered. This strange occurrence, which has direct connections to black holes, particle collisions, and even the workings of gravity, holds the potential to undermine our most basic understandings of physical reality. If space isn't what we thought it was, then what is it? In Spooky Action at a Distance, George Musser sets out to answer that question, offering a provocative exploration of nonlocality and a celebration of the scientists who are trying to explain it. Musser guides us on an epic journey into the lives of experimental physicists observing particles acting in tandem, astronomers finding galaxies that look statistically identical, and cosmologists hoping to unravel the paradoxes surrounding the big bang. He traces the often contentious debates over nonlocality through major discoveries and disruptions of the twentieth century and shows how scientists faced with the same undisputed experimental evidence develop wildly different explanations for that evidence. Their conclusions challenge our understanding of not only space and time but also the origins of the universe-and they suggest a new grand unified theory of physics. Delightfully readable, Spooky Action at a Distance is a mind-bending voyage to the frontiers of modern physics that will change the way we think about reality.

The Observer and the Observed

The Observer and the Observed PDF Author: Chris Steed
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1666736627
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
This book approaches the God-question in a different way than normal: from the perspective of psychotherapy. In a world of machine intelligence, the key idea is an analogy of being between human personhood and divine personhood as the only satisfactory way of showing that our inner conscious awareness (nourished by the validation of the self) is responded to in ultimate terms. It aims to extrapolate “from below,” from our psychological experience to asking ultimate questions, drawing lines between: •Observation in quantum physics •The maternal gaze •Recognition in social worlds that confer perception in place of invisibility •The power of inter-subjectivity in relational neurobiology and therapy What has to be accounted for is our sense of personhood and how that fits in with a cosmos that is at best neutral. The metaphor of a “wifi” universe is proposed but rather than a soulless device being switched on, how a human psyche comes to a sense of consciousness of its own value is the issue here. A personal God is the best explanation for the evidence of how our personhood and subject status requires correspondence. As engaging with a neutral AI entity is bound to be “soulless,” the first-person perspective requires an I-thou relationship. A universe constructed from “nature” by itself or one where the ultimate is impersonal energy just does not cut it or respond adequately to what is inside us. This book offers an account of how the realm described by physics and our inner world can tie up—perhaps the only way they can!

Principles Of Newtonian And Quantum Mechanics, The: The Need For Planck's Constant, H (Second Edition)

Principles Of Newtonian And Quantum Mechanics, The: The Need For Planck's Constant, H (Second Edition) PDF Author: Maurice A De Gosson
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9813200987
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 423

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Book Description
The second edition of this book deals, as the first, with the foundations of classical physics from the 'symplectic' point of view, and of quantum mechanics from the 'metaplectic' point of view. We have revised and augmented the topics studied in the first edition in the light of new results, and added several new sections. The Bohmian interpretation of quantum mechanics is discussed in detail. Phase space quantization is achieved using the 'principle of the symplectic camel', which is a deep topological property of Hamiltonian flows. We introduce the notion of 'quantum blob', which can be viewed as the fundamental phase space unit. The mathematical tools developed in this book are the theory of the symplectic and metaplectic group, the Maslov index in a rigorous form, and the Leray index of a pair of Lagrangian planes. The concept of the 'metatron' is introduced, in connection with the Bohmian theory of motion. The short-time behavior of the propagator is studied and applied to the quantum Zeno effect.

Light of the Mind, Light of the World

Light of the Mind, Light of the World PDF Author: Spencer Klavan
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1510783261
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
The world is not a machine. Humanity is not a mistake. For centuries, a grim anti-human outlook has taken hold of the public imagination, teaching us all to view ourselves as random products of a cruel and uncaring natural world. Today, from apocalyptic environmentalism to twisted eugenics and dystopian bionic augmentation, movements are rising around the world to dispense with humanity or subordinate it to a pitiless mechanical logic. For many, it has come to seem as if the human spirit is obsolete, religious faith is illusory, and mankind is destined to be extinguished or surpassed. Some might even see the end of humanity as a good thing. But that is not our future. Light of the Mind, Light of the World tells a daring new story about how we got here, and how we can chart a better path forward. Surveying the history of science and faith from the astronomers of Babylon to the quantum physicists of postwar Europe and America, classicist and scholar Spencer A. Klavan argues that science itself is leading us not away from God but back to him, and to the ancient faith that places the human soul at the center of the universe. Reconciling the discoveries of science with the truths of the Bible, Klavan shows how the search for knowledge of the natural world can help illuminate the glories of its Creator, and how the latest developments in physics can help shatter the illusion of materialism.

Irrational mechanics

Irrational mechanics PDF Author: Giulio Prisco
Publisher: Giulio Prisco
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
Irrational mechanics is defined as a futurist science that will eventually open the door to faster than light travel, time travel, psychic engineering, God-like abilities, and the resurrection of the dead. This is not a scientific theory of irrational mechanics, but a narrative sketch that tries to communicate the flavor of what a futurist science of irrational mechanics could be. Irrational mechanics will eventually become the foundation of a new religion, one that is inspired by science instead of revelation, but is still able to offer all the comforts of traditional religion. Yes, the universe is striving toward a purpose, and we are part of that purpose. Yes, the cosmic operating system has the attributes that traditional religions have assigned to their God(s). Yes, you’ll live again after death with your loved ones.

Media Arts Education

Media Arts Education PDF Author: Dain Olsen
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040122655
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 205

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Book Description
This book introduces and explains the emergent and dynamic discipline of media arts education. Through an examination of its theoretical principles, holistic pedagogy, adaptive instructional practices, and diverse creative capacities, it demonstrates how media arts education can lead to a more student-centered, interdisciplinary, and effective educational model. Chapters combine academic research and practical examples to give an in-depth understanding of media arts education as it exists within schools today, as well as its potential for educational advancement. Author Dain Olsen provides an instructional framework for the discipline, including its history, research from cognitive and learning science, pedagogical principles, and examples of instructional practice. The book discusses how media arts education promotes active, multimodal and inquiry-based learning, constructivist methodology, and transdisciplinary integrations. Media arts affords students the ability to construct and simulate anything imaginable, supporting their self-directed creative inquiry. Later chapters include examples of media arts educator practices with lesson descriptions, project sequences, and instructional narratives. The book argues that media arts education can form a multimodal, interconnective, and adaptive educational system that is more empowering, engaging, flexible, and equitable for all students’ academic success. This resource is an essential companion for media arts educators at all levels. As it covers integration across a variety of contexts, it will additionally benefit educators in the fields of visual arts, career technical education, media studies, computer science, and STEM and STEAM education.

Nazorean

Nazorean PDF Author: Kem Luther
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 311

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Book Description
A swirl of Jewish sectarian movements muddied the religious waters during the late Second Temple period. In recent decades, scholars of the Bible have struggled to understand the role these sects played in the rise and spread of the Jesus movement. Nazorean joins this wave of sectarian scholarship. In this book, Kem Luther sketches the history of a wisdom-oriented sect that gave birth to the Christian church. Weaving a series of what the philosopher and historian R. G. Collingwood called "webs of imaginative construction," he provides a provocative and plausible story about a wisdom sect--the Nazoreans--that shaped the career and teachings of John the Baptist and Jesus. To support his scenario, Luther offers sectarian readings of passages from the Gospels of Matthew and John, the Epistle of James, Acts, the Wisdom of Solomon, and the Psalms of Solomon. He links his developing awareness of the sectarian context of these documents to his own trek through a landscape of post-1960 American religion. The candid account of Luther's own journey through a naive modernism, his immersion in evangelical subculture at a Bible school, and his postgraduate studies in mysticism and philosophy makes a fascinating complement to his textual studies.

R.U.R. and the Vision of Artificial Life

R.U.R. and the Vision of Artificial Life PDF Author: Karel Capek
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262371898
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
A new translation of Karel Čapek’s play R.U.R.—which famously coined the term “robot”—and a collection of essays reflecting on the play’s legacy from scientists and scholars who work in artificial life and robotics. Karel Čapek's “R.U.R.” and the Vision of Artificial Life offers a new, highly faithful translation by Štěpán Šimek of Czech novelist, playwright, and critic Karel Čapek’s play R.U.R.: Rossum’s Universal Robots, as well as twenty essays from contemporary writers on the 1920 play. R.U.R. is perhaps best known for first coining the term “robot” (in Czech, robota means serfdom or arduous drudgery). The twenty essays in this new English edition, beautifully edited by Jitka Čejková, are selected from Robot 100, an edited collection in Czech with perspectives from 100 contemporary voices that was published in 2020 to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the play. Čapek’s robots were autonomous beings, but biological, not mechanical, made of chemically synthesized soft matter resembling living tissue, like the synthetic humans in Blade Runner, Westworld, or Ex Machina. The contributors to the collection—scientists and other scholars—explore the legacy of the play and its connections to the current state of research in artificial life, or ALife. Throughout the book, it is impossible to ignore Čapek’s prescience, as his century-old science fiction play raises contemporary questions with respect to robotics, synthetic biology, technology, artificial life, and artificial intelligence, anticipating many of the formidable challenges we face today. Contributors Jitka Čejková, Miguel Aguilera, Iñigo R. Arandia, Josh Bongard, Julyan Cartwright, Seth Bullock, Dominique Chen, Gusz Eiben, Tom Froese, Carlos Gershenson, Inman Harvey, Jana Horáková, Takashi Ikegami, Sina Khajehabdollahi, George Musser, Geoff Nitschke, Julie Nováková, Antoine Pasquali, Hemma Philamore, Lana Sinapayen, Hiroki Sayama, Nathaniel Virgo, Olaf Witkowski

Gateway to the Epicureans

Gateway to the Epicureans PDF Author: Epicurus
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1684515645
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 136

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Book Description
The Greek Philosopher behind Nearly Every Bad Idea