Paradigms Lost: Images of Man in the Mirror of Science - Hardcover

Casti, John L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688081312 ISBN 13: 9780688081317

Publisher: William Morrow & Co, 1989

Synopsis

Within the forum of a mock trial, an eminent mathematician argues for the defense and prosecution, then renders the verdict on the origin of life, sociobiology, language acquisition, artificial intelligence, extraterrestrial life, and quantum reality

About this title

About the Author:

John L. Casti is a member of the faculty of the Santa Fe Institute and a professor at the Technical University of Vienna. He divides his time between Santa Fe, New Mexico and Vienna.

From Publishers Weekly:

Casti draws the reader into current scientific controversies as he weighs the pros and cons of puzzling questions: Did life on earth arise from a "primordial organic soup"? Can a machine ever duplicate human cognitive processes? How do children acquire the ability to speak their native language? Is there validity to sociobiologists' claims that human behavior patterns are genetically determined? Quantum physics, artificial intelligence and astronomers' search for intelligent life in the universe are among the topics explored in an engaging, elegant, personal fashion. Casti, author of Alternate Realities , spotlights the role of passion and politics in scientific debate. However, he highhandedly dismisses research into UFOs, Bigfoot (yeti) and "even more offbeat phenomena" as the work of pseudoscientific cranks, thus himself mirroring the attitudes of scientists whose blinkered viewpoints on other topics he so deftly exposes. BOMC and QPBC alternates.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow & Co
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0688081312
• ISBN 13: 9780688081317
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 565