In Search of Certainty

Author: Mark Burgess
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
ISBN: 1491923377
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 473

Book Description
Quite soon, the world’s information infrastructure is going to reach a level of scale and complexity that will force scientists and engineers to approach it in an entirely new way. The familiar notions of command and control are being thwarted by realities of a faster, denser world of communication where choice, variety, and indeterminism rule. The myth of the machine that does exactly what we tell it has come to an end. What makes us think we can rely on all this technology? What keeps it together today, and how might it work tomorrow? Will we know how to build the next generation—or will we be lulled into a stupor of dependence brought about by its conveniences? In this book, Mark Burgess focuses on the impact of computers and information on our modern infrastructure by taking you from the roots of science to the principles behind system operation and design. To shape the future of technology, we need to understand how it works—or else what we don’t understand will end up shaping us. This book explores this subject in three parts: Part I, Stability: describes the fundamentals of predictability, and why we have to give up the idea of control in its classical meaning Part II, Certainty: describes the science of what we can know, when we don’t control everything, and how we make the best of life with only imperfect information Part III, Promises: explains how the concepts of stability and certainty may be combined to approach information infrastructure as a new kind of virtual material, restoring a continuity to human-computer systems so that society can rely on them.

The Search for Certainty : A Philosophical Account of Foundations of Mathematics

Author: Marcus Giaquinto
Publisher: Clarendon Press
ISBN: 0191588172
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 302

Book Description
The nineteenth century saw a movement to make higher mathematics rigorous. This seemed to be on the brink of success when it was thrown into confusion by the discovery of the class paradoxes. That initiated a period of intense research into the foundations of mathematics, and with it the birth of mathematical logic and a new, sharper debate in the philosophy of mathematics. The Search for Certainty examines this foundational endeavour from the discovery of the paradoxes to the present. Focusing on Russell's logicist programme and Hilbert's finitist programme, Giaquinto investigates how successful they were and how successful they could be. These questions are set in the context of a clear, non-technical exposition and assessment of the most important discoveries in mathematical logic, above all G--ouml--;del's underivability theorems. More than six decades after those discoveries, Giaquinto asks what our present perspective should be on the question of certainty in mathematics. Taking recent developments into account, he gives reasons for a surprisingly positive response.

The Certainty of Uncertainty

Author: Mark A. Schaefer
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 153265345X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 276

Book Description
The world is full of people who are very certain--in politics, in religion, in all manner of things. In addition, political, religious, and social organizations are marketing certainty as a cure all to all life's problems. But is such certainty possible? Or even good? The Certainty of Uncertainty explores the question of certainty by looking at the reasons human beings crave certainty and the religious responses we frequently fashion to help meet that need. The book takes an in-depth view of religion, language, our senses, our science, and our world to explore the inescapable uncertainties they reveal. We find that the certainty we crave does not exist. As we reflect on the unavoidable uncertainties in our world, we come to understand that letting go of certainty is not only necessary, it's beneficial. For, in embracing doubt and uncertainty, we find a more meaningful and courageous religious faith, a deeper encounter with mystery, and a way to build strong relationships across religious and philosophical lines. In The Certainty of Uncertainty, we see that embracing our belief systems with humility and uncertainty can be transformative for ourselves and for our world.

Searching for Certainty

Author: John L. Casti
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780349104553
Category : Forecasting
Languages : en
Pages : 496

Book Description
This comprehensive overview of the prediction game takes readers on a journey through the worlds of probability, chance and chaos, and investigates developmental biology, modern warfare, weather and climate prediction, mathematics, economics and games of chance.

Searching for Certainty

Author: Shelly Miller
Publisher: Baker Books
ISBN: 1493427954
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Book Description
We all long for certainty in life, yet things often don't go as we expect. When facing illness, job loss, strained relationships, and other struggles, our impulse is to question God and strive to fix things ourselves. In this book, Shelly Miller, a trusted ministry leader, explores how difficult times can actually be purposeful times of spiritual growth. Weaving the exodus story from the Bible with her own story, she shares how to focus on God rather than trying to overcome challenges in our own limited strength. Each chapter features a simple spiritual practice to help us enjoy the peace and security that is only possible through Christ. Uncertain seasons will soon be translated as an aha instead of an oh no.

In Search of Certainty

Author: Josh McDowell
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
ISBN: 9780842379724
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 180

Book Description
This seeker-friendly book invites readers to discover that certainty involves some absolutes. It addresses postmodernists' view of truth, pointing to the absolute truth in the person of Jesus.

The Pursuit of Certainty

Author: Wendy James
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 9780415107907
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 334

Book Description
An exploration of the effect of anthropology's inherited tradition of tolerance and cross-cultural understanding has on the new pursuits of truth.

Are You Alone Wise?

Author: Susan Schreiner
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199718385
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 499

Book Description
The topic of certitude is much debated today. On one side, commentators such as Charles Krauthammer urge us to achieve "moral clarity." On the other, those like George Will contend that the greatest present threat to civilization is an excess of certitude. To address this uncomfortable debate, Susan Schreiner turns to the intellectuals of early modern Europe, a period when thought was still fluid and had not yet been reified into the form of rationality demanded by the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Schreiner argues that Europe in the sixteenth century was preoccupied with concerns similar to ours; both the desire for certainty -- especially religious certainty -- and warnings against certainty permeated the earlier era. Digging beneath overt theological and philosophical problems, she tackles the underlying fears of the period as she addresses questions of salvation, authority, the rise of skepticism, the outbreak of religious violence, the discernment of spirits, and the ambiguous relationship between appearance and reality. In her examination of the history of theological polemics and debates (as well as other genres), Schreiner sheds light on the repeated evaluation of certainty and the recurring fear of deception. Among the texts she draws on are Montaigne's Essays, the mystical writings of Teresa of Avila, the works of Reformation fathers William of Occam, Luther, Thomas Muntzer, and Thomas More; and the dramas of Shakespeare. The result is not a book about theology, but rather about the way in which the concern with certitude determined the theology, polemics and literature of an age.

More Truth

Author: Kristi Mair
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 1783597666
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Jesus claimed to be "the way and the truth and the life." But can we really accept this ultimate truth in an age of questioning, uncertainty, relativism and skepticism? In MORE Truth, young philosopher Kristi Mair explores whether Christians can be confident in the "truth" in our anything goes age.

The End of Certainty

Author: Ilya Prigogine
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0684837056
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 248

Book Description
Nobel Laureate Ilya Prigogine discusses the irreversibility of time and his findings impact on the laws of physics.