|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
my rating |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0399562761
| 9780399562761
| 0399562761
| 3.94
| 300
| Jun 25, 2024
| Jun 25, 2024
|
liked it
|
In this latest offering, the renowned futurist revisits his groundbreaking concept of technological singularity. However, the eagerly anticipated upda
In this latest offering, the renowned futurist revisits his groundbreaking concept of technological singularity. However, the eagerly anticipated update to the nearly 20-year-old seminal work falls short of expectations over and above the revised date when he expects Singularity to arrive. Instead, the book feels hastily assembled. Absolutely, the new date – before the end of this decade – will likely make this book a must-read piece of work for many, but it is likely that most, like this reviewer, will walk away not much smarter. The book's primary shortcoming is its lack of fresh insights. Rather than delving deeper into the evolving landscape of technology and its implications for the singularity, it rehashes familiar territory. The author misses a golden opportunity to provide better justifications for why he expects machines to be better than humans in almost all aspects by 2029 and not 2045. More importantly, the book fails to discuss the implications of machines working on themselves. At the least, the update book should have re-examined the core concepts of singularity in light of the vast amount of new information available since the original publication. A glaring omission is the lack of discussion on recent technological breakthroughs. The book overlooks innovations in mobile telephony and social media that were not expected in the first work, which is perhaps ok, but also highly topic-relevant developments in deep tech. Notably absent is any meaningful exploration of neural networks, including RNNs, CNNs, and the game-changing advent of transformer and post-transformer technologies. These advancements have profound implications for machine intelligence, intentionality, and purpose-driven AI – topics that are supposed to be what the book is all about. Instead, the book veers into well-trodden territory, offering a broad overview of technological progress over centuries and projecting exponential growth into the future—a topic extensively covered in numerous other books, TED Talks, and industry reports. A significant portion of the book is devoted to societal progress, summarizing work better articulated by other authors like Steven Pinker. While interesting, the author's optimism about technology's impact on employment and his speculations about future innovations across various fields don't offer much novelty either. On the positive side, the author's unwavering optimism and recounting of technological advancements do provide some valuable insights. His ability to picture potential future developments across various sectors is commendable, even if not groundbreaking. Overall, the book may become the book of the season for most readers, but it serves more as a general recap of well-covered subjects than a pioneering work like its predecessor. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Jun 26, 2024
|
Jun 30, 2024
|
Jun 30, 2024
|
Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 0063286343
| 9780063286344
| 0063286343
| 4.46
| 875
| unknown
| Oct 24, 2023
|
it was amazing
|
In the landscape of literature exploring the evolution of intelligence, "A Brief History of Intelligence" stands out as an essential read for anyone v
In the landscape of literature exploring the evolution of intelligence, "A Brief History of Intelligence" stands out as an essential read for anyone vested in the fields of evolution, artificial intelligence, philosophy, or spirituality. The author masterfully interweaves modern AI terminology to demystify the complexities of our brain's evolution. This novel approach sets the book apart from traditional evolutionary texts, presenting a fresh and engaging perspective. The book's core thesis lies in their five-stage classification of how the brain evolved. This framework, viewed through the lens of modern AI creation and popular terms used by its community, invites a refreshing understanding of evolutionary principles. While purists may find room for debate, its contextual relevance to today's AI advancements is undeniable. This book opens doors to profound learning experiences, challenging and expanding the reader's understanding. While not covered in the book, its arguments have profound implications for long-standing philosophical concepts of the mind and soul. With a deep dive into the mechanics of neural development, age-old arguments about duality or free will may come to seem as outdated as ancient theories of elemental composition. Of course, philosophical works retain value for a plethora of reasons, but engaging in such debates without the insights presented within A Brief History of Intelligence might be considered akin to philosophizing over what the world is made of without knowing anything about chemistry. Another striking point emerges from the book (once again not sufficiently discussed in the book): the pace of technological advancement in machine intelligence. Artificial intelligence has surged through developmental stages in mere decades that took nature billions of years to traverse. It's easy to draw parallels between early transistors and primordial neurons, or between ChatGPT and the rise of human cognition – yet predicting what lies ahead with such exponential progress poses near-insurmountable challenges. The following are this reviewer’s notes or takeaways for future reference in his language: 1. Uniformity of Neurons: A groundbreaking revelation is that all neurons, across various animal species, are fundamentally the same. 2. Distinct Evolutionary Paths: The book highlights the simultaneous evolution of neurons, gastrointestinal systems, and muscles in animals, contrasting this with non-neuronal organisms like fungi. Neurons played a fundamental role in animal evolution, driving them apart from fungi and other non-sentient life forms. 3. Valence and Early Brain Development: The exploration of early multicellular life forms and their preferences steered by electrochemical processes sheds light on the genesis of early brain structures. 4. Neuromodulators: The roles of serotonin and dopamine in emotional response and arousal are intricately detailed. The book also delves into the stress-induced release of adrenaline and the calming effect of opioids after prolonged stress. 5. Associative Learning: The neural underpinnings of Pavlovian learning and synaptic connections formed through repetitive reinforcement. 6. Vertebrate Brains: The common six-part brain structure dating back to the Cambrian era. 7. Learning and Neural Connections: Discussing the credit assignment problem in machine learning and associative learning, the book underscores the fundamental neural mechanisms of learning. The adage "neurons that fire together wire together" is emblematic of this concept. 8. Temporal Credit Assignment and Reinforcement Learning: The challenges of linking actions to delayed rewards and the evolution of reinforcement learning strategies, including TD learning, are thoroughly examined. 9. Basal Ganglia: The inhibitory mechanisms gating actions based on fluctuating dopamine levels. 10. Continuous Learning vs. AI Development: A critical distinction is made between the continuous learning abilities of human brains and the static nature of AI, where learning ceases once the system is deployed. 11. Solving Invariance Problems: The book explores how brains have evolved to solve pattern recognition and reinforcement learning challenges, leading to the development of complex sensory abilities in higher animals. 12. Exploration and Exploitation in Brain Evolution: The evolution of curiosity and risk-taking behaviors in advanced vertebrates is linked to the development of spatial mapping and vestibular mechanisms. 13. The Neural Dark Age and Neocortical Development: A significant period of stagnation in brain evolution is followed by the emergence of the neocortex, now a major component of the brain, highlighting its adaptability and repurposing abilities. After a nearly 500 million years gap, the brain sizes exploded to nearly 1000 times in a short period. 14. Cortical Repurposing: The adaptability of neocortical columns based on sensory inputs. 15. Model-Based vs. Model-Free Learning: The transition from basic reactive learning to advanced predictive and causal learning, embodying counterfactual thinking and planning, is a pivotal development in brain evolution. 16. Social Hierarchies and Politics in Brain Evolution: The development of hierarchical social structures, driven by alliance formation rather than sheer strength, marks a significant evolutionary step, particularly in primates. 17. Theory of Mind and Knowledge Transmission: The ability to infer others' intentions and emotions (theory of mind) and its role in social learning and teaching underscores a crucial advancement in cognitive evolution. 18. The Enigma of Language Evolution: Tracing the evolution of language remains a challenge, with significant gaps in understanding the transition from our closest Homo genus ancestors to modern humans. There is a lot more in the book. With the advent of GenAI, there have been some amazing, great books, and this book will likely find a space on the top shelf, almost irrespective of what comes later. This reviewer read the book twice and feels that it is not enough. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
2
|
Feb 14, 2024
Feb 08, 2024
|
Feb 17, 2024
Feb 14, 2024
|
Feb 16, 2024
|
Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 0465030785
| 9780465030781
| 0465030785
| 3.95
| 7,923
| Mar 26, 2007
| Mar 26, 2007
|
really liked it
|
"I Am a Strange Loop" is an intellectual journey into the maze of consciousness, self-reference, and the self. Somewhat laboriously, it becomes a book
"I Am a Strange Loop" is an intellectual journey into the maze of consciousness, self-reference, and the self. Somewhat laboriously, it becomes a book on the limitations of formal systems. Hofstadter puts forth his "strange loop" concept to explain the recursive, self-referential nature of the human mind and identity. The book addresses many serious issues through everyday examples and personal stories, but they often fail due to naïvete and over-simplification. To this reviewer, its most significant utility is in making one think. The rest of the review is partly a summary of my takeaway from the book, along with comments on many parallel, independent thoughts resulting from it. The author argues that a persistent, unitary "I" is an illusion. It is a product of a complex feedback loop of lower-level systems. In most other books of the type, the more common explanation will be along the lines of emergent phenomena. The novelty is not in the strange loop conclusions but in the Godel methods used to make some points. The author could have gone farther than he has. An analytical philosopher would have used Godel's incompleteness theorem differently. Hofstadter's recursions, limitations, and paradoxes of thoughts are products of the languages we use. A language is a formal system subject to the same limitations as mathematical systems. Like a musical symphony, a lot that emerges heavily depends on the symbolic system used. This is well known in sciences - for example, without the languages of calculus, differential geometry, and matrix multiplications were needed for the advent of Newtonian laws, general relativity, and uncertainty principles. The same applies to terms like "I," consciousness, or Nirvana. For most readers, "Nirvana" would appear curious in this essay. In Western languages, terms like 'consciousness' and 'free will' shape the contours of philosophical pursuits, steering them towards particular existential and ethical questions that are nowhere near as universal as they appear in their books. Conversely, the Indian languages espouse concepts like 'Jeevanatma,' leading to ideas such as 'Moksha' and 'Nirvana.' The point is that what dominates many philosophical or spiritual quests is often a function of the language used. Godel's incompleteness theorem shows how not only many questions will remain unanswered no matter how elaborate a symbolic system is but also the inevitability of paradoxes. These paradoxes take one form in the author's recursive strange loops, although these are not the only manifestations. In conclusion, humanity has no hope of ever knowing all the answers! The author shows how these self-referential systems, while often a philosophical quagmire, are also often vital, practical blessings. He confines himself to defend the myth of "I primarily", but many could use similar arguments to defend many other unprovable constructs. Reductive materialist views are needlessly nihilistic when billions of neurons and synapses cause multiple real and tangible macroscopic phenomena that require their own collective nouns and pronouns for not just practical use cases but also intellectual pursuits. The book makes multiple side journeys on the topic of a hierarchy of 'souls.' The term describes the layers of complexity in cognition and consciousness across species. While unsettling when used in human contexts, this concept is useful while thinking about animal rights, and it finds an unlikely cousin in the ancient Jain doctrine of Indriyas. Jain sutras try to prioritize living beings based on their sensory faculties. Both frameworks serve as ethical guides: Hofstadter's to justify vegetarianism (he uses it for more, which is extremely contentious), and Jainism's to determine in many other walks of life. Overall, more than the 'strange loops,' the book's discussions on Godel's framework have stronger usefulness for many moral, ethical, and existential inquiries. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Sep 27, 2023
|
Oct 2023
|
Oct 01, 2023
|
Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 0198607830
| 9780198607830
| 0198607830
| 4.14
| 2,714
| Sep 26, 2002
| Mar 26, 2004
|
really liked it
|
Oxygen is an intriguing evolutionary journey, examining how the rise of oxygen shaped the course of life as we know it. The book - spanning geology, b
Oxygen is an intriguing evolutionary journey, examining how the rise of oxygen shaped the course of life as we know it. The book - spanning geology, biology, genetics, and biochemistry - provides a different perspective on how complex life may have emerged. The unique lens allows the author to explain periods of evolutionary stagnation and explosive evolutionary events like the Cambrian explosion. Oxygen is not only essential for life as we know it, but has also played a major role in shaping the course of evolution. As this reader understood it, in Earth's largely anoxic (oxygen-poor) environment three billion years ago, the primordial soup gave rise to prokaryotic organisms, such as bacteria and archaea. When cyanobacteria evolved the ability to photosynthesize, the atmosphere reduced to an oxidizing one loaded with oxygen. The Great Oxidation Event 2.4 billion years ago wreaked havoc on anaerobic life, leading to the first mass extinction. But the abundance of oxygen also opened new possibilities, setting the stage for eukaryotic cells to evolve around 2.7 and 2.2 billion years ago through endosymbiosis. From this, through eukaryogenesis to mitochondrial evolution, one goes through many unique details (not all easily understandable) to appreciate the role played by oxygen. In between, the author connects oxygen to aging and disease susceptibility. The author hypothesizes that mitochondria play a direct role in regulating the pace of aging due to chronic oxidative stress. Manipulating mitochondria and free radical generation remains an active area of aging research even twenty years hence, though the relationships are proving more nuanced than once assumed. The notion that impaired mitochondrial function can accelerate aging remains convincing, though anti-oxidant vitamins have not panned out as hoped. The true gem is the final chapter. This concluding section masterfully synthesizes the various threads of the narrative, bringing together the diverse elements of the story into a cohesive whole. This chapter should have been at the start, setting the stage for the detailed exploration that follows. The book's main flaw is excessive detail, which, while informative, overwhelms anyone unfamiliar with biochemistry's intricacies. The details often take the book far away from the central themes. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Sep 18, 2023
|
Sep 23, 2023
|
Sep 23, 2023
|
Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 1982159405
| 9781982159405
| 3.70
| 232
| unknown
| Jul 25, 2023
|
really liked it
| Mr. Hoel is an expert on neural networks and has solid and unique views on consciousness. These views are more robust in refuting past theories, as is Mr. Hoel is an expert on neural networks and has solid and unique views on consciousness. These views are more robust in refuting past theories, as is generally true with most experts on such subjects. In his own views, the author has surprisingly many concrete arguments in support owing to his theoretical and computational background. Unfortunately, the debut book for general audiences lacks the lucidity its topic deserves for lay readers. The book ambitiously tackles the nature of consciousness through theories of emergence, information, and causality. The core argument that consciousness emerges from recursive information processing achieving a certain level of complexity in neural networks is interesting but not extraordinarily new. However, the author's examinations of integrated information theory, causal emergence across scales, and scientific incompleteness contain superb insights. The main weakness is the writing itself. The writer tends to get lost in convoluted historic arguments and theoretical mathematics. The book would benefit greatly from more practical examples and analogies to supplement esoteric theories. Without this, the book often comes across as more textbook than popular science. For example, Mr HoelMr Hoel makes a superb point early in the book, supporting the emergent nature of consciousness on the back of evolutionary science. The book analyzes it through the lens of information theory. If we accept consciousness emerged via evolution, as most scientists do, then it cannot be anything but an emergent phenomenon arising from a more complex organization of matter. Since primitive organisms early in evolution lacked the rich inner experience of modern humans, our consciousness must have emerged gradually from more complex neural information processing. This simple yet profound point uses basic evolutionary assumptions to elegantly frame consciousness as an emergent property requiring no exotic new physics, just increasing biological complexity and causal information integration. Unfortunately, the author undercuts his own compelling point by miring it in excessive historic speculation. He tries to judge when humans reached modern "thoughtfulness" by controversially analyzing early literature's self-reflective content. But this literary navel-gazing only muddles the crisp clarity of his evolutionary insight. As the book quips, "Homer's Iliad, for example, demonstrates little introspective capabilities," unlike modern authors. Such arbitrary comparisons only distract without strengthening his scientific case for consciousness as an emergent phenomenon. This tendency towards irrelevant historic detours plagues the stronger scientific arguments in later chapters as well. For example, his fascinating analysis of causal emergence across scales is obscured by digressions into abstract mathematics that is unlikely to engage general readers. The book fails to provide almost any concrete examples on the fascinating subjects of scale and causal emergence, scientific incompleteness, computational irreducibility, etc. The standout chapter explores how causal emergence produces new layers of complexity. For readers fascinated by emergence, this chapter provides a mesmerizing scale-jumping journey from quanta to qualia. It represents the book's most thrilling glimpse into the writer's unconventional insights on consciousness. Using math, he proves the emergence of different types of causality at a higher level compared to the interplay at the constituent levels. This is subsequently used to argue that consciousness represents another level of emergent causation arising from billions of neurons integrating into the recursive information processing of a brain. When these neural networks achieve sufficiently complex, interdependent architecture, self-awareness emerges from their dynamic information flows. Mr Hoel's formidable intellect and visionary insights are evident throughout the book. However, truly transformational ideas require articulate expression to ignite their potential fully. "The World Behind the World" smothers too many of its insights in dreary abstraction for the average reader. Though the uneven prose hampers this book's impact, the originality of its core ideas still shines through. The author needs to be followed as his ideas and eloquence mature in tandem in the coming years. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Aug 2023
|
Aug 04, 2023
|
Aug 05, 2023
|
ebook
| |||||||||||||||
| 0525510311
| 9780525510314
| 0525510311
| 4.35
| 37,964
| May 12, 2020
| May 12, 2020
|
it was amazing
|
Entangled Life is a must-read. For most readers like this reviewer, fungi will be a new topic, rarely discussed at length in any exciting way in popul
Entangled Life is a must-read. For most readers like this reviewer, fungi will be a new topic, rarely discussed at length in any exciting way in popular books. The author simply hits it out of the park, again and again, all through in the most engaging ways. Each part makes you wonder how most of us have been so ignorant about critical aspects of such a vital life form. Fungi are not just passive organisms. They are capable of complex behaviors, including communication, decision-making, and even learning. Their methods have so much to teach us about the complexities of natural life and our networks, including the web and the neural varieties. One starts with the journey of these 1.5m or so species with the giant mycelial networks. If the reader is not spooked enough by the nature of their growth, there is more to follow in symbiotic relationships between fungi and algae and, later, fungi and plants. In between, readers are introduced to mycoremediation, the process by which fungi can help clean polluted soil or mycorrhizal networks, where fungi exchange nutrients with plants. The Wood Wide Web is perhaps the most shocking, with its network of mycelia linking plant roots, facilitating communication and nutrient exchange. Or maybe, this should be reserved for psilocybin mushrooms (magic mushrooms) and the impact of their usage in various cultures. These are tricky waters; the author does well discussing psychedelics with depth, understanding, and respect, setting a foundation for their therapeutic uses. In between molds and lichens, one comes across the familiar yeasts and popular poisonous mushrooms. Some fungi play a role in industrial processes for the chemicals they produce, and others preserve our nature by helping wood decay. The author has amusing anecdotes that link the disparate topics seamlessly without burdening readers with excessive theory (this is despite frequent discussions on topics like fungi cell structure, reproduction, and metabolism). The subject's importance is matched by the author's extraordinary ability to explain, which makes it a compulsive and not just a compulsory read. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Jun 2023
|
Jun 05, 2023
|
Jun 06, 2023
|
Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 0393635805
| 9780393635805
| 0393635805
| 3.73
| 1,010
| Jan 25, 2022
| Jan 25, 2022
|
it was ok
| Imagine a philosopher from a century ago who encounters the first motion pictures. Overwhelmed and captivated by this groundbreaking technology, the p Imagine a philosopher from a century ago who encounters the first motion pictures. Overwhelmed and captivated by this groundbreaking technology, the philosopher posited that we could be only three- or four-dimensional projections created by advanced beings from higher dimensions. "Reality+" can be seen as a contemporary parallel to this hypothetical philosopher's musings, where Chalmers replaces the concept of motion pictures with the more contemporary idea of virtual reality. The book presents many innovative concepts and thought-provoking ideas, but its conclusions ultimately appear speculative and unsubstantiated hypotheses. These theories seem to emerge from the author's conviction that the primary task is to reframe our worldview in light of the most recent technological advancements without considering the potential for future refinements or modifications. In concepts like "virtual could be unrecognizable from real" or "physical is different from digital," the book moves around in circles on axiomatic propositions seemingly conjured out of thin air, like Pascal's wager. We will use only one example - the utterly needless distinction in the book between physical and digital because of the author's preoccupation with it-from-bit-type concepts - to illuminate the limits imposed by extrapolating a set of latest technologies. Arguably, as long as we are in a digital, rule-based world, the author's distinction between physical and digital becomes redundant, at the very least. Let's say our world comprises basic constituents - particles or forces - that come in n distinct forms, where n could be any number from 1. Each of these building blocks B1...Bn can be represented in a Cartesian form with quantum values (q1...qn) and multiple positions in an m-dimensional space-time, defining our world's entire existence. In some ways, this is nothing but an information string in a higher dimension, the same as those of the author's digital world except of higher complexity. In other words, even a purely physical world of the author, encompassing quarks, proteins, matter, life forms, or black holes, could be an information form as is or in some machine's image. The crucial point is that for an advanced civilization, the resources required to construct our type of world - physically, as the author prefers to differentiate using building blocks - may not be resource-intensive at all. For the creationist theories that the book wishes to speculate on, most of its simulation-focused sections may prove to be unnecessary. The author's creationist ideas rely on the same arguments made since time immemorial but in different garbs. Something from nothing is difficult for any one of us to accept. Creationist theories appear far more sound in our world of exquisitely finely tuned parameters as they provide a more straightforward point to stop questioning. The only thing we are asked to do in such cases is not to concern ourselves too much with these creators' identities, logic, or intentions and go on our merry ways! By evoking the possibility of us being a simulation on an advanced society's computer, the book wonders if we could be a creation of a higher life or non-life form. The speculation is used to explain concepts as broad as the imperfections of our "gods" to free will, all non-provable and as whimsical as any wonderland of an Alice in any realm. The author is the first to acknowledge that most of his theories are unverifiable if we live in a perfect simulation. He tries to make a virtue of the unverifiability by hypothesizing on the post-human reality of upcoming centuries. The discussions are often fascinating but still never far from fanciful. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Apr 19, 2023
|
Apr 24, 2023
|
Apr 25, 2023
|
Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 159803460X
| 9781598034608
| 159803460X
| 4.11
| 218
| unknown
| Jan 01, 2008
|
it was amazing
|
Free Will and Determinism is an exceptional course that is highly focussed, well structured, and with countless insights to stimulate thinking. The be
Free Will and Determinism is an exceptional course that is highly focussed, well structured, and with countless insights to stimulate thinking. The best tribute is to write one's conclusions to append the Professor's closing remarks about his intentions in the course of not to conclude but to make others think. So, this reviewer's views from hereon on the course's main topics. The simple reality of a philosophical mind is that it struggles to accept a world that could be running only on specific mathematical, logical, or similar rules. It gets worse: these rational fields in which the world rules are set are not the most natural to a homo Sapien. Humanity has discovered the underlying rule-based structure of the world lately. Contrasting with this is our philosophers' strong inclination to retain the traditional feeling/experience/intuition-based language concepts passed down to them through the mouths of the most well-known and respected thinkers of our kind. The efforts to reconcile the latest knowledge with historic concepts and queries invariably lead to unresolvable debates on definitions and meanings of the terms that are impossible to pin. More importantly, even after millennia-spanning debates, philosophers never settle debates on pet topics unless comprehensively refuted by later-day scientific studies. Given this, it could be more productive to approach philosophical questions by starting with what is already known and working backward rather than trying again based on queries posed in the past. There is not enough space in a book review to scratch the surface of these ideas, but it is worth putting them here as notes. Given the evidence of the weight, let us presume that the world runs on a set of rules. Let's call it a big axiom A. We will show that axiom A is at the root of countless philosophical debates, including free will and determinism: believers and disbelievers of many philosophical concepts effectively differ here. The rule set of the world may or may not be fully comprehendible now or forever. Thankfully, we do not need assumptions about a sentient's complete comprehensibility for our purpose. One must still note that the whole of the rule set could be just slightly longer than what we know currently in our sciences, or it could be billions of times more complex with the number of parameters, interrelations, forces, fields, constants, etc. so large that no system on a rock like earth could encompass it fully with all the resources at disposal. When a human language produces concepts like soul, consciousness, free will, determinism, or even God, there is a required assumption of something - like a field or a force - that works outside any rule system governing the material world. We are different from inanimate objects and other life forms. Our ancestors found it necessary to believe additional mystic sources were working on us to account for our higher-order existence. Given that the rules uncovered so far are, at best, an approximation of the full set, it is impossible to rule out mystery concepts as comprehensively as geocentric theories. Proponents need consciousness and the likes to be outside the rule-based frameworks to give importance and agency to our race, not unlike the importance accorded to earth in geocentric theories. This inherently contradicts the axiom mentioned above. The contradictions lead one group to refute the starting assumption, another to rue the gaps in our knowledge, and the most to debate endlessly on finer points without conclusions. A disagreement on the axiom cannot simply be resolved through rational arguments based on them. Here is one example from the book that falls into this category. In the chapters on neurosciences, we learn about the struggles of different philosophical schools in finding the space for consciousness and free will in what we are learning about the brain's processing of signals and actions. Some see a potential for consciousness to exert itself in the current measurement gaps between our awareness neurons becoming aware of something and another set acting. The others want to use the gap for free will to guide the action before its neurons are activated. It actually gets this silly! There are more straightforward, obvious answers that require an overthrowing of historically-cherished concepts (the reviewer realizes practical difficulties but let's leave that aside, given the space constraints). Let's start with an example from traditional physics - say, fluidity. One needs to know everything about individual liquid molecules and their interrelations when present in an enormous number to understand the behavior of droplets or onwards to fluid down a capillary. The reality is that not only do we not know all at a molecular level, but we cannot understand the complete interplay of even three of them, let alone billions. Still, fluidity is an emergent concept that can be studied approximately using other types of equations. No scientific person thinks there is something non-scientific in between, like free will or consciousness, that suddenly causes molecules to behave like waves of one type versus the other. Our minds and bodies are tiny instances of the large world equation set. We cannot work on how our body changes from one moment to the next without any external influence, let alone its dynamic evolution over time, given all the environmental variables. A soul, consciousness, free will, etc., are good functional ways to describe many emergent behaviors like viscosity in fluid mechanics (notwithstanding their utility in reconciling historic, spiritual, or religious beliefs). Yet, searching for their causes in scientific or rational realms is futile. The last statement is important. A typical philosopher begins with questions like whether there is free will with the promise not to provide an answer through axiomatic authority but with didactic, reasoned discourses. The process of answering first tangles her in describing the term's meaning. The more she parses, the worse it becomes to ignore the gaps in scientific knowledge. Depending on her proclivity, she might feel tempted to use the knowledge gaps to provide the basis for her conclusions on the topic. Unfortunately, the closer she comes to asserting a non-rational concept, the more random and arbitrary it appears if she continues to pursue her logical exercise to find causality or reason. This point will have her recoil and leave the query without a definitive conclusion. Amid such tensions, she would also anguish whether a complete rule-based system will be deterministic, regardless of the possibility of the equation being unsolvable by any system smaller than the universe itself. The simple reality is that for those who want to believe in concepts like soul, consciousness, or free will, it is imperative to abandon rationality or science somewhere. Efforts to reconcile are doomed to fail, given the starting point in the hypothesis. It is precisely for the same reason that people with different assumptions on the limits of rationality are unlikely to ever agree on the answers to these questions, given the gaps in our knowledge. Those who believe in a rule-based world can still have practical answers to moral, ethical, and legal dilemmas, as shown in the course toward the final chapters. A small section on the determinism debate, which is slightly different. On the arrow of time, the observed world hurls in only one direction. To call this direction fated or not is a linguist's prerogative. Whether the equation is solvable using anything smaller than the universe is unimportant for our purposes. Like a three-body problem, even the most defined rule-based system may still not yield conclusions on where things are headed without waiting for the actuality to unfold. The defined rule-based system may have probabilistic parts. However, it is still an axiomatic assumption if we want to believe that there is no more profound, hidden theory behind any probabilistic fallout we observe. In the end, without mystic forces, a rule-based system is definitionally just rule-based, which is almost synonymous with the word deterministic. Some may use probabilistic parameters to dispute this, but that's an issue with the word's definition; it does not create any room for concepts like free will. Back to the course: it is worth going through because it will make many come up with ideas, like for this reviewer. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Feb 10, 2023
|
Feb 13, 2023
|
Feb 13, 2023
|
Unknown Binding
| ||||||||||||||
| 9781682767740
| unknown
| 4.18
| 407
| unknown
| Apr 05, 2016
|
really liked it
|
As a course, The Big Questions of Philosophy is well-designed, effectively presented, and immensely thought-provoking. For some, this is another kind
As a course, The Big Questions of Philosophy is well-designed, effectively presented, and immensely thought-provoking. For some, this is another kind of introduction to the major areas of philosophy, including metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and political philosophy. However, it is more than a course because the big questions are spot on. Their sequencing makes sense as they do not appear like excuses to introduce any set of philosophers or their theories in any particular order. More importantly, the attempts to answer are genuine, with every chapter razor focussed on the issues at hand without any needless digressions. It is almost like whatever philosophical theories one learns are just a side-effect. While the Professor does not equivocate, he is far more persuasive while denying or destroying proposed answers than in providing assertive, constructive resolutions to any topic. His unequivocal refutations of many cherished beliefs mean the course will have a pleasant and palatable appeal to those who already share the author’s perspective. There is likely to be a self-selection in those who pick the course; it is an echo chamber of sorts. The biggest question for this reviewer, because of the book and not addressed in it, is why it is so easy in Philosophy to refute than to construct. This question is not as superfluous as it sounds. In a way, it is the mother of all questions that provide a context to why most philosophical arguments cannot but lead nowhere once done with criticizing others. Conventional languages are grossly inadequate in the attempts to tackle myriads of real-life issues they try to address. History of how these languages evolved, on the one hand, and the ever-rising complexities of life as humanity progresses, on the other, make the inadequacies exponentially more flagrant over time. Philosophers' habitual efforts to arrive at one-size-fits-all generalized proclamations work until the next one sits down to rip them apart. Imagine if the world had stuck with only Pythagorean-era Math and Newton or Bohr were needed to compose their theories in them. Conventional languages have not evolved at all compared to real life. This was when they were inadequate to address the life that was right from the start. Philosophers' artificial constraints – imposed to arrive at universal or generalizable conclusions – make their quests doomed before they begin. Let's use another example: we know that languages do not have sufficient words to describe billions of viruses and bacteria that exist out there. Simply asserting that some virus or a bacterium causes Covid is no more helpful than ascribing it to a demon. Suppose the statement “virus causes Covid” must have a strict truth value of 0 or 1. In that case, you could almost expect a horde of intellectuals going back and forth for centuries arguing how most "viruses" do not cause this or how this statement might conflict with another one that says a virus is a cause of something non- Covid or it is not just a particular type of virus that is a cause always but only within a context. Let's use this ridiculous example to see how similar philosophical wrangles on finding universal moral or even legal principles from conventional language are. A principal “Lying is bad” by one philosopher would evoke nothing but above virus-like, must-have wide range of exceptions to highlight the inadequacy of the dictum. This is even before the smarter ones begin debating the definition of a “Lie” or what is “Bad” in the same vein as trying to arrive at the meaning of what is meant by “conscience,” “soul,” “free will,” or “God.” Machine Learning tools are the latest scientific/technological set proving how we cannot achieve much in a structured quest using words or categories invented by ancestors eons ago. The best philosophers spent ages trying to fine-tune the meanings of the words to make them usable, only to be summarily dismissed by the next generations. As the professor concludes, this does not make philosophical quests, courses, or arguments unnecessary. We are wired such that many of us will want to seek the answers to the kind of big questions posed in the book, fully knowing the futility. Still, somebody should attempt a course on what could happen to a being who refuses to think about existential issues and universal principles while focusing on broad guidelines and creating room for addressing specific situations as they arise rather than looking for perpetual hypothetical answers. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
2
|
Jan 17, 2023
not set
|
Jan 20, 2023
not set
|
Jan 20, 2023
|
Audiobook
| |||||||||||||||
| 1637740441
| 9781637740446
| 1637740441
| 4.24
| 255
| unknown
| Jun 28, 2022
|
liked it
|
The Romance of Reality keeps shuffling between a bit of sublime and a lot of ridiculous. The prose gets extremely muddled with heavy name-throwing whe
The Romance of Reality keeps shuffling between a bit of sublime and a lot of ridiculous. The prose gets extremely muddled with heavy name-throwing when the author makes significant, unsubstantiated claims as if they are accepted, scientific facts by many experts, or just so obvious that only narrowly focused scientist types would miss them! That said, the book is most readable in the initial sections, where the author argues why life might have been inevitable somewhere in our world rather than a low-probability accident. Paraphrasing the book's arguments, the forces that propel the world towards increasing worldwide disorder - led by the second law of thermodynamics - are more than counterbalanced by other forces/processes that foster self-catalyzing, recursive complexity in microspheres. While the author does not mention this adequately, the order-creating mechanisms emerging from all the other laws of physics sans the second law of thermodynamics are why we have atoms and galaxies and all the chemical elements, let alone life. As the book progresses, it turns mystic, never mind the author's repeated claims of everything being rational and proof-driven. Many sections are laughable, like those coming down heavily on the thinkers who argue against free will with the most naive objections imaginable. The other sections ascribing purpose and direction, including somehow providing a space to blockchain in the teleological destiny of our universe, are incomprehensible even for those who want to hear out the alternate ideas without prejudice. Data-driven scientists will have more issues with so many word-based assumptions, and conclusion jumps on the back of sheer didactic and polemic. The author's take on consciousness provides the best example of how little attention he may have paid to the various debates on the subject and the simplicity of the conclusions based on his wishes and already-formed views on what reality has to be rather than what it might be. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Oct 08, 2022
|
Oct 11, 2022
|
Oct 11, 2022
|
Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 1541619307
| 9781541619302
| 1541619307
| 3.97
| 835
| Nov 2021
| Nov 09, 2021
|
really liked it
|
Bizarrely and mostly unwittingly, A Natural History is a weirdly positive book on the fate of nature around us. Dunn's iron laws of ecology or paleont
Bizarrely and mostly unwittingly, A Natural History is a weirdly positive book on the fate of nature around us. Dunn's iron laws of ecology or paleontology may not be as accepted or sound as he claims, but they are an engaging and informative read. They provide a stinging critique of anthropogenic climate change and its impact on the existing species diversity. When one looks at long time scales, the author's laws lead to numerous inevitabilities that might be comforting for nature lovers despite their apparent short-term doomsday-isq consequences. The author did not intend these; in many ways, they are still macabre about the fate of the species most important to us, our own one. The book claims that every species, like every organism, eventually goes extinct with an average age of around two million years. At 200,000 years, the Homo Sapiens are young and with a large future ahead, but we are immensely harming the species diversity critical for our own survival through our lifestyle. Given that most of our climate repair-related measures are extremely short-term on such time scales, with enormous damage already underway, an environmentally ghoulish winter of sorts is unavoidable for our race lasting possibly a few thousand or tens of thousands of years. However, this phase does not have to start within the next few generations, let alone the next few decades, and it may not end with our complete and quick annihilation. The book provides numerous examples of species' natural adaptability and resilience in light of the changes in its environment. Add in our spread on the planet along with human ingenuities, the Homo Sapiens are unlikely to die as a species with the ongoing climate change. Yes, there will be enormous inconveniences and miseries for all of us compared to what we have begun to take from life/nature for granted. Still, the long history recounted in the book argues for both futility in fighting the looking darkness first and the reason for hope in the very long-term at the specie level. We are responsible for tens of thousands of species going extinct already. The harm to biodiversity is real and irreversible. As the book shows, this is hurting our survivability (not on the scale of a few thousands of years, though). That said, with billions of bacterial species and even more (trillions?) of bacteriophages and other microbes in the deepest recesses of the earth, the earth's evolution cycle is not in any danger. The book rightly emphasizes how the species to come may not correlate to the species we are making extinct during this Holocene epoch. Once again, the book's intention is not to provide conclusions like the above. It has fresh and highly original ways to make us focus on the degradation we are causing to biodiversity and their implications on our species' survival. This critic's personal sidenotes above are an effort to find long-term positives in an otherwise scary scenario painted by the book. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Aug 14, 2022
|
Aug 17, 2022
|
Aug 17, 2022
|
Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 0374157359
| 9780374157357
| 0374157359
| 4.20
| 19,695
| Oct 19, 2021
| Nov 09, 2021
|
liked it
|
Graeber and Wengrow's Dawn makes many radical points but, in the end, turns out to be nihilistically pointless because of the methods they consciously
Graeber and Wengrow's Dawn makes many radical points but, in the end, turns out to be nihilistically pointless because of the methods they consciously or unwittingly deploy. The authors comprehensively discredit theories of all types of well-known social commentators, historians, anthropologists, or economic historians based on the following single premise. However, this is not in their words. Language tools, categorizations, framing, etc., that we use in studies now oversimplify the life that was. Rousseau to Pinker, Hobbes to Hariri, Pinker or Diamond, all celebrated thinkers, used later-day descriptions to tell us how some pre-historical communities lived in contrast to what emerged later to make their stories and conclusions. As per the book, what is painted is invariably simplistic, based on scant evidence, and never reflective of the complexities and diversities that existed over millennia of human life in all parts of the world. The authors comprehensively show that there were no first farms, kings, cities, or even states that marked the beginning of some sort of modernity the way we are made to believe in these books. The archaeological proofs discussed in the book are no less patchy, though. The authors liberally debunk claims of others based on their conclusions of Mesoamerican societies of the last two thousand years or of Harappan/early Egyptian civilizations' archeological findings a few more thousand years before. The theories debunked are often for the communities living tens of thousands of years earlier everywhere. The book's real arguments are more logico-rational and exceptionally well made, although one does not need any training in history, archeology, or anthropology for these discussions. The way human life or history evolved was never with any intentions, preordained path, or inevitability. The eras that we earmark as periods when many of the modern constructs are said to have emerged - like cities, ruling classes, farms, inequality, etc. - were extraordinarily prolonged periods whose realities famous theorists vainly and willingly generalize to build their narratives. As per the authors, and rightly so to a degree, the vacuity behind those famous sociological theories, stories, and conclusions- no matter how well known- becomes evident when one decides to objectively examine the details behind any claims made on any pattern in history. One can take the book's arguments further, although this is not a point made by the authors. Whenever a historian of a later time (let alone those Hollywood moviemakers) tries to describe the life of people even a few thousand years before using modern tools at her disposal, she is doomed to misrepresent massively. Studies or conclusions built on top of such misrepresentations, as per the chain of thoughts adopted by the authors, serve little purpose. The authors pick only a handful of most famous claims to debunk, but the argument chain can discredit absolutely any claim made in these fields. High school debaters master the technic of going after the definition of terms used by the opponents to score points. The terms we use - not just in spoken languages but even in sciences - can never adequately represent the reality they try to describe. The language-based and continuously evolving categorizations (say through abstractions like hypothalamus in a brain, electron in physics, internet, or even what we mean by a farm) provide a truncated description of reality. Constructs built on top may help us analyze some future problem or situation better, but they are far shakier when examined closely than typically implied by their proponents. If, as the authors nearly conclude, all generalizations are wrong, and hence the narratives based on them, subjects like history are sucked out of any practical utility and reduced to a hobby. Observing events in atomized isolation is the only pure path under such schema as one assiduously avoids any language-based descriptions, which become definitionally violative. The real critique in the book is not towards opposing specific theories like claims on the origin of inequality with the exhortations for better theories in those realms. The arguments are against almost all theories. Clearly, pattern recognition cannot be so useless. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Jan 20, 2022
|
Jan 24, 2022
|
Jan 25, 2022
|
Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 0241304539
| 9780241304532
| 0241304539
| 4.08
| 1,341
| Jun 20, 2019
| Jan 01, 2019
|
it was amazing
|
Russell and Durant have written timeless classics on the History of Philosophy, but their now-dated work gives readers the impression that significant
Russell and Durant have written timeless classics on the History of Philosophy, but their now-dated work gives readers the impression that significant philosophical developments stopped in the twentieth century. Nothing is farther from the truth, and Grayling's tome is a must-read for anyone interested in the genre most for its detailed sections and analytical and continental philosophies. Extensive scientific and technological discoveries have necessitated equally significant changes in philosophical thoughts on existence, epistemology, mind/matter duality, ethics/morality, and the likes. Given that the last hundred years have marked the most significant scientific progress in every realm conceivable, it is not surprising that philosophical quests have also taken a turn that appears everything that came before looks antiquated, like Newtonian physics. This is not to degrade the work of the giants on whose shoulders we stand but to emphasize the tremendous value of the book for its sections on the most recent century. There is a lot to learn from every section of this well-written, fast-moving book. One develops a deep appreciation for a host of philosophers for the advances they made in our understanding. Some of the credit for this must go to the author for making complicated subjects understandable to the non-experts. The reviewer would like to use the space to jot some of his thoughts on where the next generation of philosophers could be headed. Progress in the fields of logic, inductive and deductive, was along a specific path with the Western Philosophers until relativity and quantum physics. The new sciences upstaged axiomatic foundations like the principle of bivalence or the law of excluded middle. They created the need for a far more nuanced approach than the one followed for millennia. One gets a feeling that the technological developments of the last two decades are about to upstage analytical and phenomenological approaches as future philosophers digest the implications of machine learning. In a way, a being's progress - irrespective of whether the being is sentient or conscient, naturally evolved or artificially built, a carbon-based form or something different - is in its ability to manipulate the surround better. Manipulability, which is generally an offshoot of some sort of comprehension, emanates from developments in two divergent forces the being constantly works on. The surround is numerically vast. No amount of processing power of the being is enough to understand the surround in toto or more. The being is forced to generalize what it senses in the surround through categorization, pattern recognition, causal chains, and likes. These abstractions - and reductionisms - are dependent on language tools the being has developed until the point in time (which makes everything path and history-dependent). The language tools are definitionally always inadequate - aka less than the vast reality they are to comprehend - and self-referential. Their inevitable self-referential nature causes inescapable debate-inducing trappings. They frustrate the parties involved in stymieing them from improving their comprehension. Let's understand the contradictions in two diversionary forces: a whole world must be abstractionally split by the being to be understood and manipulated better. The way a length of a non-linear shore depends on the minimum on the scale used to measure (with no upper bound), the finer the ability to sieve the reality, the more is a being's ability to comprehend and manipulate. And yet, the finer the splits into categories/names/analytical relationships, the more are the doubts and unanswered questions (like the way linear equations squeeze out less and less utility with every lesser degree of freedom). Stupidly, a language that uses only two words to describe human emotions is likely to have the underlying humans with far fewer psychological, social, economic, or philosophical issues. Over time, as programming developments have shown, the descriptive power of languages continues to improve while always staying grossly inadequate. With the higher ability to detail the surround, past conclusions always appear simplistic. Some old queries get answered, but one feels like the list of the unanswered keeps getting bigger. The language complexities compound and intricate self-referentiality make path dependence important as well. The rising abilities of our machines will help us understand the extent to which abstractions like intentionality or consciousness are nothing but emergent phenomena of highly complex circuitries. With our abilities to see the evolution of machines to a near-zero matter state, we will develop a far more profound understanding of what we mean by understanding while looking at our machines' machinations with data. The evolution of programming languages already tells us that a being's extent of comprehension is a function of the language tools at disposal. As a being's material analytical capacity grows, it spends ever more resources into ever more refined categorization - the process at the heart of what we call artificial intelligence - and the interactions within. No model of reality can fully reflect all that is our reality, and more frustratingly, a more detailed model will also reflect how much more remains unreflected. Simplistically put, many supposedly subjective, descriptive, emotive, behavioural, abstract, or transcendental concepts will undergo a re-interpretation as we observe what our machines can do. When one reads a book like Grayling's, one of the biggest lessons is how philosophical topics and queries have changed over the last two thousand years. They will likely change even more rapidly as and when philosophers spend time understanding the new machine learning era while doffing the historical-philosophical baggage from previous eras, including from the likes of Russell, Wittgenstein, and Heidegger. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Dec 28, 2021
|
Jan 12, 2022
|
Jan 13, 2022
|
Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 152474901X
| 9781524749019
| 152474901X
| 3.96
| 850
| Feb 09, 2021
| Feb 09, 2021
|
it was ok
|
Musings, almost by definition, are unstructured and personal. In the best case, they could be one person's lyrical streams of consciousness that would
Musings, almost by definition, are unstructured and personal. In the best case, they could be one person's lyrical streams of consciousness that would make the recipients think. They do not need as many proofs behind any hypothesis or conclusions as to any structured body of work that aims to establish any claims as truth. Musings do not have to waste a lot of time imparting knowledge or establishing facts as it needs to let highly individualistic doubts and convictions come out in the open. It is on that last count that the book disappoints this reader the most. As good as the writing is, the author spends far more time establishing various scientific theories and discussing the personalities than on his own quandaries, perceptions, personal philosophies, and assumptions about what existence could be. It is the author's prerogative to decide how brave he wanted to be in dismissing certain ideas (particularly in the realms of non-materiality) or in supporting some other. For a reader, a lack of conviction and all-pervasive agnosticism is unhelpful and wishy-washy. For instance, the famous scientist could have expanded on whether there is true nothingness and could the theoretical minimum - the plank length - be further reducible in the construct of the world the way the speed of light is not the upper limit for the - as against within the - fabric of the cosmos (expansion of our universe is not hindered by the light-speed limit). In other words, there are various minimums and maximums in the universe we see and experience, but they do not need to be in the wider world. The opportunities to elaborate are far more whenever the book turns to non-material aspects of our existence. Numerous times, the reader would feel like she is approaching some interesting arguments or discussion only to be thrown into another section on scientific findings or tales of past finders. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Dec 11, 2021
|
Dec 14, 2021
|
Dec 14, 2021
|
Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 152660499X
| 9781526604996
| 152660499X
| 3.85
| 2,614
| Sep 03, 2020
| Sep 03, 2020
|
it was ok
|
Work is too unfocused. Many books have extensive scopes, but good books of this genre either have some original viewpoints or engaging styles while sta Work is too unfocused. Many books have extensive scopes, but good books of this genre either have some original viewpoints or engaging styles while staying focussed on macro arguments. They do not bog down on needless details and attempt to discuss over-arching trends that spawn millions of years or billions of people. On the other hand, Work aims to cover vast stretches of human history through short essay-length chapters on what appears like randomly selected topics. The author has to try hard to somehow link everything to the word he uses in the title, but he could have equally covered "work" at the Big Bang explosion, "work" done for the Great Wall, or "work" done by soldiers in wars or the painters or the housewives as topics. The point is the thread connecting the chapters is thin and with enormous gaps in between. It does not help that almost every chapter is based on commonly available, well-discussed material on those subject matters. Chapters are too brief to throw light on nuances (dearly needed in highly biased, subjective later chapters) and too quick to make any lasting impact. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Jun 06, 2021
|
Jun 09, 2021
|
Jun 09, 2021
|
Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 1610397967
| 9781610397964
| 1610397967
| 4.27
| 981
| Oct 01, 2019
| Oct 01, 2019
|
really liked it
|
Big History books sacrifice details for detailed discussions on broad across-era trends. Mr. Ansary's fast history book does an excellent job describi
Big History books sacrifice details for detailed discussions on broad across-era trends. Mr. Ansary's fast history book does an excellent job describing the important historic events through headlines and the quickest of summaries but is wanting in sufficient discussions on underlying themes. On the positive side, the author does an excellent job culling the list. Extremely few history-defining events miss a mention. The summaries are light even for a big history book that is supposed to cover all eras, all regions, and all events, but the book's seamless and lucid account more than makes up for it. The biggest drawback is the author's desire for a linear historic arc. There is no real-life messiness in the way humanity's story is presented. The author spends absolutely no time discussing what could have been or alternate roads missed. There is a needless inevitability as the author refuses to strongly critic any event or development except the most obviously heinous. The story arc presented has a handful of obvious themes, but none radical. The author makes no real attempt to present any novel ideas, which would be most jarring for readers who have read other big history works. The book ends up being little more than a source of quick summaries on hundreds of topics by avoiding anything too contentious. And to be fair, everyone is likely to walk away with a few new information bits from these well-written briefs. Overall, the book will be most valuable for those picking it as their first Big History read. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Dec 26, 2020
|
Jan 2021
|
Jan 03, 2021
|
Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 1476776628
| 9781476776620
| 1476776628
| 3.98
| 4,252
| Aug 14, 2018
| Aug 14, 2018
|
it was amazing
|
The Tangled Tree is a well-written book on a complex, important and unexplored topic. Darwinian evolution through mutations and natural selection is ta The Tangled Tree is a well-written book on a complex, important and unexplored topic. Darwinian evolution through mutations and natural selection is taken as the standard and complete theory, in the same vein as Newtonian mechanics in the 19th century. The evolutionary reality is not only far more complex but also different as the author patiently and comprehensively sets to prove in this book. The issues involved are complex. The claims need be revealed only after bringing readers up to date on the minimum required knowledge, and the author is a master at setting such a base before he thrusts topics like Endosymbiosis, Horizontal Gene Transfer, Horizontal Transposon Transfer, Endogenous Retroviruses etc. Genetic science discoveries are upending almost every tenet of the phylogeny or phylogenetic tree that scientists believed in for a century post-Darwin. With the tales of prominent personalities involved in the field, the author keeps the subject light and digestible for readers new to the concepts. The chronological back and forth is jarring at times, but the writing style and the narrative arc help simplify many extremely complex topics. The book is a great read to understand that evolution as we have known is just not what truly happened. In fact, horizontal gene transfer dominated a large part of the evolution of life in the early stages rather than the natural selection. And, HGT is likely not only playing an important role in natural spheres but critical for the medicinal sciences. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Mar 10, 2019
|
Mar 14, 2019
|
Mar 14, 2019
|
Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 0316392006
| 9780316392006
| 0316392006
| 4.09
| 7,657
| Jan 01, 2008
| May 22, 2018
|
it was amazing
|
David Christian should be christened the father of Big History. In this book, he shows what a perfect Big History book should be. Unlike many other pop David Christian should be christened the father of Big History. In this book, he shows what a perfect Big History book should be. Unlike many other popular big history books, Origin Story simply focuses on how we got to today from the big bang moment based on all the knowledge from various, vastly different fields that exists today. This is a remarkably well-written book, with almost no word wasted. At every point, Prof Christian has novel takes on the usual scientific concepts to generate completely new level of understanding, particularly from the viewpoint of fathoming our reality and its evolution. These aha moments, that repeatedly spring from nowhere, would make the book a must-read even for those that have read dozens of good popular science books. Yet, the book is about anything but. As the title says, the book is a story from our origin to now. Professor spends no more time than needed on explaining the theories as he moves along on the story of various evolutions. The story is well laid out and explanations are never onerous. Once again, this is a book on our evolution and not about any theories or scientists. This means, there is little effort wasted on theories that have been discarded or are not necessary. This is a refreshing change compared to almost all the other books out there that spend far too much time on the scientific personalities, the process of discoveries, various counter-theories, including theories that proved wrong or inadequate. For example, this book does not feel the need to elaborate on mythical origin stories and prove why they were wrong, or on lives (or key moments) of any Einsteins or Darwins. Rather, the book provides a definitive tale of how we got here from the moment when it all started. The author is fully aware that existing knowledge repertoire on which this account is based will be updated over time, and along with it our Big History narrative, but that does not distract him into seeding needless doubts. Big History is a great invention: under its guise, humanity creates a comprehensive scientific account of our evolution without worrying about where the underlying knowledge comes from. This book shows the best way of writing such a history. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Nov 16, 2018
|
Nov 19, 2018
|
Nov 22, 2018
|
Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 1594205582
| 9781594205583
| 1594205582
| 4.12
| 5,011
| May 16, 2017
| May 16, 2017
|
it was amazing
|
Despite numerous flaws, this is a great book to read for multiple reasons. Complex systems are different in details, but most, if not all, of them hav
Despite numerous flaws, this is a great book to read for multiple reasons. Complex systems are different in details, but most, if not all, of them have a certain commonality in their structures because of the self-similar nature of its smaller parts. The book logically shows how the larger constructs of these lego-like blocks lead to contraptions that may appear massively different in all ordinary ways, but they retain certain important basic characteristics, which this reviewer would continue to refer to as commonalities. These commonalities of different systems built on self-similar blocks themselves have something common - called Scale mathematically. Scale effectively means that as self-similar structures expand to build larger structures, most of the evolving inherent or emergent characteristics would follow a mathematical growth pattern that is not linear but exponential. The exponentiality could be sublinear (rapidly converging) or superlinear. And, this is true for natural phenomenon like life (or species), evolutionary human constructs like cities or even conscious artificial constructs like companies. This wonderful book has countless nuggets of new information as it expounds on the underlying scale laws that are rarely explained in almost any other popular non-fiction books of any kind. More importantly, the author goes on to explain why the power or scale laws come into play rather than simply point to their existence. For instance, the scaling follows quarter-power exponents - or growth equations with exponents like 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.25 - in many underlying patterns of life (across species). The author has ingenious logical arguments emanating from the three dimensions of our spatial presence to explain why. Such clear reasonings are not present elsewhere - for example, the rationale behind the Dunbar number is quite weak. And, no attempt is made to explain why city characteristics follow a power scaling of 0.15 up or down (ie, 1.15 or 0.85). The flaws in the work are numerous, as stated earlier. The author rarely explains the statistical strengths of the fittings arrived at. Academic critics of the book's conclusions have most doubts on the data and equations that the book presents as inviolate. The authors jump from biology to cities to corporates as the three main organisms following the scale laws appear whimsical or at best, an accidental result of the author's own academic career. The last section - where the author provides his own rather subjective and disjointed rant against singularity, big data and AI - not only is indulgent but also may make readers wonder if similar preconceived views are also at the roots of other conclusions presented in the book. While some readers would find the shortcomings in analysis, conclusions and style jarring, the focus should be on the book's unique analysis and pathbreaking important conclusions - all presented in a way almost all will be able to understand. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Nov 24, 2017
|
Nov 28, 2017
|
Dec 02, 2017
|
Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 0525954821
| 9780525954828
| 0525954821
| 4.18
| 9,384
| May 10, 2016
| May 10, 2016
|
it was amazing
|
The Big Picture is a highly ambitious project and whether you agree with all the conclusions or not, you will walk away with many new understandings a
The Big Picture is a highly ambitious project and whether you agree with all the conclusions or not, you will walk away with many new understandings and marvel at its own internal consistency. In this book finally, we have a natural science professor trying to give his unapologetic, no holds barred, rationalists' view on the nature or purpose of existence. Unlike many other scientists (at least in public domain), he does not shrug off what is unexplained by sciences to the realm of supernatural. And unlike many other rationalist philosophers, the author can and does use exhaustive his scientific knowledge well to make genuinely interesting points. The author's overall construct is novel and impressive although it might be incomplete for an academic philosopher and good enough only for a popular science book. May be, it is not original either but it is for a book of this genre in the readings of this reviewer. The main conclusion, in my words, is that any consistent and falsifiable theory that tries to explain what is going on around in our world is a part of a naturalist's bag of things to understand the world. The following are the main provisos: - Such a theory should be valid in some ways to explain (past or present or future) a part of the world around us - It should be falsifiable with more evidences (explained through Bayesian priors) - It will only be valid in its domain of applicability. Bosons and fermions cannot explain how a cell functions or a theory of cells cannot explain how Facebook evolves - for instance Try explaining water pressure or properties through Hydrogen and Oxygen! - No model can explain all the emergent or manifested facets of reality. New characteristics emerge when one changes the scale (or context of things). This is clearly true when one is dealing with chemicals where compound products have wholly different properties compared to the underlying.The author talks about this being true across realms (from quarks to protons to elements etc all the way to galaxies or from atoms to cells all the way to life, consciousness and history). - And all such theories should be internally consistent. The book goes on to explain some of these island theories that explain existence. Through the usual bag of theories, including relativity, quantum mechanics, biochemistry and evolution, the author describes emergence of ever rising complexity amid perpetually increasing overall chaos (entropy). The author loses his way somewhat when he tries to apply systematic knowledge to human subjects like consciousness, morality, politics and other social/personal issues that have dogged philosophers from time immemorial. If consciousness, for instance, is an emerging phenomenon from physical brain states (like society from a group of individuals), is it totally wrong to talk about it in Cartesian dualistic way (for example once again, is water more than hydrogen and oxygen)? This is where many of the conclusions smack of dogma borne out of pre-conceived biases rather than a result of scientific inquiry. Many overall conclusions on the meaning and the purpose or the way to behave etc will likely warm all rationalist readers but for some conclusions at least, their foundations are as far away from a rational inquiry as in many other fields. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Jun 24, 2017
|
Jul 2017
|
Jul 07, 2017
|
Hardcover
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
my rating |
|
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| 3.94
|
liked it
|
Jun 30, 2024
|
Jun 30, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 4.46
|
it was amazing
|
Feb 17, 2024
Feb 14, 2024
|
Feb 16, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 3.95
|
really liked it
|
Oct 2023
|
Oct 01, 2023
|
|||||
|
| 4.14
|
really liked it
|
Sep 23, 2023
|
Sep 23, 2023
|
|||||
|
| 3.70
|
really liked it
|
Aug 04, 2023
|
Aug 05, 2023
|
|||||
|
| 4.35
|
it was amazing
|
Jun 05, 2023
|
Jun 06, 2023
|
|||||
|
| 3.73
|
it was ok
|
Apr 24, 2023
|
Apr 25, 2023
|
|||||
|
| 4.11
|
it was amazing
|
Feb 13, 2023
|
Feb 13, 2023
|
|||||
|
| 4.18
|
really liked it
|
Jan 20, 2023
not set
|
Jan 20, 2023
|
|||||
|
| 4.24
|
liked it
|
Oct 11, 2022
|
Oct 11, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 3.97
|
really liked it
|
Aug 17, 2022
|
Aug 17, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 4.20
|
liked it
|
Jan 24, 2022
|
Jan 25, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 4.08
|
it was amazing
|
Jan 12, 2022
|
Jan 13, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 3.96
|
it was ok
|
Dec 14, 2021
|
Dec 14, 2021
|
|||||
|
| 3.85
|
it was ok
|
Jun 09, 2021
|
Jun 09, 2021
|
|||||
|
| 4.27
|
really liked it
|
Jan 2021
|
Jan 03, 2021
|
|||||
|
| 3.98
|
it was amazing
|
Mar 14, 2019
|
Mar 14, 2019
|
|||||
|
| 4.09
|
it was amazing
|
Nov 19, 2018
|
Nov 22, 2018
|
|||||
|
| 4.12
|
it was amazing
|
Nov 28, 2017
|
Dec 02, 2017
|
|||||
|
| 4.18
|
it was amazing
|
Jul 2017
|
Jul 07, 2017
|
Loading...
