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Science, Computers, and the Information Onslaught: A Collection of Essays covers the proceedings of the 1981 meeting on "Science and the Information Onslaught, held at Los Alamos, New Mexico. This book is organized into five parts encompassing 19 chapters. The first part deals with the problems of measurement and the uses of information in decisions concerning national security. This part also emphasizes the dependence of survival on technological progress. The next part examines the foundations of information theory, the interaction between psychological concepts and the mathematical theories of automata, and the major problems in robotics. These topics are followed by discussions of the efforts to codify languages in formal grammatical systems and the past misuse of irrelevantly detailed information in decision making, specifically the use and misuse of information in government decisions about technological projects. The remaining parts consider the project of enhancing human abilities by the insertion of silicon chips in the body. These parts also assess the implications of a microelectronic technology capable of producing chips bearing millions of logically active circuit elements. Accounts of cryptanalytic successes in World War II are also included. This book will be of value to mathematicians, physicists, linguistics, and computer scientists.
This collection represents a unique undertaking in scientific publishing to honor Nick Metropolis, the last survivor of the World War II Manhattan Project in Los Alamos. In this volume, some of the leading scientists and humanists of our time have contributed essays related to their respective disciplines, exploring various aspects of future developments in science and society, philosophy, national security, nuclear power, pure and applied mathematics, physics and biology, particle physics, computing, and information science.
William Aspray provides the first broad and detailed account of von Neumann's many different contributions to computing. John von Neumann (1903-1957) was unquestionably one of the most brilliant scientists of the twentieth century. He made major contributions to quantum mechanics and mathematical physics and in 1943 began a new and all-too-short career in computer science. William Aspray provides the first broad and detailed account of von Neumann's many different contributions to computing. These, Aspray reveals, extended far beyond his well-known work in the design and construction of computer systems to include important scientific applications, the revival of numerical analysis, and the creation of a theory of computing.Aspray points out that from the beginning von Neumann took a wider and more theoretical view than other computer pioneers. In the now famous EDVAC report of 1945, von Neumann clearly stated the idea of a stored program that resides in the computer's memory along with the data it was to operate on. This stored program computer was described in terms of idealized neurons, highlighting the analogy between the digital computer and the human brain. Aspray describes von Neumann's development during the next decade, and almost entirely alone, of a theory of complicated information processing systems, or automata, and the introduction of themes such as learning, reliability of systems with unreliable components, self-replication, and the importance of memory and storage capacity in biological nervous systems; many of these themes remain at the heart of current investigations in parallel or neurocomputing.Aspray allows the record to speak for itself. He unravels an intricate sequence of stories generated by von Neumann's work and brings into focus the interplay of personalities centered about von Neumann. He documents the complex interactions of science, the military, and business and shows how progress in applied mathematics was intertwined with that in computers. William Aspray is Director of the Center for the History of Electrical Engineering at The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
These provocative essays take a modern look at the 17th-century thinker's dream, examining the influences of mathematics on society, particularly in light of technological advances. They survey the conditions that elicit the application of mathematic principles; the applications' effectiveness; and how applied mathematics transform perceptions of reality. 1987 edition.
The papers collected here are, with three exceptions, those presented at a conference on probability and causation held at the University of California at Irvine on July 15-19, 1985. The exceptions are that David Freedman and Abner Shimony were not able to contribute the papers that they presented to this volume, and that Clark Glymour who was not able to attend the conference did contribute a paper. We would like to thank the National Science Foundation and the School of Humanities of the University of California at Irvine for generous support. WILLIAM HARPER University of Western Ontario BRIAN SKYRMS University of California at Irvine Vll INTRODUCTION PART I: DECISIONS AND GAMES Causal notions have recently corne to figure prominently in discussions about rational decision making. Indeed, a relatively influential new approach to theorizing about rational choice has come to be called "causal decision theory". 1 Decision problems such as Newcombe's Problem and some versions of the Prisoner's Dilemma where an act counts as evidence for a desired state even though the agent knows his choice of that act cannot causally influence whether or not the state obtains have motivated causal decision theorists.
The Star and the Whole: Gian-Carlo Rota on Mathematics and Phenomenology, authored by Fabrizio Palombi, is the first book to study Rota's philosophical reflection. Rota (1932-1999) was a leading figure in contemporary mathematics and an outstanding philosopher, inspired by phenomenology, who made fundamental contributions to combinatorial analysis,
Lists citations with abstracts for aerospace related reports obtained from world wide sources and announces documents that have recently been entered into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information Database.
The purpose of this dissertation is to introduce a general reading audience to the major themes found in the fiction of Richard Powers with an emphasis on his use of science. For Powers, science is something more than the accumulation of technical data and the proliferation of theories developed to explain physical phenomena. It is an evolving body of knowledge which has important insights to contribute into the conditions which ground human experience The close and often detailed discussions of contemporary issues in science which Powers incorporates into his fiction indicate the extent to which he sees science as an inseparable component in any attempt to understand the complexities of human experience. The common ground Powers uses to link the interests of science and those of fiction into a balanced, if not always harmonious, pursuit of truth is wonder. The limitations placed on science during this century do not undermine the ability of science to influence what we can know. Nor do these limitations diminish the ability of science to inspire wonder. Quite the opposite. For Powers the true wonder of the human intellect rests in our remarkable ability to balance observation and interpretation. What he discovers again and again in his fiction is that science, like literature, is a product of the human imagination, a way to mediate between the world and our perceptions of it. The recognition that science is a cultural practice--a body of knowledge thoroughly imbued with the practices and prejudices of its historical surroundings--is a necessary first step in mending the rift separating science and literature, head and heart. The greatest insight of twentieth century science may just be the recognition that there are other ways to access the truth. Richard Powers skillful weaving of science and art is a testament that literature offers a unique vantage point from which we might learn something of value about ourselves and the world we inhabit.
Winner of the 1983 National Book Award! "...a perfectly marvelous book about the Queen of Sciences, from which one will get a real feeling for what mathematicians do and who they are. The exposition is clear and full of wit and humor..." - The New Yorker (1983 National Book Award edition) Mathematics has been a human activity for thousands of years. Yet only a few people from the vast population of users are professional mathematicians, who create, teach, foster, and apply it in a variety of situations. The authors of this book believe that it should be possible for these professional mathematicians to explain to non-professionals what they do, what they say they are doing, and why the world should support them at it. They also believe that mathematics should be taught to non-mathematics majors in such a way as to instill an appreciation of the power and beauty of mathematics. Many people from around the world have told the authors that they have done precisely that with the first edition and they have encouraged publication of this revised edition complete with exercises for helping students to demonstrate their understanding. This edition of the book should find a new generation of general readers and students who would like to know what mathematics is all about. It will prove invaluable as a course text for a general mathematics appreciation course, one in which the student can combine an appreciation for the esthetics with some satisfying and revealing applications. The text is ideal for 1) a GE course for Liberal Arts students 2) a Capstone course for perspective teachers 3) a writing course for mathematics teachers. A wealth of customizable online course materials for the book can be obtained from Elena Anne Marchisotto ([email protected]) upon request.