What We Believe But Cannot Prove: Today's Leading Thinkers on Science in the Age of Certainty - Brossura

Brockman, John

Brossura

ISBN 10: 1416522611 ISBN 13: 9781416522614

Casa editrice: Simon + Schuster UK, 2006

Riassunto

""What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?"" This was the question posed by John Brockman to a group of leading scientists and thinkers via his Edge.org website. The subsequent answers created a media storm and prompted a fiery debate about all aspects of science, technology and even the nature of ""proof"". WHAT WE BELIEVE BUT CANNOT PROVE brings together the very best answers from the most eminent contributors. Here is Ian McEwan on the absence of an afterlife; Richard Dawkins on the relationship between design and evolution; and Jared Diamond on when humans first reached the Americas. Other contributions from luminaries like Steven Pinker, John Horgan and Martin Rees span the whole range of scientific endeavour and human experience, from the future of computing to the origins of intelligence; from insights into childhood behaviour to cutting-edge cosmology. Thought-provoking and hugely compelling, this collection is both a fascinating insight into the instinctive beliefs of some of the most brilliant minds alive today -- and an invitation to answer the question yourself . . .

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Recensione:

‘Enjoyable in a moreish sort of way: bite-sized chunks of cleverness’
FINANCIAL TIMES
'He started a website, Edge, where he invited fellow-thin kers to answer the question, ‘What do you believe is true, even though you cannot prove it?’ The response, says Brockman, was sensational; a speaker of BBC Radio 4 called his question ‘fantastically stimulating...the crack cocaine of the thinking world’
SPECTATOR
‘This stimulating salon of speculation’
FOCUS
'Beliefs of the most brilliant minds alive' FOCUS
'Clever chaps ponder the absence of an afterlife, the origins of intelligence, but not whether David Walliams is gay.' ARENA
'Thought-provoking . . . This volume is a one-way ticket out of the shadows of science' IRISH EXAMINER
'Compelling' OBSERVER
‘Deftly introduced by Ian McEwan, we find Richard Dawkins musing on a universal principle of evolution, Martin Rees postulating on the existence of aliens, and Jared Diamond discussing when humans first discovered the Americas ... strangely addictive.’ Daily Telegraph
'Scientific pipedreams at their very best' - GUARDIAN 19/8
‘There is a strangely addictive quality to the clipped essay format. Intriguing and unexpected, this compilation enables us to look beyond the frontiers of knowledge into the exhilarating domain of the possible’
Telegraph

L'autore:

John Brockman is a writer, agent and publisher of the 'Third Culture' website www.edge.org, the forum for leading scientists and thinkers to share their research with the general public. He is the author of THE THIRD CULTURE and the editor of several anthologies including WHAT WE BELIEVE BUT CANNOT PROVE and WHAT IS YOUR DANGEROUS IDEA?. He lives in New York.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Simon + Schuster UK
• Data di pubblicazione: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1416522611
• ISBN 13: 9781416522614
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 288