At Home In The Universe
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At Home In The Universe
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Author : Stuart Kauffman
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Release Date : 1996-11-21
At Home In The Universe written by Stuart Kauffman and has been published by Oxford University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 1996-11-21 with Science categories.
A major scientific revolution has begun, a new paradigm that rivals Darwin's theory in importance. At its heart is the discovery of the order that lies deep within the most complex of systems, from the origin of life, to the workings of giant corporations, to the rise and fall of great civilizations. And more than anyone else, this revolution is the work of one man, Stuart Kauffman, a MacArthur Fellow and visionary pioneer of the new science of complexity. Now, in At Home in the Universe, Kauffman brilliantly weaves together the excitement of intellectual discovery and a fertile mix of insights to give the general reader a fascinating look at this new science--and at the forces for order that lie at the edge of chaos. We all know of instances of spontaneous order in nature--an oil droplet in water forms a sphere, snowflakes have a six-fold symmetry. What we are only now discovering, Kauffman says, is that the range of spontaneous order is enormously greater than we had supposed. Indeed, self-organization is a great undiscovered principle of nature. But how does this spontaneous order arise? Kauffman contends that complexity itself triggers self-organization, or what he calls "order for free," that if enough different molecules pass a certain threshold of complexity, they begin to self-organize into a new entity--a living cell. Kauffman uses the analogy of a thousand buttons on a rug--join two buttons randomly with thread, then another two, and so on. At first, you have isolated pairs; later, small clusters; but suddenly at around the 500th repetition, a remarkable transformation occurs--much like the phase transition when water abruptly turns to ice--and the buttons link up in one giant network. Likewise, life may have originated when the mix of different molecules in the primordial soup passed a certain level of complexity and self-organized into living entities (if so, then life is not a highly improbable chance event, but almost inevitable). Kauffman uses the basic insight of "order for free" to illuminate a staggering range of phenomena. We see how a single-celled embryo can grow to a highly complex organism with over two hundred different cell types. We learn how the science of complexity extends Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection: that self-organization, selection, and chance are the engines of the biosphere. And we gain insights into biotechnology, the stunning magic of the new frontier of genetic engineering--generating trillions of novel molecules to find new drugs, vaccines, enzymes, biosensors, and more. Indeed, Kauffman shows that ecosystems, economic systems, and even cultural systems may all evolve according to similar general laws, that tissues and terra cotta evolve in similar ways. And finally, there is a profoundly spiritual element to Kauffman's thought. If, as he argues, life were bound to arise, not as an incalculably improbable accident, but as an expected fulfillment of the natural order, then we truly are at home in the universe. Kauffman's earlier volume, The Origins of Order, written for specialists, received lavish praise. Stephen Jay Gould called it "a landmark and a classic." And Nobel Laureate Philip Anderson wrote that "there are few people in this world who ever ask the right questions of science, and they are the ones who affect its future most profoundly. Stuart Kauffman is one of these." In At Home in the Universe, this visionary thinker takes you along as he explores new insights into the nature of life.
At Home In The Universe
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Author : Stuart Kauffman
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Release Date : 1996-11-21
At Home In The Universe written by Stuart Kauffman and has been published by Oxford University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 1996-11-21 with Science categories.
A major scientific revolution has begun, a new paradigm that rivals Darwin's theory in importance. At its heart is the discovery of the order that lies deep within the most complex of systems, from the origin of life, to the workings of giant corporations, to the rise and fall of great civilizations. And more than anyone else, this revolution is the work of one man, Stuart Kauffman, a MacArthur Fellow and visionary pioneer of the new science of complexity. Now, in At Home in the Universe, Kauffman brilliantly weaves together the excitement of intellectual discovery and a fertile mix of insights to give the general reader a fascinating look at this new science--and at the forces for order that lie at the edge of chaos. We all know of instances of spontaneous order in nature--an oil droplet in water forms a sphere, snowflakes have a six-fold symmetry. What we are only now discovering, Kauffman says, is that the range of spontaneous order is enormously greater than we had supposed. Indeed, self-organization is a great undiscovered principle of nature. But how does this spontaneous order arise? Kauffman contends that complexity itself triggers self-organization, or what he calls "order for free," that if enough different molecules pass a certain threshold of complexity, they begin to self-organize into a new entity--a living cell. Kauffman uses the analogy of a thousand buttons on a rug--join two buttons randomly with thread, then another two, and so on. At first, you have isolated pairs; later, small clusters; but suddenly at around the 500th repetition, a remarkable transformation occurs--much like the phase transition when water abruptly turns to ice--and the buttons link up in one giant network. Likewise, life may have originated when the mix of different molecules in the primordial soup passed a certain level of complexity and self-organized into living entities (if so, then life is not a highly improbable chance event, but almost inevitable). Kauffman uses the basic insight of "order for free" to illuminate a staggering range of phenomena. We see how a single-celled embryo can grow to a highly complex organism with over two hundred different cell types. We learn how the science of complexity extends Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection: that self-organization, selection, and chance are the engines of the biosphere. And we gain insights into biotechnology, the stunning magic of the new frontier of genetic engineering--generating trillions of novel molecules to find new drugs, vaccines, enzymes, biosensors, and more. Indeed, Kauffman shows that ecosystems, economic systems, and even cultural systems may all evolve according to similar general laws, that tissues and terra cotta evolve in similar ways. And finally, there is a profoundly spiritual element to Kauffman's thought. If, as he argues, life were bound to arise, not as an incalculably improbable accident, but as an expected fulfillment of the natural order, then we truly are at home in the universe. Kauffman's earlier volume, The Origins of Order, written for specialists, received lavish praise. Stephen Jay Gould called it "a landmark and a classic." And Nobel Laureate Philip Anderson wrote that "there are few people in this world who ever ask the right questions of science, and they are the ones who affect its future most profoundly. Stuart Kauffman is one of these." In At Home in the Universe, this visionary thinker takes you along as he explores new insights into the nature of life.
At Home In The Universe
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Author : Stuart Kauffman
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Release Date : 1995
At Home In The Universe written by Stuart Kauffman and has been published by Oxford University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 1995 with Science categories.
This exciting exploration into the nature of life brilliantly weaves together the excitement of intellectual discovery and a fertile mix of insights to give the general reader a fascinating look at the new science of complexity--and at the forces for order that lie at the edge of chaos. "An important new argument".--Carl Sagan, The Washington Post. 59 illustrations.
At Home In The Universe
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Author : Stuart Kauffman
language : en
Publisher:
Release Date : 1995
At Home In The Universe written by Stuart Kauffman and has been published by this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 1995 with Complexity in ecological systems categories.
At Home In The Universe
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Author : John Archibald Wheeler
language : en
Publisher: A I P Press
Release Date : 1994
At Home In The Universe written by John Archibald Wheeler and has been published by A I P Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 1994 with Science categories.
An unforgettable journey through the mind and memory of one of the century's great physicists, At Home in the Universe will delight, educate, and inspire.
One Universe
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Author : Charles Tsun-Chu Liu
language : en
Publisher: Joseph Henry Press
Release Date : 1999-12-20
One Universe written by Charles Tsun-Chu Liu and has been published by Joseph Henry Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 1999-12-20 with Science categories.
A new window opens onto the cosmos... Almost every day we are challenged by new information from the outermost reaches of space. Using straightforward language, One Universe explores the physical principles that govern the workings of our own world so that we can appreciate how they operate in the cosmos around us. Bands of color in a sunlit crystal and the spectrum of starlight in giant telescopes, the arc of a hard-hit baseball and the orbit of the moon, traffic patterns on a freeway and the spiral arms in a galaxy full of stars--they're all tied together in grand and simple ways. We can understand the vast cosmos in which we live by exploring three basic concepts: motion, matter, and energy. With these as a starting point, One Universe shows how the physical principles that operate in our kitchens and backyards are actually down-to-Earth versions of cosmic processes. The book then takes us to the limits of our knowledge, asking the ultimate questions about the origins and existence of life as we know it and where the universe came from--and where it is going. Glorious photographs--many seen for the first time in these pages--and original illustrations expand and enrich our understanding. Evocative and clearly written, One Universe explains complex ideas in ways that every reader can grasp and enjoy. This book captures the grandeur of the heavens while making us feel at home in the cosmos. Above all, it helps us realize that galaxies, stars, planets, and we ourselves all belong to One Universe.
Finding Our Place In The Universe
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Author : Helene Courtois
language : en
Publisher: MIT Press
Release Date : 2019-05-28
Finding Our Place In The Universe written by Helene Courtois and has been published by MIT Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2019-05-28 with Science categories.
How a team of researchers, led by the author, discovered our home galaxy's location in the universe. You are here: on Earth, which is part of the solar system, which is in the Milky Way galaxy, which itself is within the extragalactic supercluster Laniakea. And how can we pinpoint our location so precisely? For twenty years, astrophysicist Hélène Courtois surfed the cosmos with international teams of researchers, working to map our local universe. In this book, Courtois describes this quest and the discovery of our home supercluster. Courtois explains that Laniakea (which means “immense heaven” in Hawaiian) is the largest galaxy structure known to which we belong; it is huge, almost too large to comprehend—about five hundred million light-years in diameter. It contains about 100,000 large galaxies like our own, and a million smaller ones. Writing accessibly for nonspecialists, Courtois describes the visualization and analysis that allowed her team to map such large structures of the universe. She highlights the work of individual researchers, including portraits of several exceptional women astrophysicists—presenting another side of astronomy. Key ideas are highlighted in text insets; illustrations accompany the main text. The French edition of this book was named the Best Astronomy Book of 2017 by the astronomy magazine Ciel et espace. For this MIT Press English-language edition, Courtois has added descriptions of discoveries made after Laniakea: the cosmic velocity web and the Dipole and Cold Spot repellers. An engaging account of one of the most important discoveries in astrophysics in recent years, her story is a tribute to teamwork and international collaboration.
At Home In The Universe
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Author : Rudolf Steiner
language : en
Publisher: SteinerBooks
Release Date : 2000-02
At Home In The Universe written by Rudolf Steiner and has been published by SteinerBooks this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2000-02 with Body, Mind & Spirit categories.
"History often provides insight into the present. Consider the American South one hundred and fifty years ago, for example. There, human rights and economic servitude were compressed onto a single domain for black Americans. They became a means of production that could be bought and sold as a commodity. In many parts of the South, it was forbidden to teach blacks to read. Control by law of education, part of culture, was found necessary to subordinate human rights to economics. The domain of rights and economics thus also engulfed culture." -- Joseph Weizenbaum (from the foreword) Culture, politics, economics--these are the three core activities of society; the health of any society depends on a harmonious interaction among these three activities. And, according to Rudolf Steiner, this is impossible unless they are autonomous to the degree that they can each find their own essential character. In his foreword, Joseph Weizenbaum observes that those who framed the United States Constitution understood this--at least partially--when they developed the doctrine of a separate church and state. These essays cover a range of subjects--money, the division of labor, human motivation, and education. They offer refreshing insights into the nature of modern society as well as guidance for solving today's pressing social problems. This book is a translation from German of articles contained in Aufsätze über die Dreigliederung des sozialen Organismus und zur Zeitlage 1915-1921 (GA 24).
At Home In The Universe
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Author : Rudolf Steiner
language : en
Publisher: SteinerBooks
Release Date : 2000
At Home In The Universe written by Rudolf Steiner and has been published by SteinerBooks this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2000 with Body, Mind & Spirit categories.
5 lectures at The Hague, November 13-18, 1923 (CW 231) What is our relationship to the planets we see in the night sky? Does the cosmos have any affect on our individual lives? Modern science tells us that we are an insignificant accident in a vast, indifferent universe. Rudolf Steiner maintains that we are intimately enmeshed with the whole cosmos, right down to the very structure of our physical bodies. In these talks, Steiner explores our relationship as individuals to the spiritual cosmos--where we will all become cosmonauts one day. The key to being at home in the universe is to comprehend the significance of our individual, physical lives on Earth and what happens when we leave our physical bodies behind. Steiner describes his view of our journey after death and our subsequent return to Earth and a new life. He describes the "planetary" spheres through which we pass and how they affect our future life. He shows us how our character and actions on Earth affects us after we die, and how those experiences in turn shape our next physical life. This is not just more information to add to our already overloaded store of abstract concepts; Steiner gives imaginative exercises that help us explore our suprasensory, spiritual nature. We can begin right now to act more consciously by recognizing the concrete nature of morality and the real consequences of our present lives. The introduction and comprehensive afterword by Paul Mar-gulies explain and contextualize Steiner's text, revealing a message that is more vital and relevant than ever in our frenzied, materialistic times. This book can help us experience more meaning in life and become more at home as spiritual citizens of the universe. Read Bobby Matherne's review of this book Contents: Introduction by Paul Margulies Lecture 1. "A Speck of Dust?" Lecture 2. "Interweaving Our Destinies" Lecture 3. "Through the Spheres" Lecture 4. "Through Midnight to Birth" Lecture 5. "Earth and the Mystery of Karma" Afterword by Paul Margulies German title: Der bersinnliche Mensch, anthroposophisch erfa t. An earlier English edition was titled Supersensible Man. This edition was thoroughly revised.
Islands The Universe Home
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Author : Gretel Ehrlich
language : en
Publisher: Open Road Media
Release Date : 2017-02-21
Islands The Universe Home written by Gretel Ehrlich and has been published by Open Road Media this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2017-02-21 with Nature categories.
Ten essays on nature, ritual, and philosophy “that are so point-blank vital you nearly need to put the book down to settle yourself” (San Francisco Chronicle). Gretel Ehrlich’s world is one of solitude and wonder, pain and beauty, and these elements give life to her stunning prose. Ever since her acclaimed debut, The Solace of Open Spaces, she has illuminated the particular qualities of nature and the self with graceful precision. In Islands, the Universe, Home, Ehrlich expands her explorations, traveling to the remote reaches of the earth and deep into her soul. She tells of a voyage of discovery in northern Japan, where she finds her “bridge to heaven.” She captures a “light moving down a mountain slope.” She sees a ruined city in the face of a fire-scarred mountain. Above all, she recalls what a painter once told her about art when she was twelve years old, as she sat for her portrait: “You have to mix death into everything. Then you have to mix life into that.” In this unforgettable collection, Ehrlich mixes life and death, real and sacred, to offer a stunning vision of our world that is both achingly familiar and miraculously strange. According to National Book Award–winning author Andrea Barrett, these essays are “as spare and beautiful as the landscape from which they’ve grown. . . . Each one is a pilgrimage into the secrets of the heart.”