| Description |
1 online resource (x, 398 pages) : illustrations |
| Contents |
Cover -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- 1. Descartes's Evil Genius -- 2. Laplace's Intelligence -- 3. Maxwell's Demon -- 4. Brownian Motion Demons -- 5. Einstein's Ghosts -- 6. Quantum Demons -- 7. Cybernetic Metastable Demons -- 8. Computer Daemons -- 9. Biology's Demons -- 10. Demons in the Global Economy -- Conclusion: The Audacity of Our Imagination -- Postscript: Philosophical Considerations -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index |
| Summary |
"Thought experiments have long been a vital part of the creative, intellectual process in modern science-and, by extension, so have "demons." Demons are hypothetical beings imagined by scientists to perform specific roles within thought experiments-embodying special powers or abilities and personifying tough intellectual challenges or highlighting apparent paradoxes. They are used as a way of exploring what would happen if one fiddled with or upset the sturdiest of physical laws, or experimented with physical or natural processes or phenomena in ways that the scientist imagining them otherwise could not. As such, they help clarify the limits of what is possible in the physical world, or show weaknesses in our understanding of an observable phenomenon, or highlight cracks in a hypothesis or theory. Unencumbered by the physicality of our concrete world, demons are thus useful to scientists in their intellectual quest to understand how nature works, and in the creative exploration of the frontiers of science"-- Provided by publisher |
| Analysis |
AI |
|
Alan Turing |
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Brownian motion |
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Bruno Latour |
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Cartesian |
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Erwin Schrödinger |
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French Revolution |
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Johann von Neumann |
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Karl Pearson |
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Laplace's demon |
|
Marie Curie |
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Marvin Minsky |
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Max Born |
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Max Planck |
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Maxwell's demon |
|
Michel Serres |
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Norbert Wiener |
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Oliver G. Selfridge |
|
Paul Samuelson |
|
Pierre Bourdieu |
|
Richard Feynman |
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Werner Heisenberg |
|
atomic bomb |
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cybernetics |
|
daemon |
|
demonology |
|
ethics of technology |
|
evolution |
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natural selection |
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pandemonium |
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radioactivity |
|
religion and science |
|
virtual reality |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on November 17, 2020) |
| Subject |
Creative ability in science -- History
|
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Imagination.
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Demonology.
|
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Electronic books.
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e-books.
|
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SCIENCE -- History.
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Creative ability in science
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Demonology
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Imagination
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| Genre/Form |
History
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| LC no. |
2020040049 |
| ISBN |
9780691186078 |
|
0691186073 |
|
