Ian Stewart

Figments of Reality (eBook, PDF)

The Evolution of the Curious Mind

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

Is the universe around us a figment of our imagination? Or are our minds figments of reality? In this refreshing new look at the evolution of mind and culture, bestselling authors Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen eloquently argue that our minds necessarily evolved inextricably within the context of culture and language. They go beyond conventional reductionist ideas to look at how the mind is the response of an evolving brain trying to grapple with a complex environment. Along the way they develop new and intriguing insights into the nature of evolution, science and humanity.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Cambridge University Press
• Erscheinungstermin: 28. Juli 1997
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780511038426
• Artikelnr.: 38201266

Autorenporträt

Ian Stewart is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at the University of Warwick and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He has five honorary doctorates and is an honorary wizard of Unseen University. His more than 130 books include Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities and the four-volume series The Science of Discworld with Terry Pratchett and Jack Cohen. His SF novels include the trilogy Wheelers, Heaven, and Oracle (with Jack Cohen), The Living Labyrinth and Rock Star (with Tim Poston), and Jack of All Trades. Short story collections are Message from Earth and Pasts, Presents, Futures. His Flatland sequel Flatterland has extensive fantasy elements. He has published 33 short stories in Analog, Omni, Interzone, and Nature, with 10 stories in Nature's 'Futures' series. He was Guest of Honour at Novacon 29 in 1999 and Science Guest of Honour and Hugo Award Presenter at Worldcon 75 in Helsinki in 2017. He delivered the 1997 Christmas Lectures for BBC television. His awards include the Royal Society's Faraday Medal, the Gold Medal of the IMA, the Zeeman Medal, the Lewis Thomas Prize, the Euler Book Prize, the Premio Internazionale Cosmos, the Chancellor's Medal of the University of Warwick, and the Bloody Stupid Johnson Award for Innovative Uses of Mathematics.

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Inhaltsangabe

Preface
Prologue
1. The origins of life
2. The reductionist nightmare
3. Ant country
4. Winning ways
5. Universals and parochials
6. Neural nests
7. Features great and small
8. What is it like to be a human?
9. We wanted to have a chapter on free will, but we decided not to, so here it is
10. Extelligence
11. Simplex, complex, multiplex
Epilogue
Notes
Further reading
Index.

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Preface; Prologue; 1. The origins of life; 2. The reductionist nightmare; 3. Ant country; 4. Winning ways; 5. Universals and parochials; 6. Neural nests; 7. Features great and small; 8. What is it like to be a human?; 9. We wanted to have a chapter on free will, but we decided not to, so here it is; 10. Extelligence; 11. Simplex, complex, multiplex; Epilogue; Notes; Further reading; Index.

Rezensionen

Review of the hardback: 'One of the most heartening and innovative books of the year.' John Cornwell, The Sunday Times '[A] provocative, ambitious and enjoyable attempt to ask and answer some of the most interesting Big Questions of modern science and philosophy.' New Scientist