Limits of Science?

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John E. Beerbower. Limits of Science?

Dedication

Preface

Introduction

Knowledge and Understanding

The Goal of Comprehension

The concept of causality

A priori knowledge

Comprehensibility

The Role of Theories and Models

Deductive theories

An example: The gene

More on deduction

The “Problem” of Induction

Inferences and predictions

David Hume

Probabilities

Bells, beer and ravens

Some observations

Prediction versus Explanation

An example: gravity

The nature of understanding

The Requirement of Falsifiability

Falsifiability

Testing and verification

An example: Darwinian theory

Another example: medical science

The Process of Science

Revolutions?

Complexity and prejudice

Science and advocacy

The “evolution” of science

Explanation Revisited

Biological limits to understanding?

Cultural limits to understanding?

The Laws of Nature

Endnotes

Mathematics

The Nature of Mathematics

What is mathematics?

Is mathematics universal?

Wigner’s famous question

Mathematics and Logic

Example: One plus one

Example: Proof by contradiction?

The Uses and Usefulness of Mathematics

Wigner’s question again

Are mathematical propositions true?

Problems of Infinity

The construct of zero

The construct of infinity

Alternatives

Concepts of Probability

Luck, risk and chance

Bayes’ Theorem

The toss of a coin

Usefulness Revisited

Laws of Nature and ceteris paribus

The human mind and the physical world

Deductive theories again

The methods of Newton and Galileo

A hostage to mathematics?

Concluding comments

Endnotes

Economics

Economics and Other Social Sciences

“Physics envy”

History as science

Expert arrogance

The importance of methodology

The Subject of Economics

Value theory

Micro and macro and more

The Science of Economics

Deductive theories

Pareto optimality

Problems and controversies

The Theory of the Firm (And the Assumption of Profit Maximization)

The "Firm"

In perfect competition

In imperfect competition

Behavioral models

The Marginalist Debate

The challenge

The response

The further exchanges

Milton Friedman’s “positive economics”

Some observations

The Methodological Issues

Prediction and explanation revisited

Ceteris paribus again

Initial conditions

An element of circularity

The “good” theory

The relevance of equilibrium

Some Concluding Comments

The “invisible hand”

Economic “morality”

Endnotes

Darwinism

The Source of Life and Intelligence

Ulterior motives?

Is Darwinism a "fact"?

Some of the issues

Natural Selection

Some background

The gene as the relevant unit

The issue of design

Non-random selection

Random variation

The Origin of Species

Species: mules, ligers and Neanderthals

Emergence of a species

Bacteria and bugs

Randomness again

Islands

Gradualism

Dramatic changes and missing links

Evolution and Cooperation

Social life and kin selection

Group selection

Quorum sensing

The Prisoner’s Dilemma

Models of cooperation and natural selection

Some comments

Evolution and Progress

Darwin’s views

“Non-zero sumness”

A "constructal law"?

The “law of forms”

The Inevitability of Intelligent Life?

Re-running the tape

Chance and convergence

Are we alone?

The “New” Biology

Interactions of genes and horizontal transfer

Epigenetics

Other non-genetic factors

Symbiotic relationships

Endosymbiosis

The three domains of life

And viruses

Genetic variations

And so…?

Some Concluding Comments

The nature of neo-Darwinian explanation

Religion again

Something more?

Endnotes

Physics

Action at a Distance

The answer is "fields"?

The para-normal

Light

The “two-slit” experiment

Wave equations

The ether hypothesis

Experimental error?

Special Relativity

Einstein’s two axioms

Clocks, mirrors and trains

The universal speed limit

Time travel

Experimental evidence

Trials and errors

Accelerated motion

General Relativity

What is gravity?

Einstein’s answer

Space-time

Empirical evidence?

The vanishing Sun (again)

The cone of light

Field equations

Time

The nature of time

The origin of time

The role of time

Thermodynamics and Entropy

The First Law

The Second Law

The Second Law and the Universe

Time Revisited

Time as an illusion

Time as fundamental

A work in progress

Endnotes

Particle Physics and Quantum Mechanics

The (Sub) Microscopic World

The stuff of the Universe

Or, just mathematics?

Atoms and Their Parts

The Solar System analogy

Some of the empirical evidence

The Standard Model

Fermions

Positrons

The electroweak force

Bosons

QED

Anti-particles and virtual particles?

The final list?

The Higgs Boson

The hunt

The results

The Development of Quantum Mechanics

Planck’s constant

Particles or waves?

The “two-slit” experiment again

The Uncertainty Principle

Quantum Theories

Wave or matrix

The de Broglie-Bohm Theory

Superstrings

Physical interpretations

Superposition

Entanglement

From Micro to Macro

Emergence

Space as an emergent phenomenon

Alarming Implications?

The end of determinism?

The end of the point particle?

The appearance of particles

Spontaneous creation?

Virtual particles?

Final Observations

Theories again

Interpretations

Just mathematics (again)?

Endnotes

Cosmology

Our Universe

An origin?

Static and eternal?

Expanding or shrinking?

Setting the Stage

Historical views of the cosmos

The first telescopes

Nebulae: A larger universe

Edwin Hubble

The steady-state theory

The size and age of the Universe

Cosmic microwave radiation

Empirically-based cosmology

Black Holes

Chandrasekhar, white dwarfs and neutron stars

General Relativity

Detecting black holes

Misperceptions

Holes at the center

The future of black holes

The Big Bang

Introduction of quantum mechanics

After the Bang

Starlight and heavy metals

Cosmic microwave background radiation

Further corroboration?

Inflationary Cosmology

Inflation

Explanations or problems?

In the Beginning?

Recycling Universe

Before the beginning?

Nothing at all

A tiny bit of vacuum

An influence of religion?

The End of Time?

Flat, open or closed?

Dark matter

Evidence of a flat Universe

Accelerating expansion and “dark energy”

A dark and lonely place

Arrows of time

The Fine-tuning Problem

Numerical relationships

Very special initial conditions?

Just a “brute fact”?

The anthropic principle

Multiple universes

Is it science?

Infinity Again

A distraction?

A “bad” explanation?

Endnotes

Consciousness

At the Limits of Science?

Mind and cosmos

Beyond science?

How the Brain Works

The investigation of the brain

The structure of the brain

Plasticity

Some issues about genes

What the Brain Does

Memory

Sleep and dreams

The processing of information

Evolution and Consciousness

Reasoning in other animals

Artistic expression

Other evidence of self-awareness

Computers and Consciousness

Understanding without computation

Computation without understanding

Just computation?

The “Turing test”

Or something more?

A process through time

The Question of Free Will

Debates about determinism

A spotlight on consciousness

Mind and Cosmos

Experience and Expression

Endnotes

The Practice of Science

More Issues of Process

The reproducibility of results

The accumulation of knowledge

Roles for the internet

Public awareness

Science and Specialization

Excluding the public

Limiting the scientist

Limiting the vision

Science and Religion

An exaggerated conflict?

An inevitable conflict?

Room for accommodation?

The Origin of Life

The Elements of Life

Energy from Sunlight

When did life appear?

The Conditions for Life

Intelligent Design

Our Role in the Universe

“[T]hose for whom thou shinest!”

What have we learned?

Only mathematics (again)?

And so?

Endnotes

Conclusion

Bibliography. Books

News and Journal Articles, Lectures, Other

Index

About the Author

Отрывок из книги

The perspective of this book differs from that of most books that one would find in the popular science section of a library or bookshop. I do not undertake to surprise or educate the reader with examples of the marvelous discoveries of science and the amazing things that we have come to learn about the world around us. Instead, and of more importance, I try to show the reader what we do not know, illustrating both the scope and the depth of our ignorance.

I have been tempted to think that at least the broad brush strokes of what I have to say here are already largely familiar to or known by most well-educated persons today. Of course, if that were the case, then there would be little point in my writing it all down. However, I am pretty confident that it is not the case. In my youth, I attended three of the English-speaking world’s most elite institutions of higher education. I did not learn these things. Admittedly, I did get an introduction and enough exposure to pique my interest and continuing curiosity (and to bring me back to this undertaking some 40 years later). But, I should have learned these things at university. What we do not know should be an integral part of a meaningful education.

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Note on format:

The reader will undoubtedly notice that I have included a large number of endnotes (footnotes having proved too difficult for multi-format publication) and have peppered the text with citations. In part, it is simply the lawyer in me showing. I intend the generous citations to be of assistance to the reader interested in sources. Ample citations are also used because I try hard not to assert on my own authority any facts. (The sources for the facts are clearly identified.) My task is to marshal evidence: to review, select and organize the "facts." Then I make arguments, draw inferences and ask questions. However, I caution the reader that this approach is not a guarantee of objectivity. The marshaling of evidence is an iterative process and inevitably involves personal prejudices and hunches and wishes. (Thus, I find the statements "the facts speak for themselves" and "we go where the facts lead us" to be naïve, if not downright disingenuous.)

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