This exploration of the scientific limits of knowledge challenges our deep-seated beliefs about our universe, our rationality, and ourselves. “A must-read for anyone studying information science.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review Many books explain what is known about the universe. This book investigates what cannot be known. Rather than exploring the amazing facts that science, mathematics, and reason have revealed to us, this work studies what science, mathematics, and reason tell us cannot be revealed. In The Outer Limits of Reason, Noson Yanofsky considers what cannot be predicted, described, or known, and what will never be understood. He discusses the limitations of computers, physics, logic, and our own intuitions about the world—including our ideas about space, time, and motion, and the complex relationship between the knower and the known. Yanofsky describes simple tasks that would take computers trillions of centuries to complete and other problems that computers can never solve: • perfectly formed English sentences that make no sense • different levels of infinity • the bizarre world of the quantum • the relevance of relativity theory • the causes of chaos theory • math problems that cannot be solved by normal means • statements that are true but cannot be proven Moving from the concrete to the abstract, from problems of everyday language to straightforward philosophical questions to the formalities of physics and mathematics, Yanofsky demonstrates a myriad of unsolvable problems and paradoxes. Exploring the various limitations of our knowledge, he shows that many of these limitations have a similar pattern and that by investigating these patterns, we can better understand the structure and limitations of reason itself. Yanofsky even attempts to look beyond the borders of reason to see what, if anything, is out there.

The most extensive, definitive work on the television classic "The Outer Limits", lavishly illustrated with photographs from the author's own collection.

A. The Outer Limits of the Continental Shelf The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (herein- ter the “Convention”) marks the beginning of a new era in the law of 1 the sea. The negotiations for this treaty at the Third United Nations Conference for the Law of the Sea (hereinafter “UNCLOS III”), lasted for nine years, from 1973 to 1982. The Convention regulates the principal aspects of international oceans affairs. It establishes and fixes the limits of maritime zones, provides for the rights and duties of states in these zones, establishes the law app- cable in the international seabed area on the basis of the principle of common heritage of mankind, imposes obligations on states to protect the marine environment, and provides for the means of dispute sett- ment. One of the most contentious and divisive issues at UNCLOS III were the outer limits of the continental shelf. Previously, in the 1958 Con- 2 vention on the Continental Shelf (hereinafter the “1958 Convention”), no limits were established for the continental shelf. States were allowed to claim areas of continental shelves based on their capacity to exploit the mineral resources of the shelf. The legal framework in the 1958 Convention would obviously conflict with the principle of the common heritage of mankind. Delegates realized that limits have to be est- lished, but up to where and on the basis of which principles, was a c- tentious question.

An exciting series of six original digest-sized novels based on the hit-TV series "The Outer Limits". The rulers of the planet Zanti have found a solution to the problem of what to do with undesirable misfits and dangerous malcontents who threaten their society--exile them to Earth! The leaders of Earth are powerless to object. Teenagers Ben Garth and Lisa Lawrence are outcasts, too. Now they're on the run and headed towards a terrifying showdown with the Zanti misfits.

Provides a history and criticism of an important disrupting force in early science-fiction television programming. In this TV Milestone, author Joanne Morreale highlights the differences of The Outer Limits (ABC 1963–65) from typical programs on the air in the 1960s. Morreale argues that the show provides insight into changes in the television industry as writers turned to genre fiction—in this case, a hybrid of science fiction and horror—to provide veiled social commentary. The show illustrates the tension between networks who wanted mainstream entertainment and the independent writer-producers, Leslie Stevens and Joseph Stefano, who wanted to use the medium to challenge viewers. In five chapters, The Outer Limitsmakes a case for the show's deployment of gothic melodrama and science fiction tropes, unique televisual characteristics, and creative adaptation of many cultural sources to interrogate the relationship between humans and technology in a way that continues to influence contemporary debate in such shows as Star Trek, The X-Files, and Black Mirror. Underlying the arguments is the eerie notion of The Outer Limitsas a disruptive force on television at the time, purposely making audiences uncomfortable. For example, in its iconic opening credit sequence a disembodied "Control Voice" claims to be taking over the television as images mimic signal interference. Other themes convey Cold War paranoia, ambivalence about the Kennedy era "New Frontier," and anxiety about the burgeoning military-industrial-governmental complex. The book points out that The Outer Limits presaged what came to be known as "quality" television. While most episodes followed the lowbrow tradition of televised science fiction by adapting previously published stories and films, the series elevated the genre by rearticulating it through themes and images drawn from myth, literature, and the art film. The Outer Limits is lucid yet accessible, well researched and argued, with enlightening discussions of specific episodes even as it gives attention to broader television history and theory. It will be of special interest to scholars and students of television and media studies, as well as fans of science fiction.

New and expanded edition of Kossy's bizarre sourcebook to the outer limits of human belief. Packed with amazing facts, theories and some just very weird ideas, there is something for everyone here and lots more besides! Will drilling a hole in one's head cause enlightenment? Can a person's soul be captured in a hairnet? Is there scientific proof of God? All is revealed. Illustrated. 'Donna Kossy boldly blazes new trails in the vast intellectual wilderness of American writers, thinkers and philosophers who were or are completely nuts.' - Bruce Sterling