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020 _a9780691146843
_qprint
020 _a9781400838158
_qPDF
024 7 _a10.1515/9781400838158
_2doi
035 _a(DE-B1597)9781400838158
035 _a(DE-B1597)453746
035 _a(OCoLC)979593677
040 _aDE-B1597
_beng
_cDE-B1597
_erda
050 4 _aQ175.5
_b.B94 2011
072 7 _aSCI075000
_2bisacsh
082 0 4 _a500
084 _aonline - DeGruyter
100 1 _aByers, William
_eautore
245 1 4 _aThe Blind Spot :
_bScience and the Crisis of Uncertainty /
_cWilliam Byers.
250 _aCourse Book
264 1 _aPrinceton, NJ :
_bPrinceton University Press,
_c[2011]
264 4 _c©2011
300 _a1 online resource (240 p.) :
_b2 halftones. 3 line illus.
336 _atext
_btxt
_2rdacontent
337 _acomputer
_bc
_2rdamedia
338 _aonline resource
_bcr
_2rdacarrier
347 _atext file
_bPDF
_2rda
505 0 0 _tFrontmatter --
_tContents --
_tPreface: The Revelation of Uncertainty --
_t1. The Blind Spot --
_t2. The Blind Spot Revealed --
_t3. Certainty or Wonder? --
_t4. A World in Crisis! --
_t5. Ambiguity --
_t6. Self-Reference: The Human Element in Science --
_t7. The Mystery of Number --
_t8. Science as the Ambiguous Search for Unity --
_t9. The Still Point --
_t10. Conclusion: Living in a World of Uncertainty --
_tAcknowledgments --
_tNotes --
_tReferences --
_tIndex
506 0 _arestricted access
_uhttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec
_fonline access with authorization
_2star
520 _aIn today's unpredictable and chaotic world, we look to science to provide certainty and answers--and often blame it when things go wrong. The Blind Spot reveals why our faith in scientific certainty is a dangerous illusion, and how only by embracing science's inherent ambiguities and paradoxes can we truly appreciate its beauty and harness its potential. Crackling with insights into our most perplexing contemporary dilemmas, from climate change to the global financial meltdown, this book challenges our most sacredly held beliefs about science, technology, and progress. At the same time, it shows how the secret to better science can be found where we least expect it--in the uncertain, the ambiguous, and the inevitably unpredictable. William Byers explains why the subjective element in scientific inquiry is in fact what makes it so dynamic, and deftly balances the need for certainty and rigor in science with the equally important need for creativity, freedom, and downright wonder. Drawing on an array of fascinating examples--from Wall Street's overreliance on algorithms to provide certainty in uncertain markets, to undecidable problems in mathematics and computer science, to Georg Cantor's paradoxical but true assertion about infinity--Byers demonstrates how we can and must learn from the existence of blind spots in our scientific and mathematical understanding. The Blind Spot offers an entirely new way of thinking about science, one that highlights its strengths and limitations, its unrealized promise, and, above all, its unavoidable ambiguity. It also points to a more sophisticated approach to the most intractable problems of our time.
538 _aMode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
546 _aIn English.
588 0 _aDescription based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 27. Jan 2023)
650 0 _aScience
_vSocial aspects.
650 0 _aScience
_xSocial aspects.
650 0 _aSciences
_vAspect social.
650 0 _aUncertainty (Information theory).
650 7 _aSCIENCE / Philosophy & Social Aspects.
_2bisacsh
653 _aAcknowledgment (creative arts and sciences).
653 _aAlgorithm.
653 _aAmbiguity.
653 _aAnalogy.
653 _aApproximation.
653 _aAxiom.
653 _aAxiomatic system.
653 _aBasic research.
653 _aBig O notation.
653 _aCalculation.
653 _aCertainty.
653 _aChaos theory.
653 _aCircumference.
653 _aComputation.
653 _aConcept.
653 _aConjecture.
653 _aConsciousness.
653 _aConsistency.
653 _aContingency (philosophy).
653 _aContinuous function.
653 _aContinuum hypothesis.
653 _aContradiction.
653 _aCounting.
653 _aDavid Bohm.
653 _aDynamism (metaphysics).
653 _aEmergence.
653 _aEuclidean geometry.
653 _aExplanation.
653 _aFeeling.
653 _aFermat's Last Theorem.
653 _aGeometry.
653 _aGestalt psychology.
653 _aGregory Chaitin.
653 _aGödel's incompleteness theorems.
653 _aHuman behavior.
653 _aHuman intelligence.
653 _aHypothesis.
653 _aIdeology.
653 _aInference.
653 _aInteger.
653 _aIrrational number.
653 _aLearning.
653 _aLogic.
653 _aLogical reasoning.
653 _aMathematician.
653 _aMathematics.
653 _aMeasurement.
653 _aMethodology.
653 _aModernity.
653 _aMolecule.
653 _aNatural number.
653 _aNature.
653 _aParadigm shift.
653 _aParadox.
653 _aParticipant.
653 _aPhenomenon.
653 _aPhilosopher.
653 _aPhilosophy of mathematics.
653 _aPhilosophy of science.
653 _aPhilosophy.
653 _aPlatonism.
653 _aPrediction.
653 _aPrinciple.
653 _aProbability.
653 _aPythagoreanism.
653 _aQualitative property.
653 _aQuantification (science).
653 _aQuantity.
653 _aQuantum mechanics.
653 _aRandomness.
653 _aRational number.
653 _aRationality.
653 _aReal number.
653 _aReality.
653 _aReason.
653 _aReductionism.
653 _aRelationship between religion and science.
653 _aResult.
653 _aScience.
653 _aScientific method.
653 _aScientific progress.
653 _aScientific theory.
653 _aScientist.
653 _aSelf-reference.
653 _aSet theory.
653 _aSpecial case.
653 _aSubatomic particle.
653 _aSubjectivity.
653 _aSuggestion.
653 _aTechnology.
653 _aThe Philosopher.
653 _aTheorem.
653 _aTheoretical physics.
653 _aTheory of everything.
653 _aTheory.
653 _aThomas Kuhn.
653 _aThought.
653 _aUncertainty.
653 _aUniversality (philosophy).
653 _aWriting.
850 _aIT-RoAPU
856 4 0 _uhttps://doi.org/10.1515/9781400838158
856 4 0 _uhttps://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9781400838158
856 4 2 _3Cover
_uhttps://www.degruyter.com/document/cover/isbn/9781400838158/original
942 _cEB
999 _c295873
_d295873