How Can Physics Underlie the Mind?

Top-Down Causation in the Human Context

(Autor)

Buch | Hardcover
XXVI, 482 Seiten
2016 | 1st ed. 2016
Springer Berlin (Verlag)
978-3-662-49807-1 (ISBN)

Lese- und Medienproben

How Can Physics Underlie the Mind? - George Ellis
90,94 inkl. MwSt
Physics underlies all complexity, including our own existence: how is this possible? How can our own lives emerge from interactions of electrons, protons, and neutrons? This book considers the interaction of physical and non-physical causation in complex systems such as living beings, and in particular in the human brain, relating this to the emergence of higher levels of complexity with real causal powers. In particular it explores the idea of top-down causation, which is the key effect allowing the emergence of true complexity and also enables the causal efficacy of non-physical entities, including the value of money, social conventions, and ethical choices.

George Ellis, FRS, is one of the world’s leading researchers in general relativity theory and cosmology. He is Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Complex Systems in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He co-authored The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time with Cambridge physicist Stephen Hawking.

Complexity and Emergence.- Digital Computer Systems.- The Basis of Complexity.- Different Kinds of Top-Down Effects.- Room at the Bottom?.- The Foundations: Physics and Top-Down Causation.- The Mind and the Brain.- The Broader View.

"Ellis (emer., Univ. of Cape Town, South Africa), a world-renowned expert in theoretical physics, presents an impressive and persuasive set of arguments for top-down causation and a non-reductive ontology, which he bases on a broad array of recent research results. ... Summing Up:  Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above; professionals." (T. Eastman, Choice, Vol. 54 (5), January, 2017)

"In this magnum opus ... George Ellis lays out the case for top-down causation from an emergentist perspective. ... This book is an indispensable resource for anyone who seriously ponders the structure of the universe, the miracle of life, and the mystery of consciousness." (Randy Isaac, Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, Vol. 69 (2), 2017)

Erscheinungsdatum
Reihe/Serie The Frontiers Collection
Zusatzinfo XXVI, 482 p. 36 illus.
Verlagsort Berlin
Sprache englisch
Maße 155 x 235 mm
Themenwelt Mathematik / Informatik Informatik Theorie / Studium
Naturwissenschaften Physik / Astronomie Theoretische Physik
Naturwissenschaften Physik / Astronomie Thermodynamik
Schlagworte Adaptive Systems • Biological Information • Emergent Complexity • Epistemology • evolutionary biology • Human Brain • Neurobiology • Neurosciences • Physics and Astronomy • Statistical Physics, Dynamical Systems and Complex • Top-Down Causation
ISBN-10 3-662-49807-3 / 3662498073
ISBN-13 978-3-662-49807-1 / 9783662498071
Zustand Neuware
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