Equations of Eternity: Speculations On Consciousness Meaning and Mathematical Rules That Orchestrate the Cosmos - Softcover

Darling, David

4.09

138 ratings by Goodreads

9780786880720: Equations of Eternity: Speculations On Consciousness Meaning and Mathematical Rules That Orchestrate the Cosmos

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0786880724 ISBN 13: 9780786880720

Publisher: Hyperion, 1995

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

In a dazzling, lyrical mixture of science and philosophy, acclaimed science writer David Darling makes a provocative case for the workings of human consciousness, its origins, and its destiny when the next "Big Bang" precipitates a quantum leap in evolution. Equations of Eternity rethinks thought and the existence of intelligence in a way that will give readers a lot to think about.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews:

In another speculative volume, Darling (Deep Time, 1989) foresees a grand and glorious future as he ponders the nature and destiny of humanity. With degrees in physics and astronomy, he's able to write knowledgeably, if glibly, about current conundrums and issues--so, in a sense, his latest offering serves to introduce readers to current ideas in cosmology, computer science, and evolution. But there are caveats. Darling writes didactically, without nuance. It's as if it were common consensus, for example, that the divisions of the brain are neat and simple: left for logic, right for feeling; that mathematics is neither discovered nor invented but resonates with reality; that the fundamental particles are the electron and quark; and that, at the level of quantum mechanics, it's the intervention of the observer that causes a ``fundamental, unknowable disturbance in the system.'' All this leads Darling to embrace the thesis that human consciousness is both necessary and sufficient for establishing reality. These are ideas that have been heard before in David Bohm, John Wheeler, and the proponents of the anthropic principle. Here, they're brought to apotheosis in a final anthropic principle in which the mind evolves, bodies fade, and some sort of universal consciousness arises and permeates the galaxies: That's the grand and glorious future. Meanwhile, a perverse thought keeps stirring: Isn't this solipsism turned inside out? -- Copyright �1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly:

The author of Deep Time speculates about quantum physics, relativity and the evolution of human consciousness.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.