This book covers three time periods (Post Mayan Event, 2012 AD): years 1,000–10,000 in chapters 1 to 9 cover psychic development, singularities, scientology, time travel, explorations in space and time, and communications; years 10,000 to 100,000 in chapters 10 to 19 cover technology developments, explorations, communications, psychic powers, singularities, teleportation, fields of science (astronomy, biology, chemistry, geology, and physics); and years 100,000 to 1,000,000 in chapters 20 to 30 covers singularities, levels of consciousness, technology, exploration, space colonies, higher planes of existence, and a channeled overview.

A riveting imagined history looking back on the twenty-first century through one hundred of its artifacts, from silent messaging systems to artificial worlds on asteroids. In the year 2082, a curator looks back at the twenty-first century, offering a history of the era through a series of objects and artifacts. He reminisces about the power of connectivity, which was reinforced by such technologies as silent messaging--wearable computers that relay subvocal communication; quotes from a self-help guide to making friends with "posthumans"; describes the establishment of artificial worlds on asteroids; and recounts pro-democracy movements in epistocratic states. In A New History of the Future in 100 Objects, Adrian Hon constructs a possible future by imagining the things it might leave in its wake.

Space is a central topic in cultural and narrative theory today, although in most cases theory assumes Newtonian absolute space. However, the idea of a universal homogeneous space is now obsolete. Black holes, multiple dimensions, quantum entanglement, and spatio-temporal distortions of relativity have passed into culture at large. This book examines whether narrative can be used to represent these "impossible" spaces. Impossible topologies abound in ancient mythologies, from the Australian Aborigines’ "dream-time" to the multiple-layer universe of the Sumerians. More recently, from Alice’s adventures in Wonderland to contemporary science fiction’s obsession with black holes and quantum paradoxes, counter-intuitive spaces are a prominent feature of modern and postmodern narrative. With the rise and popularization of science fiction, the inventiveness and variety of impossible narrative spaces explodes. The author analyses the narrative techniques used to represent such spaces alongside their cultural significance. Each chapter connects narrative deformation of space with historical problematic of time, and demonstrates the cognitive and perceptual primacy of narrative in representing, imagining and apprehending new forms of space and time. This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the connection between narratology, cultural theory, science fiction, and studies of place.

This critical history explores the concept of the multi-generational interstellar space voyage in science fiction between 1934, the year of its appearance, into the 21st century. It defines and analyzes what became known as the "generation starship" idea and examines the science and technology behind it, also charting the ways in which generation starships manifest themselves in various SF scenarios. It then traces the history of the generation starship as a reflection of the political, historical, and cultural context of science fiction's development.

This book, based on papers from a symposium at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, shows the necessity of developing a new philosophy in place of the classical uniformitarianism based only on processes familiar in human experience. Originally published in 1984. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The research on human intelligence is based on almost all disciplines of modern science. The following questions must be answered: What is information? How does information processing emerge? Can we trace the long and tortuous path of biotic evolution from reflex, through instinct, towards intelligence? The brain, as the most complex system of macro- and micro-structures, unifies energetic, electrical and chemical phenomena and carries human intelligence. Brain functions include memory, emotions, attention, etc. Are there gender differences? Speech, self-consciousness and the feeling of free will are tools of intelligence. What about genius, common sense and personality? Lies, myths, aesthetics and morality are inseparable parts of human intelligence. What about the chances and threats for human intelligence in the distant future? M Taube, a nuclear chemist specializing in the cosmic evolution of matter and energy, and K Leenders, an academic neurologist and head of the positron emission tomography (PET) program at the Paul Scherrer Institute, address those questions in this fascinating book on human intelligence.