Pathways To The Origin And Evolution Of Meanings In The Universe

Author : Alexei A. Sharov
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1119865646
Total Pages : 516 pages
Book Rating : 4.43/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Pathways to the Origin and Evolution of Meanings in the Universe written by Alexei A. Sharov and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2024-02-28 with total page 516 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pathways to the Origin and Evolition of Meanings in the Universe The book explains why meaning is a part of the universe populated by life, and how organisms generate meanings and then use them for creative transformation of the environment and themselves. This book focuses on interdisciplinary research at the intersection of biology, semiotics, philosophy, ethology, information theory, and the theory of evolution. Such a broad approach provides a rich context for the study of organisms and other semiotic agents in their environments. This methodology can be applied to robotics and artificial intelligence for developing robust, adaptable learning devices. In this book, leading interdisciplinary scholars reveal their vision on how to integrate natural sciences with semiotics, a theory of meaning-making and signification. Developments in biology indicate that the capacity to create and understand signs is not limited to humans or vertebrate animals, but exists in all living organisms - the fact that inspired the integration of biology and semiotics into biosemiotics. The authors discuss the nature of semiotic agents (organisms and other autonomous goal-directed units), meaning, signs, information, memory, evolution, and consciousness. Also discussed are issues including the origin of life, potential meaning and its actualization, top-down causality in physics and biology, capacity of organisms to encode their functions, the strategy of organisms to combine homeostasis with direct adaptation to new life-cycle phases or new environments, multi-level memory systems, increase of freedom via enabling constraints, creative modeling in evolution and learning, communication in animals and humans, the origin and function of language, and the distribution and transfer of life in space. This is the first book on biosemiotics in its global conceptual and spatial scope. Biosemiotics is presented using the language of natural sciences, which supports the scientific grounding of semiotic terms. Finally, the cosmic dimension of life and meaning-making leads to a reconsideration of ethical principles and ecological mentality here on earth and in space exploration. Audience Theoretical biologists, ethologists, astrobiologists, ecologists, evolutionary biologists, philosophers, phenomenologists, semioticians, biosemioticians, molecular biologists, linguists, system scientists and engineers.

Author : Sean Carroll
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101984252
Total Pages : 497 pages
Book Rating : 4.53/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Big Picture written by Sean Carroll and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-05-16 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The instant New York Times bestseller about humanity's place in the universe—and how we understand it. “Vivid...impressive....Splendidly informative.”—The New York Times “Succeeds spectacularly.”—Science “A tour de force.”—Salon Already internationally acclaimed for his elegant, lucid writing on the most challenging notions in modern physics, Sean Carroll is emerging as one of the greatest humanist thinkers of his generation as he brings his extraordinary intellect to bear not only on Higgs bosons and extra dimensions but now also on our deepest personal questions: Where are we? Who are we? Are our emotions, our beliefs, and our hopes and dreams ultimately meaningless out there in the void? Do human purpose and meaning fit into a scientific worldview? In short chapters filled with intriguing historical anecdotes, personal asides, and rigorous exposition, readers learn the difference between how the world works at the quantum level, the cosmic level, and the human level—and then how each connects to the other. Carroll's presentation of the principles that have guided the scientific revolution from Darwin and Einstein to the origins of life, consciousness, and the universe is dazzlingly unique. Carroll shows how an avalanche of discoveries in the past few hundred years has changed our world and what really matters to us. Our lives are dwarfed like never before by the immensity of space and time, but they are redeemed by our capacity to comprehend it and give it meaning. The Big Picture is an unprecedented scientific worldview, a tour de force that will sit on shelves alongside the works of Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan, Daniel Dennett, and E. O. Wilson for years to come.

Author : Anamaria Berea
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 111964089X
Total Pages : 131 pages
Book Rating : 4.99/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Technosignatures for Detecting Intelligent Life in Our Universe written by Anamaria Berea and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2022-06-13 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: TECHNOSIGNATURES FOR DETECTING INTELLIGENT LIFE IN OUR UNIVERSE This book shows the current state of the research in the field of technosignatures, presenting novel ideas from economics, forecasting, and data sciences, making it an ideal research compendium for scientists. The book summarizes the multiple interdisciplinary efforts that have contributed to the field of technosignatures. The technosignatures represent any signals that can be collected from the Universe, such as radio wavelengths, optical signals, and many more, that can be potential candidates as signals emitted intentionally from another part of the Universe that is not Earth. It shows how current advances in science, technology, and social sciences can support this effort and can be used as both a resource for the scientists in the field and as a reference for the public at large interested in the topic. It includes novel research work from economics, forecasting, and data sciences fields, as well as a deeper understanding of the role mass media and popular fiction has played in the evolution of this field. Audience The book will interest both natural scientists (astronomers and astrophysicists) and social scientists (economists), as well as the new emerging data scientists. Amateur astronomers will be attracted to the book as well.

Author : National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 9780309064064
Total Pages : 48 pages
Book Rating : 4.66/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Science and Creationism written by National Academy of Sciences (U.S.) and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edition of Science and Creationism summarizes key aspects of several of the most important lines of evidence supporting evolution. It describes some of the positions taken by advocates of creation science and presents an analysis of these claims. This document lays out for a broader audience the case against presenting religious concepts in science classes. The document covers the origin of the universe, Earth, and life; evidence supporting biological evolution; and human evolution. (Contains 31 references.) (CCM)

Author : R. Ibrahim
Publisher : Elsevier
ISBN 13 : 0080531326
Total Pages : 481 pages
Book Rating : 4.28/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Evolution of Metabolic Pathways written by R. Ibrahim and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2000-09-15 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The past decade has seen major advances in the cloning of genes encoding enzymes of plant secondary metabolism. This has been further enhanced by the recent project on the sequencing of the Arabidopsis genome. These developments provide the molecular genetic basis to address the question of the Evolution of Metabolic Pathways. This volume provides in-depth reviews of our current knowledge on the evolutionary origin of plant secondary metabolites and the enzymes involved in their biosynthesis. The chapters cover five major topics: 1. Role of secondary metabolites in evolution; 2. Evolutionary origins of polyketides and terpenes; 3. Roles of oxidative reactions in the evolution of secondary metabolism; 4. Evolutionary origin of substitution reactions: acylation, glycosylation and methylation; and 5. Biochemistry and molecular biology of brassinosteroids.

Author : John Robson
Publisher : McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN 13 : 0773561447
Total Pages : 314 pages
Book Rating : 4.41/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Origin and Evolution of the Universe written by John Robson and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 1987-11-01 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Does the universe have the character it has because of design? In this collection of essays first presented at a symposium sponsored by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and the Royal Society of Canada, seventeen scientists and philosophers re-examine the "Argument by Design" in light of current scientific theories. Scientists in such diverse fields as cosmology, physics, geology, biology, and psychology provide syntheses of the state of their respective disciplines with regard to questions such as the origin or evolution of the universe and of life, the interaction of life and terrestrial environment, and verbal communication in prehumans. Contributions by philosophers cover such areas as arguments for a designer and the question of whether nature's laws and initial conditions could be viewed as "fine tuned" for the production of life. Many of the chapters demonstrate the awe-inspiring success of modern science in explaining the universe in terms of fairly straightforward natural laws, countering those versions of the design argument which try to find evidence of God's activities in the supposed failures of scientific laws to cover various phenomena.

Author : Bruce M. Jakosky
Publisher : University of Arizona Press
ISBN 13 : 0816550921
Total Pages : 162 pages
Book Rating : 4.20/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Science, Society, and the Search for Life in the Universe written by Bruce M. Jakosky and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2022-10-18 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are we alone in the universe? As humans, are we unique or are we part of a greater cosmic existence? What is life’s future on Earth and beyond? How does life begin and develop? These are age-old questions that have inspired wonder and controversy ever since the first people looked up into the sky. With today’s technology, however, we are closer than ever to finding the answers. Astrobiology is the relatively new, but fast growing scientific discipline that involves trying to understand the origin, evolution, and distribution of life within the universe. It is also one of the few scientific disciplines that attracts the public’s intense curiosity and attention. This interest stems largely from the deep personal meaning that the possible existence of extraterrestrial life has for so many. Whether this meaning relates to addressing the “Big Questions” of our existence, the possibility of encountering life on other planets, or the potential impact on our understanding of religion, there is no doubt that the public is firmly vested in finding answers. In this broadly accessible introduction to the field, Bruce Jakosky looks at the search for life in the universe not only from a scientific perspective, but also from a distinctly social one. In lucid and engaging prose, he addresses topics including the contradiction between the public’s fascination and the meager dialogue that exists between those within the scientific community and those outside of it, and what has become some of the most impassioned political wrangling ever seen in government science funding.

Author : Ho Mae-wan
Publisher : World Scientific
ISBN 13 : 9813108886
Total Pages : 500 pages
Book Rating : 4.82/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Meaning Of Life And The Universe: Transforming written by Ho Mae-wan and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2017-01-24 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The scope of this extraordinary selection of essays, distilled from nearly a thousand works that the author has written, is literally the entire universe and universe of knowledge. It charts the author's quest for the meaning of life faced with a dominant knowledge system she regards as incoherent, meaningless, and often acting against people and planet. She shows how contemporary scientific findings across all disciplines already provide an authentic knowledge system that's coherent with life and the universe. The aim is to transform science thoroughly from inspiration to research to applications that work for people and planet. This book is simply unique in its scope and content. There is no equivalent. The author surveys and explains contemporary science in depth ranging over philosophy, anthropology, quantum physics and chemistry, neurobiology, psychology, genetics and epigenetics, cosmology, art, humanities, and mathematics. It presents a truly holistic view of nature, with profound implications for life in the social, political, and personal realm.

Author : Brian Thomas Swimme
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300171900
Total Pages : 191 pages
Book Rating : 4.07/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Journey of the Universe written by Brian Thomas Swimme and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2011-06-28 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The authors tell the epic story of the universe from an inspired new perspective, weaving the findings of modern science together with enduring wisdom found in the humanistic traditions of the West, China, India, and indigenous peoples. This book is part of a larger project that includes a documentary film, educational DVD series, and Web site.

Author : Clément Vidal
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 9783319380650
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.56/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Beginning and the End written by Clément Vidal and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-08-23 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this fascinating journey to the edge of science, Vidal takes on big philosophical questions: Does our universe have a beginning and an end or is it cyclic? Are we alone in the universe? What is the role of intelligent life, if any, in cosmic evolution? Grounded in science and committed to philosophical rigor, this book presents an evolutionary worldview where the rise of intelligent life is not an accident, but may well be the key to unlocking the universe's deepest mysteries. Vidal shows how the fine-tuning controversy can be advanced with computer simulations. He also explores whether natural or artificial selection could hold on a cosmic scale. In perhaps his boldest hypothesis, he argues that signs of advanced extraterrestrial civilizations are already present in our astrophysical data. His conclusions invite us to see the meaning of life, evolution and intelligence from a novel cosmological framework that should stir debate for years to come.