Download or read book Science in the Age of Computer Simulation written by Eric Winsberg and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2010-10-30 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Digital computer simulation helps study phenomena of great complexity, but how much do we know about the limits and possibilities of this new scientific practice? How do simulations compare to traditional experiments? And are they reliable? Scrutinizing these issues with a philosophical lens, Eric Winsberg explores the impact of simulation on such issues as the nature of scientific evidence, the role of values in science, the nature and role of fictions in science, and the relationship between simulation and experiment, theories and data, and theories at different levels of description"--Cover.

Download or read book Science in the Age of Computer Simulation written by Eric Winsberg and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2010-10-15 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Computer simulation was first pioneered as a scientific tool in meteorology and nuclear physics in the period following World War II, but it has grown rapidly to become indispensible in a wide variety of scientific disciplines, including astrophysics, high-energy physics, climate science, engineering, ecology, and economics. Digital computer simulation helps study phenomena of great complexity, but how much do we know about the limits and possibilities of this new scientific practice? How do simulations compare to traditional experiments? And are they reliable? Eric Winsberg seeks to answer these questions in Science in the Age of Computer Simulation. Scrutinizing these issue with a philosophical lens, Winsberg explores the impact of simulation on such issues as the nature of scientific evidence; the role of values in science; the nature and role of fictions in science; and the relationship between simulation and experiment, theories and data, and theories at different levels of description. Science in the Age of Computer Simulation will transform many of the core issues in philosophy of science, as well as our basic understanding of the role of the digital computer in the sciences.

Download or read book Computer Simulation in Human Population Studies written by Bennett Dyke and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2014-05-12 with total page 541 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Computer Simulation in Human Population Studies contains the proceedings of a conference held at Pennsylvania State University on June 12-14, 1972, under the sponsorship of the Social Science Research Council. The conference provided a forum for discussing the application of computer simulation techniques to human population studies and organized topics around four themes: anthropology and social systems; genetics and adaptive systems; demography; and simulation methodology. Comprised of 23 chapters, this volume begins with an analysis of two tests of computer microsimulation: the effect of an incest taboo on population viability, and the effect of age differences between spouses on the skewing of their consanguineal relationships. The reader is then introduced to computer simulation of incest prohibition and clan proscription rules in closed, finite population; an empirical perspective on simulation models of human population; and models applicable to geographic variation in humans. Subsequent chapters deal with the role of co-adapted sets in the process of adaptation; simulation of human reproduction; and the mathematics of population simulation models. This book will be of interest to anthropologists, geneticists, biologists, computer scientists, mathematicians, and social scientists.

Download or read book Philosophy and Climate Science written by Eric Winsberg and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-04-12 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive and accessible introduction, as well as an original contribution, to the main philosophical issues raised by climate science.

Download or read book Computer Meets Theoretical Physics written by Giovanni Battimelli and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-06-17 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a vivid account of the early history of molecular simulation, a new frontier for our understanding of matter that was opened when the demands of theoretical physicists were met by the availability of the modern computers. Since their inception, electronic computers have enormously increased their performance, thus making possible the unprecedented technological revolution that characterizes our present times. This obvious technological advancement has brought with it a silent scientific revolution in the practice of theoretical physics. In particular, in the physics of matter it has opened up a direct route from the microscopic physical laws to observable phenomena. One can now study the time evolution of systems composed of millions of molecules, and simulate the behaviour of macroscopic materials and actually predict their properties. Molecular simulation has provided a new theoretical and conceptual tool that physicists could only dream of when the foundations of statistical mechanics were laid. Molecular simulation has undergone impressive development, both in the size of the scientific community involved and in the range and scope of its applications. It has become the ubiquitous workhorse for investigating the nature of complex condensed matter systems in physics, chemistry, materials and the life sciences. Yet these developments remain largely unknown outside the inner circles of practitioners, and they have so far never been described for a wider public. The main objective of this book is therefore to offer a reasonably comprehensive reconstruction of the early history of molecular simulation addressed to an audience of both scientists and interested non-scientists, describing the scientific and personal trajectories of the main protagonists and discussing the deep conceptual innovations that their work produced.

Download or read book Simulation and Its Discontents written by Sherry Turkle and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2009-04-17 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How the simulation and visualization technologies so pervasive in science, engineering, and design have changed our way of seeing the world. Over the past twenty years, the technologies of simulation and visualization have changed our ways of looking at the world. In Simulation and Its Discontents, Sherry Turkle examines the now dominant medium of our working lives and finds that simulation has become its own sensibility. We hear it in Turkle's description of architecture students who no longer design with a pencil, of science and engineering students who admit that computer models seem more “real” than experiments in physical laboratories. Echoing architect Louis Kahn's famous question, “What does a brick want?”, Turkle asks, “What does simulation want?” Simulations want, even demand, immersion, and the benefits are clear. Architects create buildings unimaginable before virtual design; scientists determine the structure of molecules by manipulating them in virtual space; physicians practice anatomy on digitized humans. But immersed in simulation, we are vulnerable. There are losses as well as gains. Older scientists describe a younger generation as “drunk with code.” Young scientists, engineers, and designers, full citizens of the virtual, scramble to capture their mentors' tacit knowledge of buildings and bodies. From both sides of a generational divide, there is anxiety that in simulation, something important is slipping away. Turkle's examination of simulation over the past twenty years is followed by four in-depth investigations of contemporary simulation culture: space exploration, oceanography, architecture, and biology.

Download or read book The Simulation Hypothesis written by Rizwan Virk and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2025-07-22 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive exploration of one of the most daring and consequential theories of our time, completely revised and updated to reflect the rapid advances in artificial intelligence and virtual reality Are we living in a simulation? MIT computer scientist Rizwan Virk draws from research and concepts from computer science, artificial intelligence, video games, quantum physics, and ancient mystics to explain why we may be living inside a simulated reality like the Matrix. Simulation theory explains some of the biggest mysteries of quantum and relativistic physics, such as quantum indeterminacy, parallel universes, and the integral nature of the speed of light, using information and computation. Virk shows how the evolution of our video games, including virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing, will lead us to a technological singularity. We will reach the simulation point, where we can develop all-encompassing virtual worlds like the OASIS in Ready Player One or The Matrix—and in fact we are already likely inside such a simulation. While the idea sounds like science fiction, many scientists, engineers, and professors have given the simulation hypothesis serious consideration, including Elon Musk, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Nick Bostrom. But the simulation hypothesis is not just a modern idea. Philosophers of all traditions have long contended that we are living in some kind of “illusion” and that there are other realities that we can access with our minds. The Simulation Hypothesis is the definitive book on simulation theory and is now completely updated to reflect the latest developments in artificial intelligence and virtual reality. Whether you are a computer scientist, a fan of science fiction like the Matrix movies, a video game enthusiast, a spiritual seeker, or simply a fan of mind-bending thought experiments, you will never look at the world the same way again.

Download or read book Co designers written by Yanni Alexander Loukissas and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book is organised around the accounts of professional designers engaged in a high-stakes competition to redefine architecture in the context of computer simulation.

Download or read book Simulation For The Social Scientist written by Gilbert, Nigel and published by McGraw-Hill Education (UK). This book was released on 2005-02-01 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social sciences -- Simulation methods. Social interaction -- Computer simulation. Social sciences -- Mathematical models. (publisher)

Download or read book Learning Science Through Computer Games and Simulations written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2011-04-12 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At a time when scientific and technological competence is vital to the nation's future, the weak performance of U.S. students in science reflects the uneven quality of current science education. Although young children come to school with innate curiosity and intuitive ideas about the world around them, science classes rarely tap this potential. Many experts have called for a new approach to science education, based on recent and ongoing research on teaching and learning. In this approach, simulations and games could play a significant role by addressing many goals and mechanisms for learning science: the motivation to learn science, conceptual understanding, science process skills, understanding of the nature of science, scientific discourse and argumentation, and identification with science and science learning. To explore this potential, Learning Science: Computer Games, Simulations, and Education, reviews the available research on learning science through interaction with digital simulations and games. It considers the potential of digital games and simulations to contribute to learning science in schools, in informal out-of-school settings, and everyday life. The book also identifies the areas in which more research and research-based development is needed to fully capitalize on this potential. Learning Science will guide academic researchers; developers, publishers, and entrepreneurs from the digital simulation and gaming community; and education practitioners and policy makers toward the formation of research and development partnerships that will facilitate rich intellectual collaboration. Industry, government agencies and foundations will play a significant role through start-up and ongoing support to ensure that digital games and simulations will not only excite and entertain, but also motivate and educate.

Download or read book Computer Simulation and Data Analysis in Molecular Biology and Biophysics written by Victor Bloomfield and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2009-06-05 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an introduction to two important aspects of modern bioch- istry, molecular biology, and biophysics: computer simulation and data analysis. My aim is to introduce the tools that will enable students to learn and use some f- damental methods to construct quantitative models of biological mechanisms, both deterministicandwithsomeelementsofrandomness;tolearnhowconceptsofpr- ability can help to understand important features of DNA sequences; and to apply a useful set of statistical methods to analysis of experimental data. The availability of very capable but inexpensive personal computers and software makes it possible to do such work at a much higher level, but in a much easier way, than ever before. TheExecutiveSummaryofthein?uential2003reportfromtheNationalAcademy of Sciences, “BIO 2010: Transforming Undergraduate Education for Future - search Biologists” [12], begins The interplay of the recombinant DNA, instrumentation, and digital revolutions has p- foundly transformed biological research. The con?uence of these three innovations has led to important discoveries, such as the mapping of the human genome. How biologists design, perform, and analyze experiments is changing swiftly. Biological concepts and models are becoming more quantitative, and biological research has become critically dependent on concepts and methods drawn from other scienti?c disciplines. The connections between the biological sciences and the physical sciences, mathematics, and computer science are rapidly becoming deeper and more extensive.

Download or read book Springer Handbook of Model Based Science written by Lorenzo Magnani and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-05-22 with total page 1179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook offers the first comprehensive reference guide to the interdisciplinary field of model-based reasoning. It highlights the role of models as mediators between theory and experimentation, and as educational devices, as well as their relevance in testing hypotheses and explanatory functions. The Springer Handbook merges philosophical, cognitive and epistemological perspectives on models with the more practical needs related to the application of this tool across various disciplines and practices. The result is a unique, reliable source of information that guides readers toward an understanding of different aspects of model-based science, such as the theoretical and cognitive nature of models, as well as their practical and logical aspects. The inferential role of models in hypothetical reasoning, abduction and creativity once they are constructed, adopted, and manipulated for different scientific and technological purposes is also discussed. Written by a group of internationally renowned experts in philosophy, the history of science, general epistemology, mathematics, cognitive and computer science, physics and life sciences, as well as engineering, architecture, and economics, this Handbook uses numerous diagrams, schemes and other visual representations to promote a better understanding of the concepts. This also makes it highly accessible to an audience of scholars and students with different scientific backgrounds. All in all, the Springer Handbook of Model-Based Science represents the definitive application-oriented reference guide to the interdisciplinary field of model-based reasoning.

Download or read book Computer Age Statistical Inference written by Bradley Efron and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-07-21 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The twenty-first century has seen a breathtaking expansion of statistical methodology, both in scope and in influence. 'Big data', 'data science', and 'machine learning' have become familiar terms in the news, as statistical methods are brought to bear upon the enormous data sets of modern science and commerce. How did we get here? And where are we going? This book takes us on an exhilarating journey through the revolution in data analysis following the introduction of electronic computation in the 1950s. Beginning with classical inferential theories - Bayesian, frequentist, Fisherian - individual chapters take up a series of influential topics: survival analysis, logistic regression, empirical Bayes, the jackknife and bootstrap, random forests, neural networks, Markov chain Monte Carlo, inference after model selection, and dozens more. The distinctly modern approach integrates methodology and algorithms with statistical inference. The book ends with speculation on the future direction of statistics and data science.

Download or read book Co Designers written by Yanni Loukissas and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-06-14 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Designers employ a variety of tools and techniques for speculating about buildings before they are built. In their simplest form, these are personal thought experiments. However, embracing advanced computer simulations means engaging a network of specialized people and powerful machines. In this book, Yanni Alexander Loukissas demonstrates that new tools have profound implications for the social distribution of design work; computer simulations are technologies for collective imagination. Organized around the accounts of professional designers engaged in a high-stakes competition to redefine their work for the technological moment, this book explores the emerging cultures of computer simulation in architecture. Not only architects, but acousticians, fire safety engineers, and sustainability experts see themselves as co-designers in architecture, engaging new technologies for simulation in an evolving search for the roles and relationships that can bring them both professional acceptance and greater control over design. By illustrating how practices of simulation inform the social relationships and professional distinctions that define contemporary architecture, the book examines the cultural transformations taking place in design practice today.

Download or read book From Models to Simulations written by Franck Varenne and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-09-03 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book analyses the impact computerization has had on contemporary science and explains the origins, technical nature and epistemological consequences of the current decisive interplay between technology and science: an intertwining of formalism, computation, data acquisition, data and visualization and how these factors have led to the spread of simulation models since the 1950s. Using historical, comparative and interpretative case studies from a range of disciplines, with a particular emphasis on the case of plant studies, the author shows how and why computers, data treatment devices and programming languages have occasioned a gradual but irresistible and massive shift from mathematical models to computer simulations. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.

Download or read book The Complete Guide to Simulations and Serious Games written by Clark Aldrich and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2009-09-17 with total page 578 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Ready to blow your mind? Spend 15 seconds reading Clark Aldrich's The Complete Guide to Simulations and Serious Games. Witty, fast-paced, and non-linear -- it's Spock meets Alton Brown." -- Lynne Kenney, Psy.D., The Family Coach This exciting work offers designers a new way to see the world, model it, and present it through simulations. A groundbreaking resource, it includes a wealth of new tools and terms and a corresponding style guide to help understand them. The author -- a globally recognized industry guru -- covers topics such as virtual experiences, games, simulations, educational simulations, social impact games, practiceware, game-based learning/digital game based learning, immersive learning, and serious games. This book is the first of its kind to present definitions of more than 600 simulation and game terms, concepts, and constructs.

Download or read book Computer Simulation Rhetoric and the Scientific Imagination written by Aimee Kendall Roundtree and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2013-12-11 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Computer simulations help advance climatology, astrophysics, and other scientific disciplines. They are also at the crux of several high-profile cases of science in the news. How do simulation scientists, with little or no direct observations, make decisions about what to represent? What is the nature of simulated evidence, and how do we evaluate its strength? Aimee Kendall Roundtree suggests answers in Computer Simulation, Rhetoric, and the Scientific Imagination. She interprets simulations in the sciences by uncovering the argumentative strategies that underpin the production and dissemination of simulated findings. She also explains how subjective and social influences do not diminish simulations’ virtue or power to represent the real thing. Along the way, Roundtree situates computer simulations within the scientific imagination alongside paradoxes, thought experiments, and metaphors. A cogent rhetorical analysis, Computer Simulation, Rhetoric, and the Scientific Imagination engages scholars of the rhetoric of science, technology, and new and digital media, but it is also accessible to the general public interested in debates over hurricane preparedness and climate change.