Humanity in a Creative Universe

Download or read book Humanity in a Creative Universe written by Stuart A. Kauffman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In the hard sciences , which can often feel out of grasp for many lay readers, there are "great thinkers" who go far beyond the equations, formulas, and research. Great minds such as Stuart A. Kauffman think about the functions and nature of the universe, the implications of our living existence, and other impossibly fascinating, yet difficult questions. He has dedicated his lifetime to researching "complex systems" at prestigious institutions and now writes his treatise on the most complex systems of all, the creative universe, the limits of scientific laws, and the role of the mind. Grounded in his rigorous training and research background, Kauffman is interdisciplinary in every sense of the word, sorting through the major questions and theories in biology, physics, and philosophy. Best known for his philosophy of evolutionary biology, Kauffman coined the term "UNprestatability" to call into question whether science can ever accurately and precisely predict the future development of biological features in organisms that cannot even be prestated. If not, he argues, no laws will entail biological evolution. As evidenced by the title's mention of creativity, the book stunningly argues that our preoccupation to explain all things with scientific law has deadened our creative nature. In this fascinating book, Kauffman concludes that the development of life on earth is not governed by law, because no theory could ever fully account for the unprestatable emergence of new functional variations of evolution. This book reframes our view of reality, challenging the next generations of great thinkers, and will be discussed for years to come."--Dust jacket.