Redefining Reality - The Intellectual Implications of Modern Science

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First to be infected by this radical doubt and the need for complete reformulation were the physical sciences. In the period before the mathematical concerns began, physicists were equally complacent, assured that physics as a science was almost complete. We had Isaac Newton’s theory that explained the working of gravitation and mechanics, the theory of motion. We had James Clerk Maxwell’s theory that accounted for electrical, magnetic, and optical phenomena. It seemed that we could explain almost Someone clever appeared in the person of Albert Einstein, but instead of unifying the classical view of physics, he overturned it with his theories of special and general relativity and his proof of the existence of atoms. We will examine each of these and the theory of big bang cosmology that followed from Einstein’s work in Lectures 4 through 7. After Einstein, indeed because of another of his results—the explanation for the photoelectric effect, wherein light when focused on a piece of metal causes electrons to be emitted—the theory of quantum mechanics of our world, in which reality is governed by probabilities that cannot be eliminated by additional knowledge. This leads to a discussion of chaos theory and systems theory, which likewise show us to be living in an intricate and sometimes unexpectedly complex world. We will explore these advances in Lectures 8 through 10 before turning to the recent discovery of dark matter and dark energy in Lecture 11. This sets the stage for a discussion in Lecture 12 of the contemporary project at the heart of for all physical phenomena. Scope But does this encompass all observable aspects of the universe? What about human consciousness? In Lecture 13, we will look at theories that try to explain human thought and the appearance of free will in terms of quantum mechanics. Are our minds reducible to our brains, and are our brains, because they are made up of nothing but atoms, completely open to an explanation on the basis of physical theory? 2
This question allows us to turn from the physical sciences to the human sciences. In Lectures 14 and 15, we look at the development of evolutionary theory and genetics as giving us accounts of who we are. But we then ask whether the biological aspects of humans constitute a complete description. Could there be elements of ourselves that are more than biological? We turn to developments in psychology in Lectures 16 through 21 to examine the ways in which we were forced to reconsider what it is to be human. But perhaps this, too, is too small a lens. Perhaps we can understand human nature only by understanding how we interact with one another in groups. In addition to biological facts, culture shapes us, as well. In Lectures 22 through 26, we look at questions raised in sociology, economics, and anthropology: Are we competitive or cooperative by nature? Is race real? Is humanity progressing? In Lectures 27 and 28, we turn to a larger view of life itself. Where did life on Earth come from? Are we unique? Are we alone? Could there be life elsewhere in the universe? developments. According to Benjamin Franklin, the only two things in life that are certain are death and taxes. Having considered taxes in an earlier lecture, we now ask: What about death? New advances in medical technology are leading us to reconsider what death is and whether it is necessary. Could we become immortal? Would that be desirable? Advances in technology also lead us to question birth and life. What does it mean to be a parent if seven different people might contribute to bringing a new life into the world? What about the use of genetic engineering and cloning? Has the human being become a blank canvas for us to construct however we choose? These are the topics of Lectures 29 through 33. In the end, we wonder: Are humans necessary anymore? Instead of thinking about ways in which we can use technology to change ourselves, has should fear or welcome? We consider these questions in Lecture 34. If our technology is not itself human, what about the virtual realities it can create 3
Page 1 and 2: Topic Philosophy & Intellectual His
Page 3 and 4: Steven Gimbel, Ph.D. Professor of P
Page 5 and 6: Table of Contents LECTURE 11 Dark M
Page 7 and 8: Table of Contents SUPPLEMENTAL MATE
Page 9: : I and technological a
Page 13 and 14: The study of reality is what philos
Page 15 and 16: Semmelweis noticed that the inciden
Page 17 and 18: ut sometimes, even after checking t
Page 19 and 20: . The Matrix. We don’t believe
Page 21 and 22: Wisdom comes from rejecting the imp
Page 23 and 24: Thus, Aristotle’s prime mover, th
Page 25 and 26: Aristotle had said that an object
Page 27 and 28: For centuries, mathematics was cons
Page 29 and 30: th century, the Russian mathematici
Page 31 and 32: had turned their attention to logic
Page 33 and 34: Abbott, . Bell, Men of Mathematics.
Page 35 and 36: Scientists thought that the physica
Page 37 and 38: H. A. Lorentz had found, when you a
Page 39 and 40: Thinkers as far back as Gottfried L
Page 41 and 42: E grounds. First, the prin
Page 43 and 44: If you woke up tomorrow in a small
Page 45 and 46: speed up going in and slow down com
Page 47 and 48: Is it true that a difference that m
Page 49 and 50: Einstein thought, there would be lo
Page 51 and 52: Scientists largely hated this idea,
Page 53 and 54: If Gamow and Alpher’s work was ri
Page 55 and 56: Although physicists at the end of t
Page 57 and 58: In the 19 th century, there was the
Page 59 and 60: In 1873, James Clerk Maxwell publis
Page 61 and 62:
The idea of a large central mass at
Page 63 and 64:
We know, however, that for a given
Page 65 and 66:
whether light is a particle or a wa
Page 67 and 68:
is a particle, then the slits would
Page 69 and 70:
One of the early results of quantum
Page 71 and 72:
eams, we also knew that there were
Page 73 and 74:
The hadrons are made up of quarks,
Page 75 and 76:
As the meaning of the physics began
Page 77 and 78:
The demon is a being with a super-i
Page 79 and 80:
ignoring certain elements, we can c
Page 81 and 82:
One of the simplest fractal pattern
Page 83 and 84:
Earlier, we talked about Thomas Kuh
Page 85 and 86:
so greatly separated that no proces
Page 87 and 88:
een able to form in that environmen
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Nicolson, . Panek, . Our theories
Page 91 and 92:
Similarly, James Clerk Maxwell, in
Page 93 and 94:
But as we move away from the pole,
Page 95 and 96:
Great press has been given to a pot
Page 97 and 98:
Some people take the idea of a theo
Page 99 and 100:
see from CAT scans that when someon
Page 101 and 102:
Because we are just atoms, we, too,
Page 103 and 104:
Would the randomness of quantum mec
Page 105 and 106:
Aristotle thought that this world i
Page 107 and 108:
If you select strange enough traits
Page 109 and 110:
Although this aspect of the theory
Page 111 and 112:
Darwin posited that children look l
Page 113 and 114:
The key to understanding how we pas
Page 115 and 116:
This picture of illness is quite di
Page 117 and 118:
How much of who we are is determine
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inferred that the function of that
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a byproduct of mental illness, Freu
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With the genetic approach, we are w
Page 125 and 126:
After Freud, psychology developed i
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experiences that are not our own, t
Page 129 and 130:
Behaviorism was an attempt to make
Page 131 and 132:
Psychology, which had begun as a se
Page 133 and 134:
I th century, psychology had the lu
Page 135 and 136:
part, in the group. To understand t
Page 137 and 138:
acting in ways that showed a lack o
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has learned from the so-called barb
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led him to begin one of the most fa
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ules. We are now adult in our ethic
Page 145 and 146:
In a contract-based relationship, y
Page 147 and 148:
The study of psychology changed for
Page 149 and 150:
Instead, we are a part of the world
Page 151 and 152:
But it turns out that exposure to c
Page 153 and 154:
Glickstein, . Lynch, . mean we
Page 155 and 156:
But evolutionary psychologists Leda
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suited to solving these problems an
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As such, when we look at the innate
Page 161 and 162:
In looking at reality, we can exami
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We see this also in the writings of
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one universal is crime. Crime is no
Page 167 and 168:
To avoid such situations of anomie
Page 169 and 170:
Historians create narratives that e
Page 171 and 172:
Society is composed of individuals
Page 173 and 174:
© Digital Vision/Thinkstock.
Page 175 and 176:
The concept of race has long been a
Page 177 and 178:
there are different combinations am
Page 179 and 180:
Perhaps race is what Durkheim calle
Page 181 and 182:
Gould, . Hernnstein and Murray, . K
Page 183 and 184:
Slavery, for example, was a necessa
Page 185 and 186:
Parsons’s picture is not the Marx
Page 187 and 188:
In defeat, the smaller neighbors wo
Page 189 and 190:
Economics became a science with the
Page 191 and 192:
self-interest. Second, the large-sc
Page 193 and 194:
Under the classical model, this sho
Page 195 and 196:
How do we account for these effects
Page 197 and 198:
If the star is large enough, when i
Page 199 and 200:
© amenic181/iStock/Thinkstock.
Page 201 and 202:
What environment on Earth could pro
Page 203 and 204:
The possibility of life on other pl
Page 205 and 206:
Our newfound alien interlocutors te
Page 207 and 208:
Perhaps the best evidence for extra
Page 209 and 210:
Mayor and Frei, . Morrison, Billing
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It has long been argued, however, t
Page 213 and 214:
But the idea of using the body’s
Page 215 and 216:
Although that seems worrisome, it i
Page 217 and 218:
I equally much for how w
Page 219 and 220:
The use of one’s DNA in creating
Page 221 and 222:
With cytoplasmic transfer, the nucl
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Macintosh, . Given that multiple
Page 225 and 226:
we could begin with the desired por
Page 227 and 228:
The second step is trickier. Here,
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Aside from medical uses, we can alt
Page 231 and 232:
We can now use medical technology t
Page 233 and 234:
The problem here is that sometimes
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of disease and disorder. In America
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performance-enhancing drugs? We see
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Advances have led to hand-shaped ap
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Warwick then went a step further. H
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Scientists at MIT have taken DNA fr
Page 245 and 246:
Computers can do many things, but c
Page 247 and 248:
possible right answers. The machine
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player having a king and a pawn and
Page 251 and 252:
If intelligence or sentience is an
Page 253 and 254:
enable us to become a global villag
Page 255 and 256:
engineers used their technological
Page 257 and 258:
Another intriguing development on t
Page 259 and 260:
In these lectures, we’ve seen tha
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leave messages or comments, and whe
Page 263 and 264:
This ability of mothers doesn’t m
Page 265 and 266:
But Einstein showed us that the rea
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Barabasi, Albert-Laszlo. Linked: Th
Page 269 and 270:
———. The Descent of Man: and
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Gilligan, Carol. . Cambridg
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Kramer, Peter. . New York: Viking
Page 275 and 276:
eings that we are willing to act in
Page 277 and 278:
Rothman, Sheila M. Medical Enhance
Page 279 and 280:
———. . London: Century, 2002.
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Redefining Reality - The Intellectual Implications of Modern Science

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