The Cosma Hypothesis: Implications of the Overview Effect By Frank White In 1986, Frank White was working on his groundbreaking book, The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution, when he heard the late Tom Wolfe, author of The Right Stuff , say, “The country has never had a philosophy of space exploration.” This began a continuing quest to develop a deep understanding of why (and how) humans should explore the universe. The Cosma Hypothesis represents the culmination of White’s effort to develop a space philosophy. Following the pattern set in The Overview Effect, the book draws on interviews with astronauts about the ways in which spaceflight shifted their understanding of our relationship with the universe. The Cosma Hypothesis suggests that our purpose in exploring space should transcend focusing on how it will benefit humanity. We should ask how to create a symbiotic relationship with the universe, giving back as much as we take, and spreading life, intelligence, and self-awareness throughout the solar system and beyond. In The Cosma Hypothesis, White argues that developing a philosophy of space exploration and settlement is more than an intellectual exercise: it will powerfully influence policy and practices that are unfolding now, as governments and corporations talk about space tourism, asteroid mining, and cities on Mars. The Cosma Hypothesis is White’s contribution to a dialogue that will, it is hoped, become global in scope.

Using interviews with and writings by astronauts and cosmonauts, discusses how viewing the Earth from space and from the moon affect space explorers' perceptions of the world and humanity, and how those changes are likewise felt in contemporary society. The author views space exploration and eventual colonization as an inevitable step in the evolution of human society and consciousness, one which offers new perspectives on the problems facing us down here on Earth. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Preface1: Learning from Error 2: Ducks, Rabbits, and Normal Science: Recasting the Kuhn's-Eye View of Popper 3: The New Experimentalism and the Bayesian Way 4: Duhem, Kuhn, and Bayes 5: Models of Experimental Inquiry 6: Severe Tests and Methodological Underdetermination7: The Experimental Basis from Which to Test Hypotheses: Brownian Motion8: Severe Tests and Novel Evidence 9: Hunting and Snooping: Understanding the Neyman-Pearson Predesignationist Stance10: Why You Cannot Be Just a Little Bit Bayesian 11: Why Pearson Rejected the Neyman-Pearson (Behavioristic) Philosophy and a Note on Objectivity in Statistics12: Error Statistics and Peircean Error Correction 13: Toward an Error-Statistical Philosophy of Science ReferencesIndex Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

“The Knowledge Machine is the most stunningly illuminating book of the last several decades regarding the all-important scientific enterprise.” —Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of Plato at the Googleplex A paradigm-shifting work, The Knowledge Machine revolutionizes our understanding of the origins and structure of science. • Why is science so powerful? • Why did it take so long—two thousand years after the invention of philosophy and mathematics—for the human race to start using science to learn the secrets of the universe? In a groundbreaking work that blends science, philosophy, and history, leading philosopher of science Michael Strevens answers these challenging questions, showing how science came about only once thinkers stumbled upon the astonishing idea that scientific breakthroughs could be accomplished by breaking the rules of logical argument. Like such classic works as Karl Popper’s The Logic of Scientific Discovery and Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, The Knowledge Machine grapples with the meaning and origins of science, using a plethora of vivid historical examples to demonstrate that scientists willfully ignore religion, theoretical beauty, and even philosophy to embrace a constricted code of argument whose very narrowness channels unprecedented energy into empirical observation and experimentation. Strevens calls this scientific code the iron rule of explanation, and reveals the way in which the rule, precisely because it is unreasonably close-minded, overcomes individual prejudices to lead humanity inexorably toward the secrets of nature. “With a mixture of philosophical and historical argument, and written in an engrossing style” (Alan Ryan), The Knowledge Machine provides captivating portraits of some of the greatest luminaries in science’s history, including Isaac Newton, the chief architect of modern science and its foundational theories of motion and gravitation; William Whewell, perhaps the greatest philosopher-scientist of the early nineteenth century; and Murray Gell-Mann, discoverer of the quark. Today, Strevens argues, in the face of threats from a changing climate and global pandemics, the idiosyncratic but highly effective scientific knowledge machine must be protected from politicians, commercial interests, and even scientists themselves who seek to open it up, to make it less narrow and more rational—and thus to undermine its devotedly empirical search for truth. Rich with illuminating and often delightfully quirky illustrations, The Knowledge Machine, written in a winningly accessible style that belies the import of its revisionist and groundbreaking concepts, radically reframes much of what we thought we knew about the origins of the modern world.

Mounting failures of replication in social and biological sciences give a new urgency to critically appraising proposed reforms. This book pulls back the cover on disagreements between experts charged with restoring integrity to science. It denies two pervasive views of the role of probability in inference: to assign degrees of belief, and to control error rates in a long run. If statistical consumers are unaware of assumptions behind rival evidence reforms, they can't scrutinize the consequences that affect them (in personalized medicine, psychology, etc.). The book sets sail with a simple tool: if little has been done to rule out flaws in inferring a claim, then it has not passed a severe test. Many methods advocated by data experts do not stand up to severe scrutiny and are in tension with successful strategies for blocking or accounting for cherry picking and selective reporting. Through a series of excursions and exhibits, the philosophy and history of inductive inference come alive. Philosophical tools are put to work to solve problems about science and pseudoscience, induction and falsification.

The 'Flynn effect' refers to the massive increase in IQ test scores over the course of the twentieth century. Does it mean that each generation is more intelligent than the last? Does it suggest how each of us can enhance our own intelligence? Professor Flynn is finally ready to give his own views. He asks what intelligence really is and gives a surprising and illuminating answer. This expanded paperback edition includes three important new essays. The first contrasts the art of writing cognitive history with the science of measuring intelligence and reports data. The second outlines how we might get a complete theory of intelligence, and the third details Flynn's reservations about Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. A fascinating book that bridges the gulf separating our minds from those of our ancestors a century ago, and makes an important contribution to our understanding of human intelligence.

Cosmoconsciousness, or cosmic consciousness, is a term used to characterize a transcendence of the limits of self-consciousness. As an ultra-state of illumination of the mind, the roots of the conception are embodied in the quest for a spiritual connection with multi-dimensional cosmos. This quest searches for spiritual development as a pathway to human excellence, and can be associated with the mystics of ancient wisdom, as well as contemporary psycho-spiritual analysts. After its emergence in the late 19th century, cosmic consciousness rapidly became a source of inspiration for transpersonal psychology, moral therapy, and a thoughtful link to mystical quantum physics. By encouraging a spiritual way of perceiving the real world, cosmic consciousness also provides a source of inspiration for human excellence as the central idea of global ethics. In this perspective, the world cannot be changed for the better without changing individual consciousness. Global concerns, including ecological issues, violence and acts of terrorism, materialistic gratification and hedonism, could not be addressed effectively unless people’s consciousness is changed. Cosmic consciousness, by the very perception of the inner life, has the potential to struggle with global concerns, and hence, it holds a promise of human excellence. This book discusses cosmic consciousness against the backdrop of the emergence of the rational and autonomous conception of the self, and the modern psychological depiction of selfhood. It places the idea of cosmic consciousness at the centre of contemporary arguments on the nature of consciousness.