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What are the limits of scientific knowledge.
"Today," as author and scientist Richard Morris
explains in the preface to The Edges of Science,
"there are some scientific fields in which the frontiers
have been pushed so far forward that scientists have found
themselves asking questions that have always been considered
to be metaphysical, not scientific, in nature. At the same
time, theoretical speculation has begun to progress at such
a rapid pace that it often outruns experiment."
The result is controversy -- and excitement,
as the fields of particle physics and cosmology expand into
realms inconceivable only a few years ago. British theoretical
physicist Stephen Hawking, for example, speculates on the
possibility of other universes and the origins of space
and time. Others ask about the role played by life and consciousness
in the universe. Still others raise queries on the possible
characteristics of universes we will never even observe.
Some eminent authorities dismiss the new theories as pointless
exercises in medieval theology; others hail them as milestones
on the path to the long-sought "theory of everything,"
from which all the laws of physics could be deduced.
Richard Morris, a gifted scientist and writer
in the tradition of Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan, and Richard
Feynman, guides us through the maze of controversy with
a sure hand and a highly readable style. He lifts us onto
the shoulders of today's top theoretical physicists for
a tour of the outer limits of our capacity to measure matter
and energy, including:
- The nature of matter, the big bang, and
the inflationary universe
- Superstrings, wormholes, black holes,
and dark matter
- Where did the universe come from, and
why hasn't it curled up into a ball?
- Physics, metaphysics, and why the lines
between them have blurred
This fascinating and challenging book is
must reading for everyone who wants to keep abreast of the
latest developments in scientific thought.
Richard Morris has written other books
on scientific subjects, including Time's Arrows,
The End of the World, The Fate of the Universe,
Evolution and Human Nature, Dismantling the Universe,
and The Nature of Reality. He lives in San Francisco.
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