Kass shows how the promise and the peril of our time are inextricably linked with the promise and the peril of modern science. The relation between the pursuit of knowledge and the conduct of life—between science and ethics, each broadly conceived—has in recent years been greatly complicated by developments in the science of life. This book examines the ethical questions involved in prenatal screening, in vitro fertilization, artificial life forms, and medical care, and discusses the role of human beings in nature.

Pannenberg poses theological questions to natural scientists that illuminate his personal position on issues dealing with theology and the natural sciences, especially physics, reviewing the relationship between natural law and contingency, the importance of the spirit in the phenomenon of life, field theory, language, and the theological account for the nature of God and God's creative activity.

A collection of twenty-eight essays, five previously unpublished, grouped into nine categories: Philosophy, Natural Selection, Adaptation, Darwin, Diversity, Species, Speciation, Macroevolution, and Historical Perspective. The book, Ernst Mayr notes in the Foreword, is an attempt "to strengthen the bridge between biology and philosophy, and point to the new direction in which a new philosophy of biology will move."

How can human-level artificial intelligence be achieved? What are the potential consequences? This book describes a research approach toward achieving human-level AI, combining a doctoral thesis and research papers by the author. The research approach, called TalaMind, involves developing an AI system that uses a 'natural language of thought' based on the unconstrained syntax of a language such as English; designing the system as a collection of concepts that can create and modify concepts to behave intelligently in an environment; and using methods from cognitive linguistics for multiple levels of mental representation. Proposing a design-inspection alternative to the Turing Test, these pages discuss 'higher-level mentalities' of human intelligence, which include natural language understanding, higher-level forms of learning and reasoning, imagination, and consciousness. Dr. Jackson gives a comprehensive review of other research, addresses theoretical objections to the proposed approach and to achieving human-level AI in principle, and describes a prototype system that illustrates the potential of the approach. This book discusses economic risks and benefits of AI, considers how to ensure that human-level AI and superintelligence will be beneficial for humanity, and gives reasons why human-level AI may be necessary for humanity's survival and prosperity.

The Forest Service stumbled in responding to a wave of lawsuits from environmental groups in the late 20th Century--a phenomenon best symbolized by the spotted owl controversy that shut down logging on public forests in the Pacific Northwest in the 1990s. The agency was brought to its knees, pitted between a powerful timber industry that had been having its way with the national forests for decades, and organized environmentalists who believed public lands had been abused and deserved better stewardship. Toward a Natural Forest offers an insider's view of this tumultuous time in the history of the Forest Service, presenting twin tales of transformation, both within the agency and within the author's evolving environmental consciousness. Drawing on the author's personal experience and his broad professional knowledge, Toward a Natural Forest illuminates the potential of the Forest Service to provide strong leadership in global conservation efforts. Those interested in our public lands--environmentalists, natural resource professionals, academics, and historians--will find Jim Furnish's story deeply informed, thought-provoking, and ultimately inspiring.

Physicist Stephen M. Barr’s lucid Student’s Guide to Natural Science gives students an understanding, in broad outline, of the nature, history, and great ideas of natural science from ancient times to the present, with a primary focus on physics. Barr discusses the contributions of the ancient Greeks, the medieval roots of the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century, the role religion played in fostering the idea of a lawful natural order, and the major theoretical breakthroughs of modern physics. Throughout this thoughtful guide, Barr draws his readers’ attention to the larger themes and trends of scientific history, including the increasing unification of our view of the physical world, in which the laws of nature appear increasingly to form a single harmonious mathematical edifice.