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The Third Culture is an eye-opening
look at the intellectual culture of today -- in which
science, not literature or philosophy, takes center stage
in the debate over human nature and the nature of the universe.
Thirty-five years ago, C. P. Snow, in a
now famous essay, wrote about the polarization of the "two
cultures" -- literary intellectuals on the one hand,
and scientists on the other. Although he hoped for the emergence
of a "third culture" that would bridge the gap,
it is only recently -- when books such as Daniel C. Dennett's
Consciousness Explained, Stephen Jay Gould's Wonderful
Life, Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time,
Roger Penrose's The Emperor's New Mind, and Steven
Pinker's The Language Instinct became bestsellers
-- that science has changed the intellectual landscape.
Now, as John Brockman shows, it is scientists,
not literary intellectuals, who have the most to say on
the important questions facing mankind. Featuring scientists
speaking about their own work who also discuss the work
of their peers, The Third Culture includes Stephen
Jay Gould and Richard Dawkins on the implications of evolution;
Marvin Minsky, Daniel C. Dennett, Steven Pinker, and Roger
Penrose on how the mind works; Murray Gell-Mann and Stuart
Kauffmann on the new sciences of complexity; and other leading
scientists on genetics, computer science, neurophysiology,
psychology, and physics.
The Third Culture is a lively and
challenging guide to the latest scientific theories and
research as well as a spirited polemic about the role of
science that is certain to spark intellectual debate.
John Brockman, Chairman of Brockman,
Inc., a literary agency, is the author of By the Late
John Brockman, Afterwords, and other books. He
lives in New York City.
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