Book Read Free

This Explains Everything

Page 36

by Mr. John Brockman


  Chang, Edward, 217

  change, sensory adaptation to, 6–7

  Charlier, Carl Vilhelm Ludvig, 70

  China, 250, 313

  chordates, 163–65

  Christiansen, Morten, 395

  chromosomes, 87–88

  claustrum, 89–90

  climate change, 247–51

  cocaine, 102–3, 329

  cognition, perception in, 57–58

  cognitive behavioral therapy, 292–95

  cognitive revolution, 215–17

  cognitivism, 15–16

  Cohn, Martin J., 268

  coincidence, 287–88

  Coleman, Sidney, 230

  Collingridge dilemma, 255

  commitment, 102–3

  compact disk, 171

  competition, 1–2, 9–12, 42, 44–45, 241, 243

  complexity theory, 35–37, 59–60, 176, 183, 239–41, 273–75, 299–302

  compression algorithm, 233–35

  computer programming bugs, 225–26

  conceptual-metaphor explanation, 218–20

  conditioning, 22, 106–7, 324–27

  conflict, 10, 11, 22–23, 42–45, 91, 107, 134–35, 294

  consciousness, 22–23, 55–58, 60, 88–90, 285–86

  conservation of mass/energy, 245–48

  constellations, 28–29

  continental drift, 127–30

  continuity equations, 245–48

  Conway, John, 210–11

  cooperation, 102–3, 104–5, 134–35, 152–55

  Copernicus, Nicolaus, 28, 150, 243–44, 309, 340, 346

  copying errors, 190

  corruption, 376

  cosmic acceleration, 72–73

  cosmological principle, 67–69, 70

  cosmological thought, 59–60

  cosmology, physical, 85–86. See also universe

  creationism, 70

  credit-default swap crisis, 316

  Cremonini, Cesare, 399

  Crick Francis, 3–4, 87–90, 96, 120

  Cronin, Helena, 135

  cross-modal correspondence, 184–86

  crystals, 30–33, 59–60, 239

  cultural relativity, 168

  culture, theory of, 112–15

  cummings, e. e., 240, 308

  Cushing, Robert, 50–51

  Dahl, Ron, 322

  Daly, Martin, 43

  dark matter, 22–23

  Darley, John M., 284

  Darwin, Charles, 1, 5, 8, 9–12, 13–14, 38, 119, 124, 132, 141, 151, 156–60, 179, 276–79, 302

  Darwinian fitness, 350

  Davies, Paul, 60

  Dawkins, Richard, 112

  Deacon, Terry, 395

  death, 364

  deception, 134–35

  decision making, 92, 372–73, 385–86

  decoherence, 142

  deep time, 290–91

  defection, 102–3, 104–5

  déjà vus, 287–88

  delayed gratification, 331

  democracy, 401

  Democritus, 259, 261

  Dennett, Daniel, 161

  denumerable infinities, 365–66

  depression, 293–95

  Deroy, Ophelia, 185

  Descartes, René, 175, 198–200, 305, 339

  description length, 35–37

  descriptions theory (Russell), 206–7

  determinism, 79–80

  developmental biology, 172–73

  developmental psychology, 161–62, 296–98, 320–23, 356–58

  DeVoe, Sanford, 193–95

  diabetes, 181, 359, 361

  Diaconis, Persi, 378, 379

  Diamond, Jared, 136

  diet, 273–75, 326, 359–63

  dinosaurs, 201–3

  Dirac, Paul, 81, 143, 387–88

  dirt, 168

  discontinuity of science and culture, 345–46

  disease, germ theory of, 166–67

  dispositions, 354–55

  division of labor, 152–55

  DNA, 3–4, 42, 87–89, 96, 120, 179, 362

  dominance, 136, 376

  Donne, John, 345–46

  dopamine, 328–29, 343–44

  dorsoventral inversion, 165

  Douglas, Mary, 168

  dreams, 294

  drugs, 102–3, 166, 325, 328–29, 343–44, 351–53, 379–80

  Dyson, Freeman, 64

  Earth

  circumference of, 108–10

  climate change, 247–51

  deep time, 290–91

  formation, 131–33, 240–44

  Gaia hypothesis, 239, 242–44

  inertia, 339–42

  Oklo pyramid, 280–82

  in open system, 247

  plate tectonics/continental drift, 127–30

  earthquakes, 133

  Eco, Umberto, 53

  effective theory, 214

  Einstein, Albert, 27, 28, 38, 40–41, 61–63, 64, 65, 67, 72, 80, 120, 141–43, 144–46, 178, 243, 305, 307, 336, 341

  Eipo people (New Guinea), 48–49

  electricity, biological generation of, 389–91

  electromagnetism, 26–27, 334–38

  elegance, 25–26, 30–33, 36–37, 38–39, 119–21, 381–82

  embodiment, 90

  emergence, 174–76

  Empedocles, 14, 259

  empiricism, 215, 399–401

  energy-deficit (“starving cell”) hypothesis, 359–63

  Enlightenment, 400

  Eno, Brian, 53

  entropy, 19–21, 35, 61–62, 188–90

  environment

  interaction with genes, 157–59

  subjective, 139–40

  Epicurious, 273

  epicycles, 28

  epigenetics, 179–82

  Eratosthenes, 108–11

  ethics, compromise in, 95

  eukaryotes, 153–55

  Euler, Leonhard, 177–78, 305, 306

  Eulerian frame, 177–78

  evidence-based policy, 159–60

  evolution

  coevolution, 124

  in developmental biology, 172–73

  evolutionary genetics, 42–45

  geographical range, 276–79

  importance of individuals, 137–38

  by natural selection, 1–2, 5, 8, 9–12, 13–14, 42–45, 129–30

  evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS), 252–54

  evolutionary biology, 239, 242–44, 252–54

  evolutionary psychology, 323

  experimental psychology, 85–86

  explanation, 25–27, 387–88

  Fairchild Semiconductor, 236

  family, 42–45, 155. See also marriage

  Faraday, Michael, 20, 334–35

  Faurie-Raymond hypothesis, 46–49

  females, 15–18, 42–45, 134–35, 159–60, 252–54, 265–68

  fermions, 260

  fetal testosterone, 265–68

  Feynman, Richard, 62, 208–9

  First Rule of Reasoning in Philosophy (Newton), 38

  fixed adaptations, 43

  flocking behavior, 183

  Fodor, Jerry, 109–10

  food-pairing principle, 274–75

  Fourier’s theorem, 204–5

  Fournier d’Albe, Edmund Edward, 70

  frames of reference, 177–78, 189, 190

  Frayn, Michael, 81

  free will, 89–90, 357

  Freud, Sigmund, 22–23

  Gaia hypothesis, 239, 242–44

  Galaburda, Albert, 266

  galaxies, 174

  Galileo, 40–41, 178, 339–41, 346, 399–400

  game theory, 252–54

  Gandhi, Mahatma, 137–38

  ganglion cells, 7

  gender diversity, 159–60

  gene pools, 8

  genetic variation, 301

  Genovese, Kitty, 283

  geocentric universe, 28–29

  geographical range, 276–79

  geometry, 144–46

  germ theory of disease,
166–67

  Geschwind, Norman, 266

  global cultural imitation, 114

  Goethals, George, 296, 298

  Goldilocks zone, 243

  Good Idea, 303–4

  Google, 194–95

  grammatical structure, 99–101

  “grandmother neurons,” 5–6, 97

  Gratias, Denis, 32

  gravitational-wave detector, 77–78

  graviton, 77–78

  gravity, 20, 27, 40–41, 72, 76, 142–43, 240

  quantum, 65–66, 77–78, 145–46

  greenhouse gases, 247–48

  Greenland, 127

  Griffith, Fred, 88

  group apathy, 283–84

  groupness, 107

  group polarization phenomenon, 50–51

  group-selection, 252, 253

  group theory, 30–33

  Guth, Alan, 71

  Habicht, Conrad, 63

  Haldane, John Scott, 299–300, 302

  Hamilton, W. D., 243–44

  Hamilton, William, 43, 154–55

  Hamlet (Shakespeare), 24, 385

  handedness, 46–49

  Hardin, Garrett, 122

  Harmony of the Spheres, 75

  Harryhausen, Ray, 270

  Hartley, Ralph, 170

  Harvey, William, 400

  Hawking, Stephen, 80

  Heald, Mark, 337

  Heisenberg, Werner, 79–81, 143

  Helmholtz, Hermann von, 55–58

  herd behavior, 50–51, 53, 96–98, 283–84

  heterosexuality, 16

  Higgs boson, 214, 380

  Higgs mechanism, 212–14

  Hilbert, David, 385–86

  hippocampus, 91–92

  histones, 87–88

  Hitchin, Nigel, 145

  Hitler, Adolf, 376, 390

  Hobbes, Thomas, 9, 400

  Hodgkin, Alan, 389–91

  Hoffman, Don, 87

  holism, reductionism versus, 54

  holographic bound, 234–35

  Home Depot, 194

  homeopathy, 347

  hormesis, 347–50

  Hubel, David H., 7–8, 96

  Hume, David, 149–51

  Hutton, James, 290–91

  Huxley, Andrew, 389–91

  Huxley, T. H., 48

  Iceland, 264

  Idaghdour, Youssef, 180

  illusions, 55–58

  inbreeding, 263–64

  inclusive-fitness theory, 154–55

  income distribution, 368

  indivisible component of matter, 259

  induction, 20

  inertia, 339–42

  inexactness, 79–81

  inference, 55–58

  infidelity, 45, 134–35

  information theory, 6, 169–71

  Intel, 236

  interference pattern, 63

  intergroup conflict, 107

  internal combustion engine, 191–92

  International Energy Agency, 250

  Internet, group polarization phenomenon, 51

  intuition, 151, 210–11

  inverse power laws, 367–69

  isotropic, 110

  jealousy, 17, 18

  Jefferson, Thomas, 401

  Johnson, Mark, 218–20

  Johnson, Steven, 123

  Jung, Carl, 378

  “just-so” stories, 130–31, 370–71

  Kahneman, Daniel, 95, 349

  Kandinsky, Wassily, 345

  Kaplan-Meier estimator, 332–33

  Kauffman, Stuart, 123

  Keats, John, 48, 106

  Kelvin, Lord, 131–33, 204–5

  Kepler, Johannes, 28, 75, 305

  Kierkegaard, Søren, 10–11, 80

  King, Martin Luther, Jr., 138

  kinship, 42–45, 155. See also marriage

  Kipling, Rudyard, 370, 371

  Kirby, Simon, 395

  Koch, Christof, 89–90

  Komogorov-Smirnov-Chaitin complexity, 35

  Kuhn, Thomas, 128

  Kunreuther, Howard, 349

  Lagrangian frame, 177–78

  Lakoff, George, 216, 218–20

  language, 99–101, 267–68, 395–96

  Latané, Bibb, 284

  lateral inhibition, 7

  left-handedness, 46–49

  Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, 70

  Leonardo da Vinci, 305, 306

  leptin, 300

  leptons, 76, 82–84

  Lettvin, Jerry, 5–8

  Levine, Dov, 32

  Life Force, 239–41

  light-quantum hypothesis, 63

  LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory), 77–78

  Locke, John, 182, 215

  Lomborg, Bjorn, 250–51

  love, 45

  Lovelock, James, 242–44

  Lucretius underestimation, 349

  Lundberg, Kristjen, 217

  magnetic fields, 125–26

  magnetohydrodynamics, 70

  magnetometers, 127–28

  males, 15–18, 42–45, 134–35, 159–60, 252–54, 265–68

  Mandela, Nelson, 138

  Mandelbrot, Benoit, 349

  Mann, John, 294–95

  Margulis, Lynn, 239, 242–44

  marijuana, 352

  marriage, 15–18, 45, 135, 264

  mathematical theory, 34, 35–37

  Maxwell, James Clerk, 26–27, 309, 335–36, 337

  Mayberg, Helen, 293

  McManus, Chris, 186

  McNeill, William, 166–67

  Mead, Margaret, 138

  measurement problem, 73

  medial posterodorsal (MePD) nucleus, 266

  mediocrity, 397–98

  Meier, Brian, 216

  Meier, Paul, 332–33

  meme, 112

  memory, 91–92

  Menander, 175–76

  Mendel, Gregor, 87–88

  Menger, Carl, 312–14

  mentalizing, 118

  mental states, 365–66

  Merton, Robert, 351

  metabolic syndrome (MetSyn), 359–63

  metaphor, 215–17, 218–20, 299, 302

  metarepresentation, 110, 116–18

  metatheory, 39

  Miceli, Paul, 217

  Milinda, 175–76

  Milinski, Manfred, 104–5

  mind, theory of, 121

  mind-reading, 121

  Minsky, Marvin, 122–23

  mitochondrial biogenesis, 360–63

  modular mind, theory of, 106–7, 108–11

  molecular biology, 146, 163–65

  molecular gastronomy, 273–75

  money, 312–14

  monogamy, 15–18, 135

  moons, of Jupiter, 125–26

  Moore’s Law, 236–38, 271

  morality, 9–12

  Morgan, Thomas, 87–88

  Moroccan Amizighs (Berbers), 179–80

  motion blur, 270–71

  movies, 36, 269–72

  multilevel selection, 53–54

  multimodal associations, 97

  multiverse, 24, 59–60, 68–69

  music, 53, 54, 114, 171, 227–29, 298

  mutation, 253–54

  Nagasena, 175–76

  National Institute of Mental Health, 295

  naturalistic explanations, 13–14

  natural selection, 163

  continental drift and, 129–30

  entropy in, 188–90

  evolution by means of, 1–2, 5, 8, 9–12, 13–14, 42–45, 192

  gene/environment interaction, 157–59

  handedness, 47–49

  language and, 99–101

  metarepresentations, 117–18

  variation-selection process, 52–54

  Navier-Stokes equations, 245–46

  negative pressure, 72

  nepotism, 44

  Nernst, Walther, 63

  network science, 275

  network-tracing model, 113–15

  neural code, 87–89


  neural networks, 97

  new mysterians, 88

  Newton, Isaac, 19–20, 28, 38, 41, 142, 150, 198, 305, 306

  Nicastro, Nicholas, 108–10

  Nicolson, Marjorie, 346

  nuclear fusion, 402

  nucleus, 84

  Nyquist, Harry, 170

  obesity, 181, 359, 361

  objectivity, 158–60

  object-relations theory, 296–98

  observation, 85–86, 156–60

  Occam’s razor, 38–39, 87, 106–7, 289, 381

  oceans, 125–26

  Oklo pyramid, 280–82

  opioid-drug pathways, 343–44

  Ortega y Gasset, José, 387–88

  Ostrom, John, 202

  other minds, 149–51

  outbreeding, 263–64

  Pagel, Mark, 114

  Papert, Seymour, 122–23

  parental investment, 42–45

  Parker, G. S., 252–54

  parsimony, 38–39, 48, 87, 106–7, 289, 381

  particle theory, 76, 82–84, 144–47, 208–9, 212–14, 240, 259–62, 402

  Pascal’s Wager, 249–51

  path integral formulation, 209

  pattern recognition, 5–8

  Pavlov, Ivan, 324–27

  Pearson, Karl, 378–79

  Penrose tiling, 32

  perception

  of blue sky, 305–7, 310

  illusions, 55–58

  of natural change, 191–92

  persistence of vision, 269–72

  subjectivity, 139–40, 285–86

  taste, 273–75

  visual continuity, 285–86

  Perrin, Jean Baptiste, 372

  persistence of vision, 269–72

  personality differences, 354–58

  Pesic, Peter, 306

  Peter Principle, 397–98

  Pfeffer, Jeffrey, 193–95

  phantom limb pain, 57

  Phoenix, Charles, 266

  photoelectric effect, 61–63

  photons, 61–63

  pigeonhole principle, 221–24, 233–35

  Pixar, 271

  placebo effect, 325–26, 343–44

  Planck, Max, 61, 63, 64, 65

  Planck density, 65–66

  plate tectonics, 127–30

  Plato, 13, 26

  Platonic solids, 75

  Playfair, John, 290

  Poisson process, 378

  pollution, 250

  polysensory convergence, 90

  Popper, Karl, 156, 159–60

  possessiveness, 17, 18

  power, 136, 376

  power of the preposterous (Kierkegaard), 10–11

  precession of the simulacra (Baudrillard), 315–16

  presidential candidates, 50–51

  Price, G. R., 252–54

  Price equation, 52–54

  primaries, 84

  Prisoner’s Dilemma, 102–3, 104–5

  probability distributions, 379–80

  Prohibition, 353

  prokaryotes, 153–55

  protolanguage, 99

  protons, 84

  protoplanets, 131

  psychotherapy, 292–95

  Ptolemy, Claudius, 28–29, 150

  PTSD, 318–19

 

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