I skimmed the essays on computer science, but found many of the essays in God, consciousness, and natural selection interesting. What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it? This book, What We Believe But Cannot Prove: Today's Leading Thinkers on Science in the Age of Certainty (2006, Harper Perennial) is edited by John Brockman, publisher of Edge. It reads like an internet forum (which is more or less what it actually started as), where some people write at length and others can barely be bothered to go beyond a few sentences.
They are loosely grouped by subject area, though with no clear subject divisions.
[12], Several reviews focused positively on the invitation to speculate afforded respondents and the insight their speculations may offer into the future of scientific discourse. Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2009. This is what I would call a toilet book – the kind of reading matter that one keeps beside the toilet to be read in snatches. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. It's a little akin to taking the situation a bit too serious or coming off a little stuffy. [9], Reviews of What We Believe But Cannot Prove were primarily positive.
Most of the entries provided new points of view for phenomenon I was familiar with (or able to easily research and understand). It’s taken a couple attempts to finish this book, but I’m glad I did.
With so many contributors, it's not surprising that the book is patchy. Most of the writers (although mercifully not all) are atheists of a particularly unfortuante kind, the kind that are unaware of their own dependence on assumptions and presumptions about that which is true. Wow.
And I couldn't decide if ordering the responses by subject was helpful or boring. I'm not convinced that this was a great idea for a book. Because science is cumulative, building on itself in progressive fashion, we can achieve an ever-greater understanding of reality. The book is a collection of essays written by more than 100 scientists and other leading scholars in response to the question, "What do you believe even though you cannot prove it?" There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists.
The topics vary from the belief in God to whether or not there’s intelligent life in the universe. But, thankfully, that didn’t happen very often. An very much needed and recommended conjuration of deep ideas and far-seeing perspectives which, while possibly wrong in the long term, presently duly pursue the intended job. Eighteen months of trying only got me to page 92. I mean, it helps to understand a writer's reference to another writer if you've just finished reading the referenced writer, but, adversely, how many subtly different takes on string theory can you read before you a) start to hate that you really don't understand it, or b) just don't care anymore.
What was more interesting than the essays themselves, were the various ways in which these scientists and academics – by the very nature of their pursuits more fluent in the language and concepts of evidence, proof, belief, doubt, and faith than your everyday average person – deconstructed the question and reframed it in an answerable way.
Susan Blackmore, a lecturer on evolutionary theory, believes "it is possible to live happily and morally without believing in free will," and Daniel Goleman believes children today are "unintended victims of economic and technological progress."
It's a good introduction to a lot of ideas and figures.
Things I liked about the book was that it really was a smattering of shared ideas about what people think will be proved true.
I’m somewhat familiar with evolution, but hadn’t thought about evolution in relation to beliefs. Start by marking “What We Believe But Cannot Prove: Today's Leading Thinkers on Science in the Age of Certainty” as Want to Read: Error rating book. Find all the books, read about the author, and more.
Very thought provoking. ), This was the first projection into paper of the Edge.org cast of bright minds, gathered together to answer their way on the question that gives the title to the collection of short essays.
It reads like an internet forum (which is more or less what it actually started as), where some people write at length and others can barely be bothered to go beyond a few sentences. However, this book was beyond my scope of knowledge, intelligence, and many times, interest. by the same author (in fact, some of the essays are word-for-word repeats). A great many of the authors, even worse, have a degree of contempt for biblical morality and the God of heaven and earth that is unacceptable and certainly unbecoming of anyone who wishes to be viewed as a great thinker. In conclusion, I believe but cannot prove that reality exists and science is the best method for understanding it; that there is no God; that the universe is determined but we are free; that morality evolved as an adaptive trait of humans and human communities; and that ultimately all of existence is explicable through science. There was a problem loading your book clubs. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account.
Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published The book consists of various responses to a question posed by the Edge Foundation, with answers as short as one sentence or as long as a few pages.
In 2005, the Edge (a site where scientists and intellectuals share their ideas) posed the question: "...What do you believe is true, even though you cannot prove it?" Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2020. A great many of the authors, even worse, have a degree of cont. [7], A pervasive theme, according to Publishers Weekly, is the discomfort responders felt in professing unproven beliefs, which Publishers Weekly declared "an interesting reflection of the state of science". Some of the writing, though ALL phenomenally intellectual, was stiff and lecture-like. As an atheist I have the right to say that there are very few things as boring as atheism. I very much like Liam Gallagher's belief that cheese only goes off if you leave it in a microwave for 10 minutes and then fly it to Mars and back inside a used, but unwashed piccalilli jar. Some of these topics include: Existence (or not) of intelligent life beyond Earth; our ability to eventually surpass the speed of light; whether evolution is universal and whether it has intelligent design behind it; whether or not an afterlife exists; what is a soul; what is the nature of science; the existence of cannibalism/slavery/racism as natural parts of humanity; what is free will and do we have it; is global warming real; what are memories and where are they stored; what is consciousness and is there a collective human consciousness; the existence of multiverses (in many forms); what is human nature. And George Dyson on dialects in ravens of Northwest North America, and Alun Anderson on cons. Probably would give this more a 3.5 star rating. [6] "What's really at stake here", Wired said in its review, "is the nature of 'proof' itself". It’s taken a couple attempts to finish this book, but I’m glad I did. I, like him, believe in science. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. An very much needed and recommended conjuration of deep ideas and far-seeing perspectives which, while possibly wrong in the long term, presently duly pursue the intended job. Prime members enjoy FREE Delivery and exclusive access to music, movies, TV shows, original audio series, and Kindle books. Most of the entries provided new points of view for phenomenon I was familiar with (or able to easily research and understand).
That should be a wake-up call to certain people that there are elements of faith in all endeavors. Topics covered quite a range of things, but boil down basically to questions of the physical, metaphysical, and spiritual realms. Other beliefs are more mundane and one is highly mathematically specific.
(not a surprising thought but one that popped up a lot.) Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
This book is a collection of those essays. [5] The essays and answers posted there make up the book. "WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE IS TRUE EVEN THOUGH YOU CANNOT PROVE IT?" Sam Harris Website Recommendations: Part 5, Readers’ Top Histories and Biographies of the Last 5 Years. Professor of cosmology and astrophysics Martin Rees, for example, admits that he believes intelligent life is unique to our world (in sharp contrast to many of his fellow contributors). Each year, the Edge Foundation poses a question on its website to members of the "third culture", defined by Brockman as "those scientists and other thinkers...who, through their work and expository writing, are taking the place of the traditional intellectual in rendering visible the deeper meanings of our lives, redefining who and what we are". Almost all of the topics are thought provoking, but I think the book would work better for me if there was more humor laced within the pages.
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Sold by betterdeals2019 and ships from Amazon Fulfillment. It's pure brilliance and provocation wisely mingled with sound reasoning and questionable feelings. An excellent reference book on religion and free thought -- a must-have for all free thinkers/rationalists. I, like him, believe in science. I was lost for some of the astrophysics entries; there seemed to be too many complex terms and obscure theories that overwhelmed my science knowledge.
What We Believe But Cannot Prove: Today's Leading Thinkers on Science in the Age of Certainty is a non-fiction book edited by literary agent John Brockman with an introduction by novelist Ian McEwan and published by Harper Perennial. Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. This book includes tiny essays (no more than four pages each, sometimes as short as a paragraph) by the world's smartest people about their hunches, estimates, guesses about a broad range of topics. Which is to stir the reader's imagi.
Nice little collection, although there was a little too much repetition of some of the main themes (especially physics, neuroscience, and evolution).
There is nothing like reading a history or biography book and being so completely transported to another time and place that you find... More than one hundred of the world's leading thinkers write about things they believe in, despite the absence of concrete proof. It contains an interesting idea, but it's over and then we're on to someone else's two cents. The worst articles were the ones that said effectively, “I believe there is no God, but I can’t prove it” – oh, enough already.
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