The Island of Knowledge: The Limits of Science and the Search for Meaning

Cover......Page 2
Title Page......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 8
Prologue: The Island of Knowledge......Page 13
PART I: The Origin of the World and the Nature of the Heavens......Page 23
1 THE WILL TO BELIEVE......Page 26
2 BEYOND SPACE AND TIME......Page 30
3 TO BE, OR TO BECOME? THAT IS THE QUESTION......Page 35
4 LESSONS FROM PLATO’S DREAM......Page 42
5 THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF A NEW OBSERVATIONAL TOOL......Page 52
6 CRACKING OPEN THE DOME OF HEAVEN......Page 63
7 SCIENCE AS NATURE’S GRAND NARRATIVE......Page 68
8 THE PLASTICITY OF SPACE......Page 73
9 THE RESTLESS UNIVERSE......Page 78
10 THERE IS NO NOW......Page 83
11 COSMIC BLINDNESS......Page 87
12 SPLITTING INFINITIES......Page 99
13 ROLLING DOWNHILL......Page 106
14 COUNTING UNIVERSES......Page 111
15 INTERLUDE: A PROMENADE ALONG THE STRING LANDSCAPE......Page 120
16 CAN WE TEST THE MULTIVERSE HYPOTHESIS?......Page 127
PART II: From Alchemy to the Quantum: The Elusive Nature of Reality......Page 135
17 EVERYTHING FLOATS IN NOTHINGNESS......Page 138
18 ADMIRABLE FORCE AND EFFICACY OF ART AND NATURE......Page 142
19 THE ELUSIVE NATURE OF HEAT......Page 151
20 MYSTERIOUS LIGHT......Page 156
21 LEARNING TO LET GO......Page 165
22 THE TALE OF THE INTREPID ANTHROPOLOGIST......Page 172
23 WHAT WAVES IN THE QUANTUM REALM?......Page 176
24 CAN WE KNOW WHAT IS REAL?......Page 184
25 WHO IS AFRAID OF QUANTUM GHOSTS?......Page 195
26 FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS......Page 197
27 CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE QUANTUM WORLD......Page 206
28 BACK TO THE BEGINNING......Page 218
PART III: Mind and Meaning......Page 224
29 ON THE LAWS OF HUMANS AND THE LAWS OF NATURE......Page 227
30 INCOMPLETENESS......Page 237
31 SINISTER DREAMS OF TRANSHUMAN MACHINES: OR, THE WORLD AS INFORMATION......Page 242
32 AWE AND MEANING......Page 259
Acknowledgments......Page 264
Notes......Page 266
Bibliography......Page 284
Index......Page 289