This book is about the mechanisms of wealth creation, or what we like to think of as evolutionary "progress." The massive circular flow of goods and services between producers and consumers is not a perpetual motion machine; it has been dependent for the past 150 years on energy inputs from a finite storage of fossil fuels. In this book, you will learn about the three key requirements for wealth creation, and how this process acts according to physical laws, and usually after some part of the natural wealth of the planet has been exploited in an episode of "creative destruction." Knowledge...
This book is about the mechanisms of wealth creation, or what we like to think of as evolutionary "progress." The massive circular flow of goods and s...
This book considers the interaction of physical and non-physical causation in complex systems such as living beings, and in particular in the human brain, relating this to the emergence of higher levels of complexity with real causal powers.
This book considers the interaction of physical and non-physical causation in complex systems such as living beings, and in particular in the human br...
In this essay collection, leading physicists, philosophers, and historians attempt to fill the empty theoretical ground in the foundations of information and address the related question of the limits to our knowledge of the world.
Over recent decades, our practical approach to information and its exploitation has radically outpaced our theoretical understanding - to such a degree that reflection on the foundations may seem futile. But it is exactly fields such as quantum information, which are shifting the boundaries of the physically possible, that make a foundational understanding...
In this essay collection, leading physicists, philosophers, and historians attempt to fill the empty theoretical ground in the foundations of infor...
Chips 2020 presents a new, sustainable roadmap towards femto(10-15)-Joule low-energy, high-performance electronics. The text focuses on the energy-efficiency of all chip functionalities, sensing, processing, and communication.
Chips 2020 presents a new, sustainable roadmap towards femto(10-15)-Joule low-energy, high-performance electronics. The text focuses on the energy-eff...
In this compendium of essays, some of the world s leading thinkers discuss their conceptions of space and time, as viewed through the lens of their own discipline. With an epilogue on the limits of human understanding, this volume hosts contributions from six or more diverse fields. It presumes only rudimentary background knowledge on the part of the reader.
Time and again, through the prism of intellect, humans have tried to diffract reality into various distinct, yet seamless, atomic, yet holistic, independent, yet interrelated disciplines and have attempted to study it...
In this compendium of essays, some of the world s leading thinkers discuss their conceptions of space and time, as viewed through the lens of their...
Filled with examples from natural and social systems, this book serves as a fascinating guide to the many applications of physics. It examines topics belonging to the broad theme of complexity, from cooperation and criticality to flock dynamics and fractals.
Filled with examples from natural and social systems, this book serves as a fascinating guide to the many applications of physics. It examines topics ...
Extraterrestrial Altruism examines a basic assumption of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI): that extraterrestrials will be transmitting messages to us for our benefit. This question of whether extraterrestrials will be altruistic has become increasingly important in recent years as SETI scientists have begun contemplating transmissions from Earth to make contact.
Technological civilizations that transmit signals for the benefit of others, but with no immediate gain for themselves, certainly seem to be altruistic. But does this make biological sense? Should we...
Extraterrestrial Altruism examines a basic assumption of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI): that extraterrestrials will be...
In this fascinating journey to the edge of science, Vidal takes on big philosophical questions: Does our universe have a beginning and an end or is it cyclic? Are we alone in the universe? What is the role of intelligent life, if any, in cosmic evolution? Grounded in science and committed to philosophical rigor, this book presents an evolutionary worldview where the rise of intelligent life is not an accident, but may well be the key to unlocking the universe's deepest mysteries. Vidal shows how the fine-tuning controversy can be advanced with computer simulations. He also explores whether...
In this fascinating journey to the edge of science, Vidal takes on big philosophical questions: Does our universe have a beginning and an end or is...
This book offers a lively survey of the forty-year history of string theory, focusing on how what has been called both a 'theory of everything' and a 'theory of nothing' came to exist, and how it came to occupy its present position in physics.
This book offers a lively survey of the forty-year history of string theory, focusing on how what has been called both a 'theory of everything' and a ...
Modern physics and cosmology reveal features of the universe that are forever out of reach: too distant, dark, dense or small to observe. This book tells of these horizons, how they shape our understanding, and what clues we have of a world beyond them.
Modern physics and cosmology reveal features of the universe that are forever out of reach: too distant, dark, dense or small to observe. This book te...
