The Third culture / by John Brockman

By:

Brockman, John, 1941-

Publication details: New York : Touchstone, 1996Edition: 1st. edDescription: 413 pISBN:

0684823446 (pbk.)

Summary: Thirty-five years ago, C. P. Snow, in a now famous essay, wrote about the polarization of the "two cultures" -- literary intellectuals on the one hand, and scientists on the other. Although he hoped for the emergence of a "third culture" that would bridge the gap, it is only recently that science has changed the intellectual landscape. Brockman's thesis that science is emerging as the intellectual center of our society is brought to life vividly in The Third Culture, which weaves together the voices of some of today's most influential scientific figures, including: Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Dawkins on the implications of evolution Steven Pinker, Marvin Minsky, Daniel C. Dennett, and Roger Penrose on how the mind works Murray Gell-Mann and Stuart Kauffman on the new sciences of complexity The Third Culture is an honest picture of science in action. It is at once stimulating, challenging, and riveting. (Font: Editor)

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Holdings
Item type	Current library	Collection	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode
Book	Centre d' Informació i Documentació del CERC Sala	General	S 01787	Available		1900109862

Introduction. "The Emerging Third Culture" -- Part 1. The evolutionary idea: 1. "A Package of Information" / George C. Williams ; 2. "The Pattern of Life's History" / Stephen Jay Gould ; 3. "A Survival Machine" / Richard Dawkins ; 4. "Biology Is Just a Dance" / Brian Goodwin ; 5. "Why Is There So Much Genetic Diversity?" / Steve Jones ; 6. "A Battle of Words" / Niles Eldredge ; 7. "Gaia Is a Tough Bitch" / Lynn Margulis -- Part 2. A collection of kludges: 8. "Smart Machines" / Marvin Minsky ; 9. "Information Is Surprises" / Roger Schank ; 10. "Intuition Pumps" / Daniel C. Dennett ; 11. "The Thick Moment" / Nicholas Humphrey ; 12. "The Emergent Self" / Francisco Varela ; 13. "Language Is a Human Instinct" / Steven Pinker ; 14. "Consciousness Involves Noncomputable Ingredients" / Roger Penrose -- Part 3. Questions of origins: 15. "An Ensemble of Universes" / Martin Rees ; 16. "A Universe in Your Backyard" / Alan Guth ; 17. "A Theory of the Whole Universe" / Lee Smolin ; 18. "The Synthetic Path" / Paul Davies -- Part 4. What was Darwin's algorithm?: 19. "Plectics" / Murray Gell-Mann ; 20. "Order for Free" / Stuart Kauffman ; 21. "A Dynamical Pattern" / Christopher G. Langton ; 22. "The Second Law of Organization" / J. Doyne Farmer -- Part 5. Something that goes beyond ourselves: 23. "Close to the Singularity" / W. Daniel Hillis -- Selected reading -- Index

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