puberty, 320–23
Pythagoras, 75
quantization, 61
quantum electrodynamics (QED) theory, 208–9
quantum field theory, 144–45, 146
quantum gravity, 65–66, 77–78, 145–46
quantum mechanics, 3, 31–32, 79–80, 141–43, 259–60
quantum physics, 61–63, 64, 77–78, 133
quantum theory, 141–47
quarks, 76, 82–84
Quine, Willard Van Orman, 110, 207
radar, 169–70
radioactivity, 133
Ramachandran, Vilyanur S., 56
Ramsey, Frank, 207
randomness, 14, 332–33
ratchet, 24
rationality, 11, 22–23, 94–95
Rawls, John, 15–17
Rayleigh, Lord, 307, 309
reaction-diffusion model, 370–71
realism, 149–51
red-figure vases, 392–94
reductionism, 54, 115
redundancy, 5–8, 347–50
reference frames, 177–78, 189, 190
reflective equilibrium (Rawls), 15–17
reinforcement, 106–7, 330–31
relativity theory, 63, 64, 72, 141–44, 340–41
reproductive efficiency, 16–17
repulsion, 98
Reynolds, Craig, 183
Richter, Gerhard, 227–29
Rishons, 84
risk
group polarization phenomenon, 50–51
precession of the simulacra (Baudrillard), 315–16
risk-management methods, 348–49
RNA, 42
romantic love, 45
rotational symmetry of space, 230–32
Rubens, Heinrich, 63
Russell, Bertrand, 206–7
Rutherford, Ernest, 133, 259–60
Ryle, Gilbert, 354
sacred values, 9–12
Saint-Hilaire, Étienne Geoffroy, 163–65
Saint-Venant equations, 245–46
Salk Institute, 88
Salsburg, David, 379
sampling theorem, 271–72
Sanna, Lawrence, 217
satisficing, 94–95
Saussure, Horace-Bénédict de, 306
scarcity, 193–95
Schechtman, Dan, 32–33
Schelling, Thomas, 102–3
schizophrenia, 295, 301
Schkade, David, 51
Schopenhauer, Arthur, 364
Schrödinger, Erwin, 3, 141–42, 143, 188
Schubert, Thomas, 216–17
scientific tragedy (Huxley), 48
Scott, Dave, 40
Searle, John, 365–66
self
emergence, 175–76
self-blackmail, 102–3
self-organization, 98
self-perception theory, 354–55
selfishness, 104–5
Sellbom, Martin, 216
sensory adaptation, 6–7
sensory neurobiology, 5–8
sensory recognition, 5–6
serotonin system, 181
sex
athletics and, 49
inbreeding/outbreeding, 263–64
monogamy and, 15–18, 135
parental investment and, 42–45
sexual-conflict theory, 134–35
sex ratios, 252–54
Shannon, Claude, 6, 169–71
Simon, Herbert, 57, 94–95
Simons, Jim, 144–45
simplicity, 35–39, 204–5
Singer, Isadore, 145
Skinner, B. F., 106
sky, color of, 305–11
slavery, 15, 16
sleep, 364
Smith, Adam, 312, 351
Smith, John Maynard, 252–54
snowflakes, 59–60, 239
social cognition, 118
sonar, 127–28
specialization, 124, 152–55
Spence, Charles, 185
Sperber, Dan, 112–15, 118
spheres, 34
sports, 47–49
Stalin, Joseph, 376
stars, 28–29, 174, 196–97, 402
stereo vision, 161–62
Storr, Robert, 227–29
strangeness neuron, 7
string theory, 59–60, 66–68, 143, 146
structure-function analogy, 89–90
Strutt, John William (Lord Rayleigh), 307, 309
subcultures, 114
subjectivity, 139–40, 148, 285–86
suicidal behaviors, 294–95
sun, 196–97, 247
sunrise, 308–11
Sunstein, Cass, 333
swarm intelligence, 96–98
Sword, Richard and Rosemary, 319
symmetry, 25–26, 30–33, 36–37, 214
Symons, Donald, 43
synapses, 391
synchronicity, 378
synesthesia, 185
Szyf, Moshe, 180–81
tachyenergetics, 201–3
Tale-Yax, Hugo Alfredo, 283
taste, 273–75
Taylor, Shelley, 181
TD-Gammon, 330
technology
artificial intelligence, 93, 94–95, 122–23
Collingridge dilemma, 255
computer algorithm trading, 316
computer programming bugs, 225–26
computers as transitional objects, 297–98
information theory, 169–71
Internet group polarization phenomenon, 51
Moore’s Law, 236–38, 271
movie, 269–72
temporal-difference (TD) learning, 328–31
terrorism, 51
thalidomide, 353
Theophrastus, 356
Theory of Everything, 66–67
thermodynamics, 19–21, 131–33, 188, 191, 247
Thompson, D’Arcy Wentworth, 161–62, 173
Thomson, William (Lord Kelvin), 131–33, 204–5
ticks, 140
time
deep time, 290–91
music and, 228–29
psychological, 317–19
in quantum mechanics, 143
smallest unit, 64
subjective, 140, 148, 285
time pressure, 193–95
Tinbergen, Nikolaas, 383–84
Tit for Tat behavior, 104–5
Titius, Johann, 75
Tolstoy, Leo, 377–78
transcendent force, 9–12
transgenerational modifications, 181–82
transitional objects, 296–98
Traveling Salesman problem, 98
trigonometry, 108–10
Trivers, Robert, 43
trust, 256–58
truth, 106
Turing, Alan, 370–71, 372–74, 385–86
Turing machine, 372–74, 385–86
Tversky, Amos, 95
twin studies, 181
Tyler, John, 401
Uexküll, Jakob von, 139–40
uncertainty, 169–71
uncertainty principle (Heisenberg), 79–81
unconscious mind, 22–23, 55–58
unintended consequences, law of, 351–53
universe
Big Bang, 59, 66, 70, 71–74, 240
black holes, 78, 143, 197
classical versus quantum picture, 77–78
closed versus open, 66
comprehensible, 65–69
deep time, 290–91
emergence, 174–76
flat, 66, 67
geocentric, 28–29
hierarchical, 70
inflationary, 67–69, 71–74
multiverse versus, 24, 59–60, 68–69
stars, 28–29, 174, 196–97, 402
uranium, 280–82
vaccination, 166
vacuum states, 59–60
values, 9–12
variation-selection process, 52–54
Verlinde, Erik, 241
verticality, 216–17
Vickers, Michael, 392–94
v
ideo games, 271, 298
violence, handedness, 47–49
virtual domain-generality, 110
vision, persistence of, 269–72
visual continuity, 285–86
visual cortex, 96–97
visual perception, 5–8
Vitruvius, 392–94
Wallace, Alfred Russel, 1, 11–12, 276–79
war, 10
Warburg, Emil, 63
water, 125–26, 131
Watson, James, 4, 87–89, 96
wave-function collapse, 141–42
Wegener, Alfred, 127–28
Weyl, Hermann, 30–33
Wheeler, John, 85
White, Lawrence, 312
white noise, 197
Wiesel, Torsten, 7–8, 96
Wigner, Eugene, 31, 65, 67
William of Occam, 38–39
Williams, George, 43
Wilson, E. O., 112
Wilson, Margo, 43
Winnicott, David, 296–98
witch-hunting, 401
Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 80, 184, 207, 210
Wolfflin, Heinrich, 186
Woodford, Michael, 313
Woolf, Virginia, 345
Wright, Sewall, 123–24
Wu-Yang dictionary, 145
Wygant, Dustin, 216
Yang, C. N., 144–45
Zheng, Zhenghui, 268
Zipf’s law, 367
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I wish to thank Peter Hubbard of HarperCollins for his encouragement. I am also indebted to my agent, Max Brockman, who saw the potential for this book, and to Sara Lippincott for her thoughtful and meticulous editing.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The founder and publisher of the influential online science salon Edge.org, JOHN BROCKMAN is the editor of This Will Make You Smarter, This Will Change Everything, What Is Your Dangerous Idea?, What We Believe but Cannot Prove, and other volumes. He is the CEO of the literary agency Brockman Inc., and lives in New York City.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors and artists.
ALSO BY JOHN BROCKMAN
AS AUTHOR
By the Late John Brockman
37
Afterwords
The Third Culture: Beyond the Scientific Revolution
Digerati
AS EDITOR
About Bateson
Speculations
Doing Science
Ways of Knowing
Creativity
The Greatest Inventions of the Past 2,000 Years
The Next Fifty Years
The New Humanists
Curious Minds
What We Believe but Cannot Prove
My Einstein
Intelligent Thought
What Is Your Dangerous Idea?
What Are You Optimistic About?
What Have You Changed Your Mind About?
This Will Change Everything
Is the Internet Changing the Way You Think?
Culture
The Mind
This Will Make You Smarter
AS COEDITOR
How Things Are (with Katinka Matson)
BACK AD
COPYRIGHT
Cover design by Oliver Munday
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FIRST EDITION
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This explains everything : deep, beautiful, and elegant theories of how the world works / edited by John Brockman. — 1st ed.
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Summary: “Drawn from the cutting-edge frontiers of science, This Explains Everything presents 150 of the most deep, surprising, and brilliant explanations of how the world works, with contributions by Jared Diamond, Richard Dawkins, Nassim Taleb, Brian Eno, Steven Pinker, and more”— Provided by publisher.
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