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The blind spot [[electronic resource] ] : science and the crisis of uncertainty / / William Byers



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Autore: Byers William Visualizza persona
Titolo: The blind spot [[electronic resource] ] : science and the crisis of uncertainty / / William Byers Visualizza cluster
Pubblicazione: Princeton, : Princeton University Press, c2011
Edizione: Course Book
Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (334 p.)
Disciplina: 500
Soggetto topico: Science - Social aspects
Uncertainty (Information theory)
Soggetto non controllato: Acknowledgment (creative arts and sciences)
Algorithm
Ambiguity
Analogy
Approximation
Axiom
Axiomatic system
Basic research
Big O notation
Calculation
Certainty
Chaos theory
Circumference
Computation
Concept
Conjecture
Consciousness
Consistency
Contingency (philosophy)
Continuous function
Continuum hypothesis
Contradiction
Counting
David Bohm
Dynamism (metaphysics)
Emergence
Euclidean geometry
Explanation
Feeling
Fermat's Last Theorem
Geometry
Gestalt psychology
Gregory Chaitin
Gödel's incompleteness theorems
Human behavior
Human intelligence
Hypothesis
Ideology
Inference
Integer
Irrational number
Learning
Logic
Logical reasoning
Mathematician
Mathematics
Measurement
Methodology
Modernity
Molecule
Natural number
Nature
Paradigm shift
Paradox
Participant
Phenomenon
Philosopher
Philosophy of mathematics
Philosophy of science
Philosophy
Platonism
Prediction
Principle
Probability
Pythagoreanism
Qualitative property
Quantification (science)
Quantity
Quantum mechanics
Randomness
Rational number
Rationality
Real number
Reality
Reason
Reductionism
Relationship between religion and science
Result
Science
Scientific method
Scientific progress
Scientific theory
Scientist
Self-reference
Set theory
Special case
Subatomic particle
Subjectivity
Suggestion
Technology
The Philosopher
Theorem
Theoretical physics
Theory of everything
Theory
Thomas Kuhn
Thought
Uncertainty
Universality (philosophy)
Writing
Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Nota di contenuto: Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface: The Revelation of Uncertainty -- 1. The Blind Spot -- 2. The Blind Spot Revealed -- 3. Certainty or Wonder? -- 4. A World in Crisis! -- 5. Ambiguity -- 6. Self-Reference: The Human Element in Science -- 7. The Mystery of Number -- 8. Science as the Ambiguous Search for Unity -- 9. The Still Point -- 10. Conclusion: Living in a World of Uncertainty -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- References -- Index
Sommario/riassunto: In today's unpredictable and chaotic world, we look to science to provide certainty and answers--and often blame it when things go wrong. The Blind Spot reveals why our faith in scientific certainty is a dangerous illusion, and how only by embracing science's inherent ambiguities and paradoxes can we truly appreciate its beauty and harness its potential. Crackling with insights into our most perplexing contemporary dilemmas, from climate change to the global financial meltdown, this book challenges our most sacredly held beliefs about science, technology, and progress. At the same time, it shows how the secret to better science can be found where we least expect it--in the uncertain, the ambiguous, and the inevitably unpredictable. William Byers explains why the subjective element in scientific inquiry is in fact what makes it so dynamic, and deftly balances the need for certainty and rigor in science with the equally important need for creativity, freedom, and downright wonder. Drawing on an array of fascinating examples--from Wall Street's overreliance on algorithms to provide certainty in uncertain markets, to undecidable problems in mathematics and computer science, to Georg Cantor's paradoxical but true assertion about infinity--Byers demonstrates how we can and must learn from the existence of blind spots in our scientific and mathematical understanding. The Blind Spot offers an entirely new way of thinking about science, one that highlights its strengths and limitations, its unrealized promise, and, above all, its unavoidable ambiguity. It also points to a more sophisticated approach to the most intractable problems of our time.
Titolo autorizzato: The blind spot  Visualizza cluster
ISBN: 1-283-00150-0
9786613001504
1-4008-3815-0
Formato: Materiale a stampa
Livello bibliografico Monografia
Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
Record Nr.: 9910781106903321
Lo trovi qui: Univ. Federico II
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