Cosmological Koans: A Journey to the Heart of Physical Reality

Author: Anthony Aguirre
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393609227
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 384

Book Description
Cosmological Koans invites the reader into an intellectual adventure of the highest order. Through more than fifty Koans—pleasingly paradoxical vignettes following the ancient Zen tradition—leading physicist Anthony Aguirre takes the reader across the world from West to East, and through ideas spanning the age, breadth, and depth of the Universe. Using these beguiling Koans (Could there be a civilization on a mote of dust? How much of your fate have you made? Who cleans the universe?) and a flair for explaining complex science, Aguirre covers cosmic questions that scientific giants from Aristotle to Galileo to Heisenberg have grappled with, from the meaning of quantum theory and the nature of time to the origin of multiple universes. A playful and enlightening book, Cosmological Koans explores the strange hinterland between the deep structure of the physical world and our personal experience of it, giving readers what Einstein himself called “the most beautiful and deepest experience” anyone can have: a sense of the mysterious.

Cosmological Koans

Author: Anthony Aguirre
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0241422221
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 400

Book Description
'A gem of a book' Carlo Rovelli, author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics 'A unique and beautifully written masterpiece' Max Tegmark, author of Life 3.0 Could there be a civilization on a mote of dust? How much of your fate have you made? Who cleans the universe? Through more than fifty Koans - pleasingly paradoxical vignettes following the ancient Zen tradition - leading physicist Anthony Aguirre takes us across the world from Japan to Italy, and through ideas spanning the age, breadth and depth of the Universe. Using these beguiling stories and a flair for explaining complex science, he covers cosmic questions that giants from Aristotle to Galileo to Heisenberg have grappled with - from the nature of time to the origin of multiple universes to the meaning of quantum theory. Playful and enlightening, Cosmological Koans invites the reader into an intellectual adventure of the highest order, giving us what Einstein called 'the most beautiful and deepest experience' anyone can have - a sense of the mysterious.

The Zen in Modern Cosmology

Author: Harry C. S. Lam
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9812771859
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 247

Book Description
According to Modern Cosmology, our Universe came from a primordial state 13.7 billion years ago, with no matter and very little energy. In other words, it was almost empty. Where do the stars and galaxies, and everything else in the present universe come from then?This captivating book provides an answer to this question, and explains the observations and evidence behind the assertion of an almost empty primordial universe. Aimed at a general audience, it assumes no prior knowledge of astronomy or physics.The emptiness of the primordial universe is reminiscent of the emptiness in Zen Buddhism. The similarities and differences of these two forms of emptiness are explored.

The Koan

Author: Steven Heine
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019802780X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 335

Book Description
Koans are enigmatic spiritual formulas used for religious training in the Zen Buddhist tradition. Arguing that our understanding of the koan tradition has been severely limited, contributors to this collection examine previously unrecognized factors in the formation of this tradition, and highlight the rich complexity and diversity of koan practice and literature.

Questioning the Foundations of Physics

Author: Anthony Aguirre
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319130455
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 279

Book Description
The essays in this book look at way in which the fundaments of physics might need to be changed in order to make progress towards a unified theory. They are based on the prize-winning essays submitted to the FQXi essay competition “Which of Our Basic Physical Assumptions Are Wrong?”, which drew over 270 entries. As Nobel Laureate physicist Philip W. Anderson realized, the key to understanding nature’s reality is not anything “magical”, but the right attitude, “the focus on asking the right questions, the willingness to try (and to discard) unconventional answers, the sensitive ear for phoniness, self-deception, bombast, and conventional but unproven assumptions.” The authors of the eighteen prize-winning essays have, where necessary, adapted their essays for the present volume so as to (a) incorporate the community feedback generated in the online discussion of the essays, (b) add new material that has come to light since their completion and (c) to ensure accessibility to a broad audience of readers with a basic grounding in physics. The Foundational Questions Institute, FQXi, catalyzes, supports, and disseminates research on questions at the foundations of physics and cosmology, particularly new frontiers and innovative ideas integral to a deep understanding of reality, but unlikely to be supported by conventional funding sources.

Immortal Wishes

Author: Ellen Schattschneider
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 9780822330622
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 290

Book Description
An ethnography of female asceticism and spiritual practice in Japan.

Dear Professor Dyson

Author: Freeman John Dyson
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9814759090
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 386

Book Description
"Freeman Dyson has designed nuclear reactors and bomb-powered spacecraft; he has studied the origins of life and the possibilities for the long-term future; he showed quantum mechanics to be consistent with electrodynamics and started cosmological eschatology; he has won international recognition for his work in science and for his work in reconciling science to religion; he has advised generals and congressional committees. An STS (Science, Technology, Society) curriculum or discussion group that engages topics such as nuclear policies, genetic technologies, environmental sustainability, the role of religion in a scientific society, and a hard look towards the future, would count itself privileged to include Professor Dyson as a class participant and mentor. In this book, STS topics are not discussed as objectified abstractions, but through personal stories. The reader is invited to observe Dyson's influence on a generation of young people as they wrestle with issues of science, technology, society, life in general and our place in the universe. The book is filled with personal anecdotes, student questions and responses, honest doubts and passions"--

Parmenides and Empedocles

Author: Parmenides,
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1725229609
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 78

Book Description
Parmenides and Empedocles, along with Heraclitus the most important of the pre-Socratic philosophers, were at the same time among the greatest poets of the ancient world. But their work is rarely treated and still more rarely translated in its original form--as poetry. The complete extant fragments of Parmenides and Empedocles are collected here for the first time in a translation responsive to the original verse texts. Parmenides' philosophical fragments are here given as the poetic remains of the thinker from Elea in Southern Italy whom Socrates wondered at and Plato held in awe. What emerges from the poetry is at once an uncompromising vision of absolute Being and a compassionate understanding of the human cosmos: It is the body grows to Mind. All men desire the same thing, apprehend the same The plenum is thought, and thought preponderates. The poetry of Empedocles--reincarnationist, naturalist, cosmologist, religious leader, physiologist, and a metaphysician--is presented here in the personal idiom of the fifth-century Sicilian who has been called the last of the Greek shamans: I have already been A bush and a bird A boy and a girl A mute fish in the sea.

Shifting Shape, Shaping Text

Author: Steven Heine
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 9780824821975
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 316

Book Description
Annotation Shifting Shape, Shaping Text examines the fox koan in relation to philosophical and institutional issues facing the Ch'an/Zen tradition in both Sung China and medieval and contemporary Japan.

Ruling Your World

Author: Rinpoche Sakyong Mipham
Publisher: Random House (NY)
ISBN: 0767920651
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 226

Book Description
Sakyong Mipham, the leader of Shambhala, a global network of meditation and retreat centers, shows readers how to rule their own lives and live with confidence--even in their most frazzled moments.