Redefining Reality - The Intellectual Implications of Modern Science

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Probability has long been a part of our descriptions of the physical world. In statistical mechanics, it is the result of having a large number of particles. In quantum mechanics, the equations tell us how likely it is that a system in a combination of possible observable states will be found in any particular state if we observe it. In chaos theory, the probabilistic element is different still. In these systems, the behavior is completely determined by the laws of physics, but the system is so sensitive to initial conditions that the tiniest change will lead to wildly different results. The equations that lead to this kind of behavior have unique properties that make them fascinating to study. In 1654, a French nobleman, the Chevalier de Méré contacted the French philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal about a gambling question. Pascal, in turn, contacted the great mathematician Pierre de Fermat, who answered by creating the mathematical theory of probability. A century and a half later, Pierre-Simon Laplace, one of the greatest geniuses of the 19 th century, became interested in extending Fermat’s notion of probability beyond games of chance to show how it functions in science. An Analytical Theory of Probability, showed how to use statistical methods to solve problems in science. His second book, A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities, argued that the use of probabilities in science is the result of our own lack of knowledge, not the result of a world that is in any way random. In this book, Laplace posited an intellect that has since become known as Laplace’s demon. 68
The demon is a being with a super-intelligence, capable nature and complete information about all the masses and energy in the universe at any moment, the demon could predict with absolute certainty the state of the universe at any time in the future and could deduce the exact state of the universe for any time in the past. The universe, Laplace claimed, would be completely transparent to this mega-intellect. Laplace’s demon is the ultimate statement of the Enlightenment project embodied in science. Science’s true aim, according to this predicting and explaining every event, everywhere. This true aim of science makes four basic assumptions about science and the universe it is trying to describe. First, the universe is deterministic. The state of the universe and every part of it, at any given time, is completely determined by the state of the universe immediately before. If a system is in state A, then it will always transition to state B. The second assumption is that the rules by which we can derive state B from state A admit of . That means that we will see recurring patterns of states. The future is not only determined by the past but determined in ways that are simple, elegant, and clean. A third assumption inherent in Laplace’s Enlightenment view is the stability of those steady-state solutions, the idea that a small difference in makes only a small difference out. The fourth assumption is predictability. Because things develop as they have to, according to the rules in a simple, orderly way, if we have the rules and the data, we can predict what is to come. 69
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Topic Philosophy & Intellectual His
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Steven Gimbel, Ph.D. Professor of P
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Table of Contents LECTURE 11 Dark M
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Table of Contents SUPPLEMENTAL MATE
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: I and technological a
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This question allows us to turn fro
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The study of reality is what philos
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Semmelweis noticed that the inciden
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ut sometimes, even after checking t
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. The Matrix. We don’t believe
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Wisdom comes from rejecting the imp
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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: As the meaning of the physics began
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
Page 89 and 90: 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
Page 119 and 120: inferred that the function of that
Page 121 and 122: a byproduct of mental illness, Freu
Page 123 and 124: 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
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Behaviorism was an attempt to make
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Psychology, which had begun as a se
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I th century, psychology had the lu
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part, in the group. To understand t
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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
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In a contract-based relationship, y
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The study of psychology changed for
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Instead, we are a part of the world
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But it turns out that exposure to c
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Glickstein, . Lynch, . mean we
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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
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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
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To avoid such situations of anomie
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Historians create narratives that e
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Society is composed of individuals
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© Digital Vision/Thinkstock.
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The concept of race has long been a
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there are different combinations am
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Perhaps race is what Durkheim calle
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Gould, . Hernnstein and Murray, . K
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Slavery, for example, was a necessa
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Parsons’s picture is not the Marx
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In defeat, the smaller neighbors wo
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Economics became a science with the
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self-interest. Second, the large-sc
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Under the classical model, this sho
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How do we account for these effects
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If the star is large enough, when i
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© amenic181/iStock/Thinkstock.
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What environment on Earth could pro
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The possibility of life on other pl
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Our newfound alien interlocutors te
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Perhaps the best evidence for extra
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Mayor and Frei, . Morrison, Billing
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It has long been argued, however, t
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But the idea of using the body’s
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Although that seems worrisome, it i
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I equally much for how w
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The use of one’s DNA in creating
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With cytoplasmic transfer, the nucl
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Macintosh, . Given that multiple
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we could begin with the desired por
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The second step is trickier. Here,
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Aside from medical uses, we can alt
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We can now use medical technology t
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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
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Computers can do many things, but c
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possible right answers. The machine
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player having a king and a pawn and
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If intelligence or sentience is an
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enable us to become a global villag
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engineers used their technological
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Another intriguing development on t
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In these lectures, we’ve seen tha
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leave messages or comments, and whe
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This ability of mothers doesn’t m
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But Einstein showed us that the rea
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Barabasi, Albert-Laszlo. Linked: Th
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———. The Descent of Man: and
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Gilligan, Carol. . Cambridg
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Kramer, Peter. . New York: Viking
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eings that we are willing to act in
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Rothman, Sheila M. Medical Enhance
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———. . London: Century, 2002.
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