mythical 19–21, 24, 25
open-ended stream of explanatory knowledge 60–65, 67, 69, 81, 175, 450, 457–9
the quest for good explanations vii, 22–3, 26, 39, 314
reach of 1–33, 59–60, 75, 78–9, 105, 118, 123, 166–7, 197, 220, 458–9
and reality 6
reductive 109–10, 116, 361, 371, 429
scientific theories as 3, 14, 113
of seasons 19–21, 23–5, 26–9, 42, 44, 458
simplicity is inadequate 25–6
and technology, fundamental link with 55–6, 58
‘ultimate’ 425–8
universal explainers 123, 157, 415
explicability 53–4, 60, 64, 103, 108, 111, 121, 146, 193, 200, 213, 260, 264–5, 270, 272, 282, 300–301, 358, 445–6, 459
extinction of species 48, 49, 90, 95–6, 428, 436, 437
caused by their own evolution 49, 55, 92
hedge against extinction of human species 62–3
human escapes from 49, 196–7, 204–5, 206–7
mass extinction events 49, 95–6
and storing the genes of endangered species 95
extraterrestrials 2, 60, 145, 322, 414
art and 354
dangerous 60, 202–3
detecting life on distant planets 68, 73
extraterrestrial civilizations 79, 101, 202–4, 399
search for intelligent (SETI) 72–3, 179–80
see also Fermi’s problem
eyes 1, 2, 3, 11, 37, 40, 46, 52, 54–5, 59, 68, 80, 83–4, 85, 226, 229, 231, 240n, 241, 252, 261, 294, 316, 355, 383
Fabric of Reality, The (Deutsch) 109–10, 450, 460
fairness
apportionment paradoxes 326–33, 334
impartiality 330, 331, 334
misconceptions in social-choice theory 345–6
Fall from Grace 52
fallibilism 9, 32, 64, 65, 193, 211, 232, 233, 395, 446, 448
fallibility 66, 135, 192, 226, 233–5, 240, 242, 252–3, 254–5, 311, 317, 413
see also fallibilism
farming see agriculture
Fascist ideologies 371
see also Nazism
fashion 314, 354, 356
fads 379, 394
Fatherland (Harris) 259
FDP (Free Democratic Party, Germany) 339–40
Fermi, Enrico 101
Fermi’s problem 101, 453
Feynman, Richard 22, 39, 101, 209, 305, 355, 444
fiction 26, 294
see also science fiction
fine-tuning of the universe/laws of physics 96–103, 104, 105, 106, 111, 113, 294, 434
problems with anthropic explanation of 177–80, 195, 452, 453
finitism 165–6
fire 12, 50, 111, 202, 207, 400
see also elements, ancient theory of
first-past-the-post (plurality) voting system 346–50, 352
flagellants 385
Flew, Antony 97
Florence 218–21, 386
flowers, and the objectivity of beauty 360–64
food
and co-evolution 360
production 205, 206, 208
supply 11, 48, 89, 206, 400, 408
see also agriculture
fooling ourselves, keep from 22, 209, 301, 317
forests
deforestation 418, 420–21, 422
management 423, 424–5, 430
Forward, Robert: Dragon’s Egg 97
fossils 51, 95–6, 121, 292, 315–16
Free Democratic Party (FDP, Germany) 339–40
freedom 51, 217, 250, 343, 369, 392, 405, 457
French Revolution 66
Freyr myth 20, 21, 25
Friedman, David 444
fun 35, 36–7, 41, 115, 149
fundamental theory or phenomenon see significance
fungibility 265–9, 270, 272–305, 450
difficulty of imagining 269
diversity within 268, 278, 289
future
anthropic reasoning about the future 452–6
of creativity 358, 415–16
not yet imaginable 444
optimism and the desirable future 446–7
and the pessimistic view of bounded knowledge 198, 445–6, 447–9
and the shedding of parochialism 444–5
and the simulation argument 453–4
unpredictability of knowledge growth see under unpredictability
won’t resemble the past 5–7, 29, 31
see also prophecy
galaxies 2–3, 28, 34–40, 44–5, 58, 68, 101, 275, 281, 302
clusters of 34–6
effects of dark energy on 451
effects of dark matter on 46
Milky Way 1, 2, 47, 70–71, 101, 202–3
space between see space, intergalactic
Galileo Galilei 14, 219–20, 390
gambler’s prophecy see prophecy
game theory see social-choice theory
gamma rays 68
bursts of 2, 208
Gauss, Carl Friedrich 183
generation ship 44, 69
genes 29, 43, 56–7, 58, 59, 78, 80, 89–92, 105–6, 142, 158, 315, 316, 364, 371, 378, 399
and co-evolution 360–64, 414–15
of endangered species 95
genetic code and the jump to universality 142–6, 162–3, 458
genetic engineering see biotechnology
genetic evidence 49, 56, 206
genetic explanations of individual human attributes 317–19, 323, 356, 359, 401, 410, 429
knowledge implicit in 29, 50, 56–7, 59, 60, 72, 88, 111, 114, 366, 400
and memes 372–97, 404, 405, 407, 408, 413, 414
and neo-Darwinism 89–96
see also DNA; genomes; replicators
genomes 56–7, 144, 362, 364, 378, 379, 411
geocentric theory 8, 42
see also celestial sphere theory
geography
biogeography 425–31
of Mars 5
of the universe 443
geometry 7, 23, 24, 42, 113, 119, 161, 183–4, 188, 230, 233, 240, 252
see also space, Euclidean; space, curvature of spacetime
Gibson, William: The Difference Engine 137
giraffes, evolution of the neck 88, 362
global warming 437–41
God 52, 80–81, 87
argument from design for existence of 83–7
creationism and 81
and mathematical infinities 166
gods 21, 26, 42, 43, 60, 64, 79, 80, 81, 97, 104, 203, 217, 243
Gödel, Kurt 184–5
gold 1–2, 30
golden age
of Athens 216–17, 254, 386
of Florence 218, 386
Islamic 220
myths 52, 63
Grace, Fall from 52
grammatical rules 374–5
gravity 29, 107, 112–13
gravitational effects of dark matter 46
gravitational energy 3
quantum 178, 449–50
see also space, curvature of spacetime; relativity
Great Rift Valley 48, 50, 58, 69
guessing see conjecture
Gutenberg, Johannes 134
Hades 19
Haldane, John 53, 56, 59, 81, 95
hallucination 301
see also mirages
Hamilton, Alexander 330
Hamilton’s rule 330, 331, 332
Hanson, Norwood Russell 10n
Hanson, Robin 457
happiness 316–19
Harris, Robert: Fatherland 259
Harris, Roger 321
Hawking, Stephen 44, 45, 63, 175, 202, 203, 204, 208
Heisenberg, Werner 255, 289, 306–7, 309
Heisenberg uncertainty principle 289, 291, 303–4
heliocentric theory 8, 26–7
helium 1, 47, 96
helots 218, 247
Heraclitus 7
Hermes, and
‘a dream of Socrates’ 223–43
Herodotus 216
high-level phenomena 108–10, 114, 160, 300–301, 371
Hilbert, David 186, 189
Infinity Hotel thought experiment 167–77, 181, 185–6, 195
Hill, Joseph Adna 334
historians of science 256
histories (sequences of events in a multiverse)
coarse-grained 293, 298
definition 265
differentiation/splitting of 273–5, 276–9, 285–8, 293–4
distinguished from universes 265
and entanglement information 281, 289–90
and explicability 301
and fungibility see fungibility
and interference 283–8, 291, 293
measurement and 307
multiplicity of histories between observations 308
rate of growth of distinct histories 288
rejoining of split histories 282–5
and strata 293
history 265, 429
alternative-history fiction 259, 294
distinguished from ‘world’, ‘universe’ and ‘multiverse’ 265
of ideas 4, 5, 43, 216, 305–16, 428, 442 see also philosophy
of life 68, 92, 95, 379–80
of optimism 216
pessimism in 216
of philosophy 255
see also civilization; prehistory
Hofstadter, Douglas 115–18, 138, 149–50
holism 110, 123–4
Homo erectus 400
Horgan, John 447–9
House of Representatives, US 326, 330, 331, 349–50
humanism 219
humans
anthropocentrism see anthropocentrism
not supported by the biosphere 48–50
as channels of information flow 302
as chemical scum 44–8, 51, 72, 73
and the doomsday argument 455–6
escapes from extinction 49, 196–7, 204–5, 206–7
as glowing 46
human appearance 365
and matter 46
as problem-solvers 435; see also problem solving
the reach of human adaptations 56–65
significance of knowledge and 70–75, 76
as spark for knowledge creation 75
survival of civilization/species 49, 62–3, 196–7, 202, 204–5, 206–8
as universal constructors 58–60, 62, 429
see also people
Hume, David 118, 120
humour 150, 151, 156–7, 174, 310, 355, 372–3, 374
origin and evolution of jokes 93, 372–3, 374, 388
Hunt, Terry 418
Huxley, Thomas 355
hydrogen 47, 56, 66, 73, 75, 96, 145, 290–91
bombs 139, 196
transmutation of 1, 61, 67
ideas
conjectural see conjecture
replicating see memes
see also explanations
ignorance, infinite 447
imagination 26, 264–5
see also fiction; science fiction
imitation 402, 403–10, 417
aping 405
behaviour parsing 407–9
parroting 405, 406–7
immortality 63, 214, 455, 459
impartiality see fairness
incredulity, argument from personal 164
indiscernibles, Leibniz’s doctrine of 265–6
induction see inductivism
inductivism 5–7, 9, 27, 30, 210, 220, 318, 340, 403
and Lamarckism 89, 106, 210, 411–12
principle of induction 5, 7, 28, 31
inexplicability 53–4, 104, 103, 264–5, 281–2, 445–6
see also supernatural
inexplicit knowledge 365, 367, 369, 374, 375, 380, 403–5, 408, 412, 414
infinity 164–95
Cantor’s definition 167, 181
and confusions of abstract attributes with physical ones of the same name 182–6
of the continuum 164, 170, 195
countable 171, 172, 194
ideas with infinite reach 167–93
our infinite ignorance 447
infinite ignorance and potential for knowledge 447
the infinite reach of ideas 167–93
infinite regress 174–5, 178, 190, 194, 226, 341
infinite sets 102, 118, 122, 164, 167–80, 277, 453
Infinity Hotel thought experiment 167–77, 181, 185–6, 195
introduction to concept of beginning of vii–viii
mathematics and 164, 166, 167–77, 186
measuring instruments and 181
physics and 164, 173, 175, 177–81, 182–3, 193–4
potential 165
principled rejections of 132–3, 165–7, 459
and probability 176–7
religious objections to study of 166
uncountable 171–2, 177, 181, 182
and universality 164–5
see also Zeno’s mistake
information flow 238, 263, 265, 266, 281, 282, 292
people as channels of 302
in quantum theory 282, 287, 295, 304
see also histories (sequences of events in a multiverse)
initial state 107, 118, 280
innovation 125, 127, 133, 147, 197, 202, 204, 205, 392, 394, 398–401, 402, 410, 413–14, 435
and catastrophes 201
and criticism 222
Florentine 218–19
rapid 397, 399, 457
suppression of 202, 204, 384, 416, 423, 427
see also universality, the jump to
insoluble problems 53, 193, 213
see also problems are soluble; undecidable questions
inspiration 36, 37, 41, 42, 58, 158–60, 333, 341, 440
inspiration/perspiration 36, 37, 41, 58, 76, 158–60, 341–2, 456
see also automation
instrumentalism 15–16, 26, 31, 110, 112, 210, 325, 356
and quantum theory 307–9
see also behaviourism; finitism
instruments, scientific see measuring instruments
intelligence 2, 47, 60, 86
artificial see artificial intelligence (AI)
and explanations 30
extraterrestrial see extraterrestrials
see also fine-tuning
interference, quantum 282–8, 291, 293, 295–8, 301–2, 303
see also Mach–Zehnder interferometers
interpretation 36, 45, 65, 115, 127, 144, 164, 178, 216, 219, 253, 255, 301, 311, 318–19, 329n, 330, 337, 344, 423, 428–9, 436
of experiences 7–10, 17, 18, 22, 30, 38, 151, 317, 359, 369, 370, 403, 404, 407, 410, 448
of quantum theory 263, 266, 306–10, 312, 322, 325, 460
split from prediction in scientific theories 315–16, 323, 324–5, 449
introspection 154
‘ironic science’ 448–9
Jacquard, Joseph Marie 134
Jacquard loom 134–5
Jefferson, Thomas 330
Jews 219, 385
joke, hideous, played on humans 416
jokes see humour
jump to universality see universality
justificationism 9, 31, 120, 187, 189
see also authority and knowledge
Kant, Immanuel 183
Keats, John 355
Kennedy, John F. 215
Kepler, Johannes 112
Kepler’s laws 112, 113, 256, 446
knowledge 78
in adaptation 55, 56–65, 78–81, 88
and the problem of creationism 79–81
and authority see authority and knowledge
creation of see creation of knowledge
cultural 50, 51, 55, 59, 422
and deduction 5
certain see fallibilism
and ‘a dream of Socrates’ 226–43, 245, 252–3
effects on an environment 74–5; see also under biosphere
encoded/embodied in matter 50, 56, 74–5, 266–7,
375–7
and evolution 77, 78–105
explanatory see explanations; scientific theories
genetic see DNA; genes; genomes
inexplicit see inexplicit knowledge
infinite ignorance as potential for 447
moral see moral knowledge
as ‘nearly there’ 445–6
non-explanatory 29, 73, 78, 94; see also inexplicit knowledge; rules of thumb
objective vii, 15, 31, 122, 185, 193, 203, 209, 221–2, 226, 236, 238, 242, 253, 255, 308, 314, 345, 350, 353–4, 358–68, 388, 394, 448
Plato’s theory of 119, 252, 252–3
as a replicator 95, 114, 266–7
significance of people and 70–75, 76
and survival 202, 207
see also epistemology
Kuhn, Thomas 313
Kurrild-Klitgaard, Peter 339
Lagrange, Joseph-Louis 198–9, 206, 445, 446
Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste 87–8, 89
Lamarckism 87–9, 96, 103, 105, 106, 158, 210, 376, 411, 446
language 93, 94, 125–6, 142, 154, 268, 280, 309, 311, 315, 323, 363, 365, 366, 369–70, 405, 407, 409, 413, 414, 428
other than natural language 144, 154, 159–62, 199, 292, 361, 365, 366, 399
see also universality: the jump to; writing systems
Laplace, Pierre Simon 133
lasers 73, 266, 267, 273–4, 294, 393, 446
see also atomic lasers
laws of nature see nature, laws of
laws of physics see physics, laws of
Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm 137, 164, 181, 199–200, 265–6, 268, 269
Leonardo da Vinci 219
liberty see freedom
life-support system 44–51, 45, 64, 71 see also Spaceship Earth; sustainability
light 2, 3, 8, 11, 16, 38, 46, 47, 54, 61, 68, 80, 85, 208, 228, 240n, 261, 273, 305, 314, 357, 413, 433, 452
faster-than-light communication 55–6, 275–6, 283, 434
speed of 192, 199, 262, 263, 273, 291, 293, 294, 451
sunlight 8, 47, 57, 441
see also photons
Littlefield, John E. 333
llamas 426–7, 429
Locke, John 4, 134
Loebner, Hugh (Prize) 150–51
logical positivism 313, 314, 325
Lovelace, Ada, Countess of 136, 137, 148
‘Lady Lovelace’s objection’ 138
low-level phenomena 109–10, 111, 138
Mach, Ernst 312, 324
Mach, Ludwig 312
Mach–Zehnder interferometers 286–7, 296–7, 305, 309, 312
Machiavelli, Niccolò 219
magic 16, 19–21, 53–4, 81, 82, 173, 242, 301
wizards 260
see also conjuring tricks
Malthus, Thomas 201, 205–7, 421, 435, 436
Malthusian prophetic fallacy 206, 214, 432
Marx, Karl 371, 426, 428, 430, 442
mathematical proof see proof
mathematical truth see truth
mating 90, 91, 144, 359, 360, 362, 400, 401, 402, 413, 415
matter 14, 16, 40, 45–6, 61–2, 66, 68–9, 74, 75, 85, 97, 134, 203, 290–91, 305
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