Author: Ranjit Nair
Editor: Ranjit Nair
Publisher: Scientia
Year: 2001
Language: English
Pages: 148
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8188155004
Description
In this volume, some of the world's leading thinkers grapple with profound questions at the boundaries of our knowledge Ilya Prigogine, who won the 1977 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, outlines his dream of harmonizing Einstein's ideal of unification with Darwin's vision of an evolving universe. In a similar vein, E C G Sudarshan, winner in 1986 of the first Third World Academy of Sciences Prize in Physics, reflects on the extraordinary difficulty of reconciling the arrow of time with contemporary physical theory.
Roger Penrose, former Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford, who shared the Wolf Prize with Stephen Hawking in 1988, challenges AI-inspired models of mind, contending that mathematical understanding is beyond the reach of a computer. A wide-ranging interview with Penrose throws light on the interests and inspirations of a brilliant scientific mind.
Philosophers of science, Michel Birbol and Ranjit Nair, respond to Erwin Schrodinger's provocative ideas. Bitbol addresses Schrodinger's view that the quantum revolution calls for a radically new ontology. Nair evaluates the argument derived by Schrodinger from Shankara against the possibility of a science of consciousness.
Finally, the late Wilhelm Halbfass explores a major theme in Indian thought. Halbfass examines the elusive concept of Akasa, an element which also transcends the very notion of an element.
Marked by scholarship and passionate commitment, the contributions give the reader a sense of the excitement of science and philosophy in the making.
Contents
Editor's Note
ROGER PENROSE
Can a computer understand?
E C G SUDARSHAN
Does time go forward?
MICHEL BITBOL
Are there particles and quantum jumps?
RANJIT NAIR
Can Science comprehend consciousness?
WILHELM HALBFASS
Space or matter?
IN CONVERSATION
WITH ILYA PRIGOGINE
Creativity, Change and Time's Arrow
WITH ROGER PENROSE
Cosmos, quantum, consciousness
Notes
Index