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From the dawn of humankind, men and women have looked at change--as wrought by weather, the seasons, and, most strikingly, the inexorable advance of time--as something essentially to be feared. And partially from this fear the great religions and mythologies have arisen, systems which gavemeaning to the ever-changing world, and, quite often, immortality to ourselves. By the late nineteenth century, the quest for ultimate meanings became largely the province of science, and today, change still figures (on the surface, at least) as a malevolent force: most of the cosmological theoriesformulated in recent years predict the ultimate extinction of the world by universal entropy. Bringing together the evidence and insights of biology and physics, of astronomy and cosmology, Louise Young offers a profoundly original and stirring vision of order, form, change, and the creative forces in the universe. Opposing the long-held beliefs of many scientists that the universe isrunning down and will eventually collapse upon itself, Young eloquently argues that the tendency toward increasing entropy is merely one aspect of a single process that is creating more complex, highly organized, and more efficient forms of matter all the time, and at every level--from themicroscopic to the stellar.In vivid, compelling prose, Louise Young--an award-winning writer on science and a former physicist--takes us on an unforgettable tour of the world around us, showing how even the most ordinary aspects of life and the universe display a strangely beautiful symmetry. She clearly demonstrates thatcreation was not simply some big-bang eons ago, but rather is an ongoing process, one in which we are both witnesses and participants. Illustrating her findings with many remarkable photographs and fascinating examples ranging from geology to animal behavior, and from oceanography to genetics,Young gracefully canvasses the themes of growth, change creativity, and the mystery of the universe in a book that is as much poetry as it is science. Based on solid scientific knowledge, yet informed by a refreshingly philosophical sensibility, The Unfinished Universe is a book that will inspire anyone who has ever questioned their place and purpose in a world filled with uncertainty and change.… (més)
The cover comment states that "the order is increasing in the universe" (Hmmm) Is it possible? Order is not an absolute, but a relative property. How can a system get itself into a process the definition of witch depend on the human mind, without human intervention? I did not yet read the book though.
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This book is dedicated to my husband because (in the words of West Side Story) we have "made our lives one life, day after day one heart, one mind." The thoughts, enthusiasms, and strengths that have flowed from this union are different from those which might have been mine alone-just as the purple sea fan swaying in sunlit waters differs from the single celled algae that inhibit its lacy form or from the solitary polyp growing in the semi-darkness on the ocean floor. Through symbiosis a new whole has been created with characteristics transcending to those of its individual parts. It is impossible to tell where the contribution of each partner ends and the qualities of the whole begin.
Primeres paraules
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Introduction: Into this myterious universe we are all plunged at birth with no set of instructions, no maps or guideposts.
Chapter One: Long ago, in the infancy of mankind, a devastating discovery was made.
Citacions
Darreres paraules
Informació del coneixement compartit en anglès.Modifica-la per localitzar-la a la teva llengua.
But its ultimate nature cannot be visualized, its total significance grasped, until the final lines are written.
From the dawn of humankind, men and women have looked at change--as wrought by weather, the seasons, and, most strikingly, the inexorable advance of time--as something essentially to be feared. And partially from this fear the great religions and mythologies have arisen, systems which gavemeaning to the ever-changing world, and, quite often, immortality to ourselves. By the late nineteenth century, the quest for ultimate meanings became largely the province of science, and today, change still figures (on the surface, at least) as a malevolent force: most of the cosmological theoriesformulated in recent years predict the ultimate extinction of the world by universal entropy. Bringing together the evidence and insights of biology and physics, of astronomy and cosmology, Louise Young offers a profoundly original and stirring vision of order, form, change, and the creative forces in the universe. Opposing the long-held beliefs of many scientists that the universe isrunning down and will eventually collapse upon itself, Young eloquently argues that the tendency toward increasing entropy is merely one aspect of a single process that is creating more complex, highly organized, and more efficient forms of matter all the time, and at every level--from themicroscopic to the stellar.In vivid, compelling prose, Louise Young--an award-winning writer on science and a former physicist--takes us on an unforgettable tour of the world around us, showing how even the most ordinary aspects of life and the universe display a strangely beautiful symmetry. She clearly demonstrates thatcreation was not simply some big-bang eons ago, but rather is an ongoing process, one in which we are both witnesses and participants. Illustrating her findings with many remarkable photographs and fascinating examples ranging from geology to animal behavior, and from oceanography to genetics,Young gracefully canvasses the themes of growth, change creativity, and the mystery of the universe in a book that is as much poetry as it is science. Based on solid scientific knowledge, yet informed by a refreshingly philosophical sensibility, The Unfinished Universe is a book that will inspire anyone who has ever questioned their place and purpose in a world filled with uncertainty and change.
Google Books — S'està carregant…
(3.8)
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Order is not an absolute, but a relative property.
How can a system get itself into a process the definition of witch depend on the human mind, without human intervention? I did not yet read the book though.