We live at a time of unparallelled environmental and moral crisis. Not only do we not believe anything but, despite exponential advances in information production, we do not know very much either. This book is a guide for everyone who, understandably, feels perplexed.
Presenting an explanation of recent findings in science and their relationship with society and politics as we enter the third millennium, the book also seeks to provide guidance towards responsible political action in this current crisis. From new technology’s power to preserve the status quo, to the true impetus behind the Human Genome Project, Sean Ó Nualláin brings to topical concerns some much needed clarity.
Complete with reader-friendly summaries to current thought in the biological, physical, and social sciences, the book is designed to be accessible to a general readership, it should also appeal to all those working or studying in the Sciences.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
1 The Current crisis
The environmental crisis
The demographic crisis
The economic crisis
The political crisis
The moral/fideistic/epistemological crisis
2 Our Age of Ignorance
Noetic Science
Physics
Biology
Economics
Technology
Psychology
Politics and Sociology
Religion and Myth
Universals in Religion
Cosmogony
The psychology of the millennium
The problem of human suffering
Value
Some Conclusions
3 Theories of Everything
Introduction
Dei ex machine
The sciences of complexity
Catastrophe theory
Chaos
Games
Something for Nothing?
Information
Computation
Buckserologists (Know-it-alls)
Precedence claims and claim-jumps
Introduction
Physics
Darwinism
Eschatologies
Stake Takeover
Weltanschauungen
Gurdjieff
Marxism
Conclusions
Appendix A: How does Science Progress?
Appendix B: The Reduced History of Physics
Appendix C: Genetic technologies
References