Lonely Minds in the Universe
Title | Lonely Minds in the Universe PDF eBook |
Author | Giancarlo Genta |
Publisher | Springer Science & Business Media |
Pages | 309 |
Release | 2007-11-18 |
Genre | Science |
ISBN | 0387690395 |
This interdisciplinary book probes the subject of extraterrestrial intelligent life, offering scientific and technological implications, discussing the philosophical and religious connotations and rebuffing pseudo-scientific assertions such as ‘rare earth’. The author discusses such philosophical questions as: What is intelligence? What is consciousness? Should we expect ETIs to be conscious beings? Also discussed is the viability of future astronautics which would enable closer human contact with ETI.
Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos
Title | Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos PDF eBook |
Author | Dennis Overbye |
Publisher | Hachette UK |
Pages | 567 |
Release | 2021-12-21 |
Genre | Science |
ISBN | 0316434795 |
Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award: the "intensely exciting" story of a group of brilliant scientists who set out to answer the deepest questions about the origin of the universe and changed the course of physics and astronomy forever (Newsday). In southern California, nearly a half century ago, a small band of researchers — equipped with a new 200-inch telescope and a faith born of scientific optimism — embarked on the greatest intellectual adventure in the history of humankind: the search for the origin and fate of the universe. Their quest would eventually engulf all of physics and astronomy, leading not only to the discovery of quasars, black holes, and shadow matter but also to fame, controversy, and Nobel Prizes. Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos tells the story of the men and women who have taken eternity on their shoulders and stormed nature in search of answers to the deepest questions we know to ask. "Written with such wit and verve that it is hard not to zip through in one sitting." —Washington Post
Life's Solution
Title | Life's Solution PDF eBook |
Author | Simon Conway Morris |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Pages | 488 |
Release | 2003-09-04 |
Genre | Science |
ISBN | 1139440802 |
The assassin's bullet misses, the Archduke's carriage moves forward, and a catastrophic war is avoided. So too with the history of life. Re-run the tape of life, as Stephen J. Gould claimed, and the outcome must be entirely different: an alien world, without humans and maybe not even intelligence. The history of life is littered with accidents: any twist or turn may lead to a completely different world. Now this view is being challenged. Simon Conway Morris explores the evidence demonstrating life's almost eerie ability to navigate to a single solution, repeatedly. Eyes, brains, tools, even culture: all are very much on the cards. So if these are all evolutionary inevitabilities, where are our counterparts across the galaxy? The tape of life can only run on a suitable planet, and it seems that such Earth-like planets may be much rarer than hoped. Inevitable humans, yes, but in a lonely Universe.
Alone in the Universe
Title | Alone in the Universe PDF eBook |
Author | John Gribbin |
Publisher | Wiley |
Pages | 240 |
Release | 2011-12-01 |
Genre | Science |
ISBN | 9781683366898 |
The acclaimed author of In Search of Schr�dinger's Cat searches for life on other planets Are we alone in the universe? Surely amidst the immensity of the cosmos there must be other intelligent life out there. Don't be so sure, says John Gribbin, one of today's best popular science writers. In this fascinating and intriguing new book, Gribbin argues that the very existence of intelligent life anywhere in the cosmos is, from an astrophysicist's point of view, a miracle. So why is there life on Earth and (seemingly) nowhere else? What happened to make this planet special? Taking us back some 600 million years, Gribbin lets you experience the series of unique cosmic events that were responsible for our unique form of life within the Milky Way Galaxy. Written by one of our foremost popular science writers, author of the bestselling In Search of Schr�dinger's Cat Offers a bold answer to the eternal question, ""Are we alone in the universe?"" Explores how the impact of a ""supercomet"" with Venus 600 million years ago created our moon, and along with it, the perfect conditions for life on Earth From one of our most talented science writers, this book is a daring, fascinating exploration into the dawning of the universe, cosmic collisions and their consequences, and the uniqueness of life on Earth.
The Lonely Mind of God
Title | The Lonely Mind of God PDF eBook |
Author | Sherman O'Brien |
Publisher | Phrase Bound Publications |
Pages | 386 |
Release | 2021-01-26 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 0996307567 |
Current students of philosophy or armchair philosophers... Want the answer to the Primordial Existential Question: Why is there something rather than nothing? While history has produced no shortage of attempted answers, clearly none is the answer. Now comes the unique perspective of acosmism to provide a complete and plausible answer. After a lifetime of reflection, acosmist Sherman O'Brien offers this analysis of the issues and a thoughtful, reasoned answer to philosophy's most vexing question. The acosmic answer requires no faith whatsoever, either in supernatural or unexplained causes; in fact, it discourages it. Acosmism rejects both traditional religion and philosophically neglectful science. As a metaphysical system, it is based on an epistemological insight, with implications for immortality, determinism, ethics, and ultimate purpose. Reasoned wholly from the ground up, its conclusion is the very meaning of existence. The solution to the Omniscience Riddle becomes the key to understanding how the question is best stated and understood. This book represents one person's effort to make sense of what is true and what only seems to be so. Why is there something rather than nothing? What is your potential role in the entirety of experience? This foray into acosmism offers a path to the genuine understanding of both existence and reality. Note: the main text constitutes roughly two-thirds of the total pages, the remainder being mostly endnotes.
Extraterrestrials in the Catholic Imagination
Title | Extraterrestrials in the Catholic Imagination PDF eBook |
Author | Jennifer Rosato |
Publisher | Cambridge Scholars Publishing |
Pages | 291 |
Release | 2021-02-10 |
Genre | Body, Mind & Spirit |
ISBN | 1527566005 |
What do scientists know about the possibility of life outside our solar system? How does Catholic science fiction imagine such worlds? What are the implications for Catholic thought? This collection brings together leading scientists, philosophers, theologians, and science fiction authors in the Catholic tradition to examine these issues. In the first section, Christian scientists detail the latest scientific findings regarding the possibility of life on exoplanets. The second part brings together leading Catholic science fiction authors who describe how “alien” life forms have been prevalent in the Catholic imagination from the Middle Ages right up to the present day. In the final section, Catholic philosophers and theologians examine the implications of discovering intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. Rather than worrying that the discovery of intelligent extraterrestrials might threaten the dignity of humans or their existence, the contributors here maintain that such creatures should be welcomed as fellow creatures of God and potential subjects of divine salvation.
Vast Universe
Title | Vast Universe PDF eBook |
Author | Thomas F. O'Meara |
Publisher | Liturgical Press |
Pages | 121 |
Release | 2012 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 081468047X |
If we have learned anything from recent advances in cosmology and astronomy, it is that we have only barely begun to comprehend the vastness of our universe and all that it contains. For Christians, this raises some fascinating questions: If there are intelligent beings out there, what would be their relationship to what Christianity claims is a special history on Earth of life with God? Would the fact of persons on other planets banish or modify our understanding of God? Would it reduce the importance of Jesus? What role might goodness and evil play in extraterrestrial civilizations? Might God have incarnated himself among other races of creatures, as he became incarnate as Jesus among us? Respectful of the sciences that disclose the reality of the universe, Thomas O'Meara wonders about good and evil, intelligence and freedom, revelation and life as they might exist in other galaxies. In this book, one possible aspect of the universe we live in meets the perspective of Christian revelation.