Randomness, Statistics, and Emergence (2nd edition)

Randomness, Statistics, and Emergence (2nd edition) PDF Author: Philip McShane
Publisher: Axial Publishing
ISBN: 1988457084
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
In Randomness, Statistics, and Emergence, McShane illustrates how classical and statistical procedures complement one another. One of the conclusions he draws in Randomness is that emergence and evolution are explained in terms of probabilities of emergence and probabilities of survival of recurrence-schemes. To arrive at a principle of emergence, McShane focuses on actual procedures of empirical investigators and the type of explanation they seek. Those doing the relevant sciences—biophysics and biochemistry are his focus in the last four chapters—can verify objective randomness and emergence by attending to their performance. McShane also makes beginnings in heuristics of biological and scientific growth and development. The first edition of this book was first published in 1970. The second edition includes a second preface, “The Riverrun to God,” written by McShane in the fall of 2012. It also includes an editor’s introduction written by Terrance Quinn, author of Invitation to Generalized Empirical Method in Philosophy and Science and The (Pre-) Dawning of Functional Specialization in Physics.

Randomness, Statistics, and Emergence (2nd edition)

Randomness, Statistics, and Emergence (2nd edition) PDF Author: Philip McShane
Publisher: Axial Publishing
ISBN: 1988457084
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
In Randomness, Statistics, and Emergence, McShane illustrates how classical and statistical procedures complement one another. One of the conclusions he draws in Randomness is that emergence and evolution are explained in terms of probabilities of emergence and probabilities of survival of recurrence-schemes. To arrive at a principle of emergence, McShane focuses on actual procedures of empirical investigators and the type of explanation they seek. Those doing the relevant sciences—biophysics and biochemistry are his focus in the last four chapters—can verify objective randomness and emergence by attending to their performance. McShane also makes beginnings in heuristics of biological and scientific growth and development. The first edition of this book was first published in 1970. The second edition includes a second preface, “The Riverrun to God,” written by McShane in the fall of 2012. It also includes an editor’s introduction written by Terrance Quinn, author of Invitation to Generalized Empirical Method in Philosophy and Science and The (Pre-) Dawning of Functional Specialization in Physics.

Seeding the Positive Anthropocene

Seeding the Positive Anthropocene PDF Author: Philip McShane
Publisher: Axial Publishing
ISBN: 1988457106
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 191

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Book Description
There is a growing interest in the character and the challenge of the Anthropocene. Although efforts to pin down beginning dates of this epoch have been debated, there is a broad consensus that humanity is facing an unprecedented challenge to surviving on Earth, a challenge which humans have created ourselves. Undeniably, we have had and continue to have impacts on the planet as a whole. These include ravaging bushfires and unprecedented flooding caused by climate change, spiking levels of carbon dioxide levels, and widespread loss of biodiversity. The challenge has been expressed in various ways: the larger challenges of climate change or ocean garbage toxicity, the subtler challenges that would support such large efforts by cultivating a new aesthetic. The present book asks of us to reach for the deeper grounding of all such efforts. Perhaps that asking is best hinted at by pluralizing the word character in a paradoxical non-question: “What is to be the 'character' of the characters transforming the Anthropocene from its present negativity to a positive period of human flourishing.” What is missing, what we are in the dark about, is the apparently simple turn that would have us asking, “What’s what?” The focus must be concrete: so we are to think of miners and farmers and reformers and economists and educators, but primarily of ourselves as whats. Might we begin the positive Anthropocene’s success by beginning to sow what comprehendingly?

Interpretation from A to Z

Interpretation from A to Z PDF Author: Philip McShane
Publisher: Axial Publishing
ISBN: 1988457068
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
McShane's broad interest is in finding a full effective cultural basis of a future humanity. In The Future: Core Precepts in Supramolecular Method and Nanochemistry (2019), he expressed what he considers the effective road forward. The present book enlarges on that reach. The effective road involves a clear operative distinction between the negative Anthropocene, in which we presently live shabbily and destructively, and the positive Anthropocene towards which we must work slowly and democratically, against empires of idiocy, by tuning into the chemistry of our desires. This little book moves along with many twists and turns, but it is also a straightforward help to begin to read properly the two main treatments by Lonergan of the topic of Interpretation: Section 3 of chapter 17 of Insight, and chapter 7 of Method in Theology.

Fooled by Randomness

Fooled by Randomness PDF Author: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1588367673
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
Fooled by Randomness is a standalone book in Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s landmark Incerto series, an investigation of opacity, luck, uncertainty, probability, human error, risk, and decision-making in a world we don’t understand. The other books in the series are The Black Swan, Antifragile, Skin in the Game, and The Bed of Procrustes. Fooled by Randomness is the word-of-mouth sensation that will change the way you think about business and the world. Nassim Nicholas Taleb–veteran trader, renowned risk expert, polymathic scholar, erudite raconteur, and New York Times bestselling author of The Black Swan–has written a modern classic that turns on its head what we believe about luck and skill. This book is about luck–or more precisely, about how we perceive and deal with luck in life and business. Set against the backdrop of the most conspicuous forum in which luck is mistaken for skill–the world of trading–Fooled by Randomness provides captivating insight into one of the least understood factors in all our lives. Writing in an entertaining narrative style, the author tackles major intellectual issues related to the underestimation of the influence of happenstance on our lives. The book is populated with an array of characters, some of whom have grasped, in their own way, the significance of chance: the baseball legend Yogi Berra; the philosopher of knowledge Karl Popper; the ancient world’s wisest man, Solon; the modern financier George Soros; and the Greek voyager Odysseus. We also meet the fictional Nero, who seems to understand the role of randomness in his professional life but falls victim to his own superstitious foolishness. However, the most recognizable character of all remains unnamed–the lucky fool who happens to be in the right place at the right time–he embodies the “survival of the least fit.” Such individuals attract devoted followers who believe in their guru’s insights and methods. But no one can replicate what is obtained by chance. Are we capable of distinguishing the fortunate charlatan from the genuine visionary? Must we always try to uncover nonexistent messages in random events? It may be impossible to guard ourselves against the vagaries of the goddess Fortuna, but after reading Fooled by Randomness we can be a little better prepared. Named by Fortune One of the Smartest Books of All Time A Financial Times Best Business Book of the Year

The Joy of Stats

The Joy of Stats PDF Author: Roberta Garner
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1487527314
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 462

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Book Description
The Joy of Stats offers a reader-friendly introduction to applied statistics and quantitative analysis in the social sciences and public policy. Perfect as an undergraduate text or self-study manual, it emphasizes how to understand concepts, interpret algorithms and formulas, analyze data, and answer research questions. This brand new edition offers examples and visualizations using real-life data, a revised discussion of statistical inference, and introductory examples in R and SPSS. The third edition has been extensively reorganized with shorter chapters and closer links between concepts and formulas, while retaining useful pedagogical features including key terms, practice exercises, a math refresher, and playful inserts on "the mathematical imagination." The Joy of Stats also places a strong emphasis on learning how to write and speak clearly about data results. Supported by a companion website with data sets and additional resources, The Joy of Stats is a superb choice for introducing students to applied statistics and for refreshing and reviewing stats as a social scientist, public policy professional, or community activist.

Foundations of Complex Systems

Foundations of Complex Systems PDF Author: Gregoire Nicolis
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9814458163
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
This book provides a self-contained presentation of the physical and mathematical laws governing complex systems. Complex systems arising in natural, engineering, environmental, life and social sciences are approached from a unifying point of view using an array of methodologies such as microscopic and macroscopic level formulations, deterministic and probabilistic tools, modeling and simulation. The book can be used as a textbook by graduate students, researchers and teachers in science, as well as non-experts who wish to have an overview of one of the most open, markedly interdisciplinary and fast-growing branches of present-day science. Contents:The Phenomenology of Complex Systems:Complexity, a New ParadigmSignatures of ComplexityOnset of ComplexityFour Case StudiesSumming UpDeterministic View:Dynamical Systems, Phase Space, StabilityLevels of DescriptionNormal FormsThe Limit of UniversalityDeterministic ChaosEmergenceCoupling-Induced ComplexityModeling Complexity Beyond Physical ScienceProbabilistic Description:Need for a Probabilistic ApproachProbability Distributions and Their Evolution LawsThe Retrieval of UniversalityComplexity in the Probabilistic DescriptionEmergence RevisitedTransitions Between StatesSimulating Complex SystemsDisorder-Generated ComplexityComplexity, Entropy and Information:Information EntropyDynamical EntropiesInformation Entropy ProductionLarge Deviations, Fluctuation Theorems and the Probabilistic Properties of Time SequencesAlgorithmic Complexity and ComputationDynamical Systems as Information Sources: Scaling Rules and SelectionFurther Information MeasuresSumming UpPrediction:Communicating with a Complex SystemClassical Approaches and Their LimitationsNonlinear Data AnalysisThe Monitoring of Complex FieldsThe Predictability HorizonRecurrenceExtreme EventsSelected Topics:The Arrow of TimeNanosystemsAtmospheric DynamicsClimate DynamicsNetworksPerspectives on Biological ComplexityEquilibrium Versus Nonequilibrium in Complexity and Self-OrganizationEpistemological Insights from Complex SystemsOutlook. The Future of Complexity Readership: Graduate students, researchers, academics and professionals interested in nonlinear science. Keywords:Nonlinear Dynamics;Chaos;Self-Organization;Emergence;Probability and Information;Predictability;Non-Equilibrium Systems;Irreversibility;Systems BiologyKey Features:A unique vision highlighting complexity as part of fundamental science and a clear, unifying presentation of the concepts and tools needed to analyze complex systemsIllustrates the interdisciplinary dimension of complexity research through representative examples pertaining to problems of current concernNew edition, including a large collection of exercises and problems with hints for solution and an updated survey of the literatureReviews: “The book can be used as a textbook by graduate students, researchers and teachers in science, as well as non-experts who wish to have an overview of the field.” Zentralblatt MATH

Transforming Conflict through Insight

Transforming Conflict through Insight PDF Author: Kenneth R Melchin
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1442691352
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 169

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Book Description
Examining the difficulties of conflict resolution, Transforming Conflict through Insight demonstrates how applying Bernard Lonergan's philosophy of insight to mediation can lead to more productive and constructive negotiations. Kenneth R. Melchin and Cheryl A. Picard provide both an overview of conflict research and an introduction to Lonergan's "insight theory," offering an outstanding piece of ethical philosophy and a useful method of mediation. Introducing readers to a method of self-discovery, the different kinds of operations involved in learning, and the role of feelings and values in shaping interactions with others in conflict, this volume also includes the practical experience of mediators who detail strategies of insight mediation for working creatively through conflict. Attending to the important role played by transformative learning in navigating conflicts, the authors show how insights and learning can move people past obstacles caused by feelings of threat. Informative, compassionate, and convincing, Transforming Conflict through Insight is a welcome resource for working to resolve difficulties in an ethical and educational manner.

Proceedings of the 1972 Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association

Proceedings of the 1972 Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association PDF Author: Philosophy of Science Association
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9789027704092
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 472

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Book Description


Bernard Lonergan

Bernard Lonergan PDF Author: Pierrot Lambert
Publisher: Axial Publishing
ISBN: 0978094530
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
Recounts the startling reach of Bernard Lonergan (1904-1984) in areas as diverse as pragmatic self-knowledge, mathematical logic and metalogic, economics, and systematic theology. The final chapters highlight the importance of physics in his magnum opus Insight as well as his breakthrough identification of a practical theory of history.

The Emergence of Life on Earth

The Emergence of Life on Earth PDF Author: Iris Fry
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 9780813527406
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
How did life emerge on Earth? Is there life on other worlds? These questions, until recently confined to the pages of speculative essays and tabloid headlines, are now the subject of legitimate scientific research. This book presents a unique perspective--a combined historical, scientific, and philosophical analysis, which does justice to the complex nature of the subject. The book's first part offers an overview of the main ideas on the origin of life as they developed from antiquity until the twentieth century. The second, more detailed part of the book examines contemporary theories and major debates within the origin-of-life scientific community. Topics include: Aristotle and the Greek atomists' conceptions of the organism Alexander Oparin and J.B.S. Haldane's 1920s breakthrough papers Possible life on Mars?