The Law Governed Universe
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Author | : John T. Roberts |
Publisher | : Oxford University Press |
Total Pages | : 420 |
Release | : 2008-11-27 |
Genre | : Philosophy |
ISBN | : 0199557705 |
John T. Roberts presents and defends a radical new theory of laws of nature. His Measurability Account affirms that there is an important sense in which laws govern the universe, rather than simply describing it economically. He argues that what is essential to laws is that they guarantee the reliability of methods of measuring natural quantities.
Author | : John T. Roberts |
Publisher | : OUP Oxford |
Total Pages | : 421 |
Release | : 2008-11-27 |
Genre | : Philosophy |
ISBN | : 0191565318 |
John T. Roberts presents and defends a radically new theory of laws of nature, the Measurability Account. Though consistent with a Humean ontology, Roberts's theory differs sharply from the most influential Humean theory of laws, David Lewis's Best-System Analysis. Unlike other Humean theories, the Measurability Account affirms that there is an important sense in which the laws govern the universe, rather than simply describing it economically. Yet unlike non-Humean theories, it requires only minimal metaphysical commitments. In this way, it combines the advantages of Humean and non-Humean approaches to laws, while avoiding the pitfalls of each. At the heart of the Measurability Account are two new ideas: that lawhood is not a property of facts but rather a role that a proposition can play within a scientific theory, and that what is essential to laws is that they guarantee the reliability of methods of measuring natural quantities. On the basis of these ideas, Roberts argues that we can offer an informative and compelling explanation of why laws have the peculiar counterfactual resilience that sets them apart from accidental uniformities.
Author | : Jayant V. Narlikar |
Publisher | : Courier Corporation |
Total Pages | : 242 |
Release | : 2012-10-16 |
Genre | : Science |
ISBN | : 0486152316 |
Acclaimed by Nature as "excellent and uncompromising," this reader-friendly book explores exploding stars, black holes, and the Big Bang. Clear and lively, it conveys the excitement of modern cosmology. 1982 edition.
Author | : Max Tegmark |
Publisher | : Vintage |
Total Pages | : 434 |
Release | : 2015-02-03 |
Genre | : Science |
ISBN | : 0307744256 |
Max Tegmark leads us on an astonishing journey through past, present and future, and through the physics, astronomy and mathematics that are the foundation of his work, most particularly his hypothesis that our physical reality is a mathematical structure and his theory of the ultimate multiverse. In a dazzling combination of both popular and groundbreaking science, he not only helps us grasp his often mind-boggling theories, but he also shares with us some of the often surprising triumphs and disappointments that have shaped his life as a scientist. Fascinating from first to last—this is a book that has already prompted the attention and admiration of some of the most prominent scientists and mathematicians.
Author | : Martin Goldstein |
Publisher | : Harvard University Press |
Total Pages | : 450 |
Release | : 1995 |
Genre | : Computers |
ISBN | : 9780674753259 |
This book explains the laws of thermodynamics for science buffs and neophytes alike. The authors present the historical development of thermodynamics and show how its laws follow from the atomic theory of matter, then give examples of the laws' applicability to such phenomena as the formation of diamonds from graphite and how blood carries oxygen.
Author | : Adrian Bejan |
Publisher | : Anchor |
Total Pages | : 306 |
Release | : 2013-01-08 |
Genre | : Science |
ISBN | : 0307744345 |
In this groundbreaking book, Adrian Bejan takes the recurring patterns in nature—trees, tributaries, air passages, neural networks, and lightning bolts—and reveals how a single principle of physics, the constructal law, accounts for the evolution of these and many other designs in our world. Everything—from biological life to inanimate systems—generates shape and structure and evolves in a sequence of ever-improving designs in order to facilitate flow. River basins, cardiovascular systems, and bolts of lightning are very efficient flow systems to move a current—of water, blood, or electricity. Likewise, the more complex architecture of animals evolve to cover greater distance per unit of useful energy, or increase their flow across the land. Such designs also appear in human organizations, like the hierarchical “flowcharts” or reporting structures in corporations and political bodies. All are governed by the same principle, known as the constructal law, and configure and reconfigure themselves over time to flow more efficiently. Written in an easy style that achieves clarity without sacrificing complexity, Design in Nature is a paradigm-shifting book that will fundamentally transform our understanding of the world around us.
Author | : Roberto Mangabeira Unger |
Publisher | : Cambridge University Press |
Total Pages | : 567 |
Release | : 2015 |
Genre | : Science |
ISBN | : 1107074061 |
Roberto Mangabeira Unger and Lee Smolin argue for a revolution in our cosmological ideas. Ideal for non-scientists, physicists and cosmologists.
Author | : Bobby Azarian |
Publisher | : BenBella Books |
Total Pages | : 321 |
Release | : 2022-06-28 |
Genre | : Science |
ISBN | : 1637740441 |
Why do we exist? For centuries, this question was the sole province of religion and philosophy. But now science is ready to take a seat at the table. According to the prevailing scientific paradigm, the universe tends toward randomness; it functions according to laws without purpose, and the emergence of life is an accident devoid of meaning. But this bleak interpretation of nature is currently being challenged by cutting-edge findings at the intersection of physics, biology, neuroscience, and information theory—generally referred to as “complexity science.” Thanks to a new understanding of evolution, as well as recent advances in our understanding of the phenomenon known as emergence, a new cosmic narrative is taking shape: Nature’s simplest “parts” come together to form ever-greater “wholes” in a process that has no end in sight. In The Romance of Reality, cognitive neuroscientist Bobby Azarian explains the science behind this new view of reality and explores what it means for all of us. In engaging, accessible prose, Azarian outlines the fundamental misunderstanding of thermodynamics at the heart of the old assumptions about the universe’s evolution, and shows us the evidence that suggests that the universe is a “self-organizing” system, one that is moving toward increasing complexity and awareness. Cosmologist and science communicator Carl Sagan once said of humanity that “we are a way for the cosmos to know itself.” The Romance of Reality shows that this poetic statement in fact rests on a scientific foundation and gives us a new way to know the cosmos, along with a riveting vision of life that imbues existence with meaning—nothing supernatural required.
Author | : Roberto Mangabeira Unger |
Publisher | : Cambridge University Press |
Total Pages | : 567 |
Release | : 2014-12-08 |
Genre | : Science |
ISBN | : 1316123839 |
Cosmology is in crisis. The more we discover, the more puzzling the universe appears to be. How and why are the laws of nature what they are? A philosopher and a physicist, world-renowned for their radical ideas in their fields, argue for a revolution. To keep cosmology scientific, we must replace the old view in which the universe is governed by immutable laws by a new one in which laws evolve. Then we can hope to explain them. The revolution that Roberto Mangabeira Unger and Lee Smolin propose relies on three central ideas. There is only one universe at a time. Time is real: everything in the structure and regularities of nature changes sooner or later. Mathematics, which has trouble with time, is not the oracle of nature and the prophet of science; it is simply a tool with great power and immense limitations. The argument is readily accessible to non-scientists as well as to the physicists and cosmologists whom it challenges.
Author | : Lawrence Maxwell Krauss |
Publisher | : Simon and Schuster |
Total Pages | : 226 |
Release | : 2013 |
Genre | : Science |
ISBN | : 145162445X |
This is a provocative account of the astounding new answers to the most basic philosophical question: Where did the universe come from and how will it end?