Download or read book The Hour of Our Delight Cosmic Evolution Order and Complexity written by Hubert Reeves and published by Don Mills, Ont. : Stoddart. This book was released on 1991 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Our Cosmic Future written by Nikos Prantzos and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2000-04-13 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shall we return to the Moon? Could we colonise Mars, and other planets in our solar system? How might we travel to the distant stars, in our own Galaxy and beyond? Why haven't we yet met an extraterrestrial civilisation? How can we avoid the various cosmic threats, such as asteroid collisions? Could we escape the remote but certain death of our Sun? What is the ultimate fate of the Universe itself? This captivating and unprecedented book is about the future of the human race in the Universe, for the centuries, millennia and eons to come. It is not an account of 'what will happen', but of 'what could happen', in the light of our current knowledge, scientists' speculations, and their philosophical and social implications. Drawing also on historical accounts and classic works of science fiction, it artfully displays a gripping preview of Our Cosmic Future.
Download or read book Big History and the Future of Humanity written by Fred Spier and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2015-05-06 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: big history and the future of humanity “This remains the best single attempt to theorize big history as a discipline that can link core concepts and paradigms across all historical disciplines, from cosmology to geology, from biology to human history. With additional and updated material, the Second Edition also offers a fine introduction to the history of big history and a superb introductory survey to the big history story. Essential reading for anyone interested in a rapidly evolving new field of scholarship that links the sciences and the humanities into a modern, science-based origin story.” David Christian, Macquarie University “Notable for its theoretic approach, this new Second Edition is both an indispensable contribution to the emerging big history narrative and a powerful university textbook. Spier defines words carefully and recognizes the limits of current knowledge, aspects of his own clear thinking.” Cynthia Brown, Emerita, Dominican University of California Reflecting the latest theories in the sciences and humanities, this new edition of Big History and the Future of Humanity presents an accessible and original overview of the entire sweep of history from the origins of the universe and life on Earth up to the present day. Placing the relatively brief period of human history within a much broader framework – one that considers everything from vast galaxy clusters to the tiniest sub-atomic particles – big history is an innovative theoretical approach that opens up entirely new multidisciplinary research agendas. Noted historian Fred Spier reveals how a thorough examination of patterns of complexity can offer richer insights into what the future may have in store for humanity. The second edition includes new learning features, such as highlighted scientific concepts, an illustrative timeline and comprehensive glossary. By exploring the cumulative history from the Big Bang to the modern day, Big History and the Future of Humanity, Second Edition, sheds important historical light on where we have been – and offers a tantalizing glimpse of what lies ahead.
Download or read book Spreading the Light written by Archie Crawford and published by Trafford Publishing. This book was released on 2004 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is about life and is written in plain everyday language. The author boldly faces up to those fundamental questions rankling at the back of one's mind such as: Is there really a God? Where is He? What is the nature of the soul? What is truth? Is reincarnation true? Is there any purpose in the universe? Does God cause suffering? Do angels exist? Who am I? Can effect become cause? Does space and time really exist? etc. He probes deep into the structure of your mind and with great clarity shows you how your mind works and how you can use it to find success in everything you do. He shows how we attract our present circumstances and how emotionally intense events are not only registered in our psychic memory but also in the memories of the cells of our body and what this means for us. He devotes a chapter in which he advocates "going within" through meditation to find solutions to our problems. Religion is examined with candor. He explains the many positive benefits of religion, examines its dark side and points out that, like individuals, some religions must resolve and get rid of the baggage of past evil deeds before they and their followers can step into the light. The author shows how, in spite of itself science through its quantum theories is currently making discoveries which lead to a new view of the universe more in line with that of the essence of the religions and the experiences of the mystics of this world. He shows how science and religion are at last beginning to merge. For example there is now scientific proof of the value of prayer; proof that the mind is non-local, that is it is not located in the brain and also can cause actions over distance; that there is no solid matter in the universe, it is all energy in one form or another. He further states that a field of energy outside the material universe has been discovered where speeds exceed that of light. It has also been found that our human consciousness is directly connected with matter and influences (at least) its microscopic particles. The nature of the universe as being holographic is explored. These scientific findings have profound spiritual significance. He quotes experts on the future of mankind, including Arthur C. Clark, Nobel physicist Brian Josephson, Stephen Hawking etc... and many more. Reading this book will prepare you for the new age that is fast enveloping the earth. The author's message is that in spite of the terrorism and devastation of the earth currently going on, there is powerful hope. There are powerful spiritual forces at work, which will overcome the present chaos and lead us into a life of enlightenment and eventually of love."
Download or read book A Companion to World History written by Douglas Northrop and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2014-12-15 with total page 647 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Companion to World History presents over 30 essays from an international group of historians that both identify continuing areas of contention, disagreement, and divergence in world and global history, and point to directions for further debate. Features a diverse cast of contributors that include established world historians and emerging scholars Explores a wide range of topics and themes, including and the practice of world history, key ideas of world historians, the teaching of world history and how it has drawn upon and challenged "traditional" teaching approaches, and global approaches to writing world history Places an emphasis on non-Anglophone approaches to the topic Considers issues of both scholarship and pedagogy on a transnational, interregional, and world/global scale
Download or read book Journey of the Universe written by Brian Thomas Swimme and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2011-06-28 with total page 125 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The basis for the Emmy-winning film. “A wonderful, highly readable account of the history of the universe from the Big Bang through the present moment.”—Thomas Lovejoy, University Professor in Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University Through the astonishing combined achievements of natural scientists worldwide, we now have a detailed account of how galaxies and stars, planets and living organisms, human beings and human consciousness came to be. And yet . . . we thirst for answers to questions that have haunted humanity from the very beginning. What is our place in the 14-billion-year history of the universe? What roles do we play in Earth’s history? How do we connect with the intricate web of life on Earth? In Journey of the Universe, Brian Thomas Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker tell the epic story of the universe from an inspired new perspective, weaving the findings of modern science together with enduring wisdom found in the humanistic traditions of the West, China, India, and indigenous peoples. The authors explore cosmic evolution as a profoundly wondrous process based on creativity, connection, and interdependence, and they envision an unprecedented opportunity for the world’s people to address the daunting ecological and social challenges of our times. Journey of the Universe transforms how we understand our origins and envision our future. Though a little book, it tells a big story one that inspires hope for a way in which Earth and its human civilizations could flourish together. “What’s most striking about Swimme and Tucker’s work is a simple but beautiful assumption: a cosmological orientation opens the human mind to wonder, gratitude, humility, and creativity.”—Orion
Download or read book Handbook of Ecosystem Theories and Management written by Felix Muller and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2000-02-10 with total page 597 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As part of the Environmental and Ecological Modeling Handbooks series, the Handbook of Ecosystem Theories and Management provides a comprehensive overview of ecosystem theory and the tools - ecological engineering, ecological modeling, ecotoxicology and ecological economics -to manage these systems. The book is laid out to provide a summary or
Download or read book Metapatterns written by Tyler Volk and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 1996-06-29 with total page 445 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the interdisciplinary tradition of Buckminster Fuller's work, Gregory Bateson's Mind and Nature, and Fritjof Capra's Tao of Physics, Metapatterns embraces both nature and culture, seeking out the grand-scale patterns that help explain the functioning of our universe.
Download or read book How the Biosphere Works written by Fred Spier and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2022-04-25 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How the Biosphere Works: Fresh Views Discovered While Growing Peppers offers a simple and novel theoretical approach to understanding the history of the biosphere, including humanity’s place within it. It also helps to clarify what the possibilities and limitations are for future action. This is a subject of wide interest because today we are facing a great many environmental issues, many of which may appear unconnected. Yet all these issues are part of our biosphere. For making plans for the future and addressing our long-term survival and well-being, an integrated knowledge of our biosphere and its history is therefore indispensable. Key Features Documents what the biosphere is, and what our position as humans within it is today. Describes how the biosphere has become the way it is. Summarizes the novel simple theoretical model proposed in the book, and thus, how the biosphere functions. Predicts what the possibilities and limitations are for future human action Emphasizes how simple but careful observations can lead to far-reaching theoretical implications.
Download or read book Expanding Worldviews Astrobiology Big History and Cosmic Perspectives written by Ian Crawford and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-06-07 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book collates papers presented at two international conferences (held at the Australian National University in 2018 and Birkbeck College London in 2019) exploring the relationships between big history and astrobiology and their wider implications for society. These two relatively new academic disciplines aim to integrate human history with the wider history of the universe and the search for life elsewhere. The book will show that, despite differences in emphasis, big history and astrobiology share much in common, especially their interdisciplinary approaches and the cosmic and evolutionary perspectives that they both engender. Specifically, the book addresses the unified, all-embracing, nature of knowledge, the impact of big history on humanity and the world at large, the possible impact of SETI on astrobiology and big history, the cultural signature of Earth’s inhabitants beyond our own planet, and the political implications of a planetary worldview. The principal readership is envisaged to comprise scholars working in the fields of astrobiology, big history and space exploration interested in forging interdisciplinary links between these diverse topics, together with educators, and a wider public, interested in the societal implications of the cosmic and evolutionary perspectives engendered by research in these fields.
Download or read book Choice written by and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 650 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Philosophy of Hope written by Bernard N. Schumacher and published by Fordham Univ Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Schumacher looks at hope as a virtue, one opposed by vices such as despair and presumption, particularly as they are treated in existentialism and Marxism. He also explores Pieper's treatment of hope in relation to the ideas of death and immorality, and in the philosophy of history. Using the idea of hope to examine such themes as dignity, ethics, the good, and the just, Schumacher provides a valuable, wide-ranging introduction to a shaper of contemporary Christian thought against a richly drawn intellectual background."--BOOK JACKET.
Download or read book Fine Tuning in the Physical Universe written by David Sloan and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-10-29 with total page 571 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is the universe fine-tuned for complexity, life, or something else? This comprehensive overview of fine-tuning arguments in physics, with contributions from leading researchers in their fields, sheds light on this often used but seldom understood topic. Each chapter reviews a specific subject in modern physics, such as dark energy, inflation, or solar system formation, and discusses whether any parameters in our current theories appear to be fine-tuned and, if so, to what degree. Connections and differences between these fine-tuning arguments are made clear, and detailed mathematical derivations of various fine-tuned parameters are given. This accessible yet precise introduction to fine-tuning in physics will aid students and researchers across astrophysics, atomic and particle physics and cosmology, as well as all those working at the intersections of physics and philosophy.
Download or read book Cosmic Evolution written by Eric J. Chaisson and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2001-02-16 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chaisson addresses some of the most basic issues we can contemplate: the origin of matter and the origin of life, and the ways matter, life, and radiation interact and change with time. He designs for us an expansive yet intricate model depicting the origin and evolution of all material structures.
Download or read book Integration of Ecosystem Theories A Pattern written by Sven Erik Jørgensen and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book integrates for the first time existing ecosystem theories and is therefore able to present a full ecological and theoretical pattern. It shows that we are able to understand ecosystems and their reactions, provided that we use all basic systems ecology for different aspects of ecosystem properties. The first edition of this book was published in 1992. This second edition contains the many recently published and presented contributions on ecosystem theories, which show even more strongly that an integration of the existing ecosystem theories is needed and also possible.
Download or read book Stellar Alchemy written by Michel Cassé and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2003-08-07 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Table of contents
Download or read book Thermodynamics and Ecological Modelling written by Sven E. Jorgensen and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2018-10-03 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thermodynamics is used increasingly in ecology to understand the system properties of ecosystems because it is a basic science that describes energy transformation from a holistic view. In the last decade, many contributions to ecosystem theory based on thermodynamics have been published, therefore an important step toward integrating these theories and encouraging a more wide spread use of them is to present them in one volume. An ecosystem consists of interdependent living organisms that are also interdependent with their environment, all of which are involved in a constant transfer of energy and mass within a general state of equilibrium or dis-equilibrium. Thermodynamics can quantify exactly how "organized" or "disorganized" a system is - an extremely useful to know when trying to understand how a dynamic ecosystem is behaving. A part of the Environmental and Ecological (Math) Modeling series, Thermodynamics and Ecology is a book-length study - the first of its kind - of the current thinking on how an ecosystem can be explained and predicted in terms of its thermodynamical behavior. After the introductory chapters on the fundamentals of thermodynamics, the book explains how thermodynamic theory can be specifically applied to the "measurement" of an ecosystem, including the assessment of its state of entropy and enthalpy. Additionally, it will show economists how to put these theories to use when trying to quantify the movement of goods and services through another type of complex living system - a human society.
