The Essence of Time
Published on 30. September 2002
Book
Hardback
136 pages
978-1-85312-949-0 (ISBN)
Description
With the ever-accelerating pace of daily life, the modern age seems to demand that science, too, should respond at speed. In this book Enzo Tiezzi highlights the continuity between the physical-mathematic and humanistic sciences. He also urges us to reflect on the tempo of the modern era, and to contrast it with the brilliance and complexity of the human relationship with a living world. A guide to the key scientific ideas of our time which relate ecology with economy with the laws of thermodynamics, and those that highlight an understanding of the human relationship with planet earth, the text traces themes such as entropy to negentropy, flux of energy and material and information. The result is an exploration of great scientific depth and the most complete historical survey to date of the ideas behind ecological economics.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Southampton
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 210 mm
Width: 148 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-85312-949-0 (9781853129490)
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Schweitzer Classification
Content
Baron von Munchhausen and Maxwell's Devil: The Baron's pigtail; A delicate interplay; What is entropy?; Schrodinger's negentropy. The green talisman: The history of a singular planet; Once upon a time; A dangerous Venusian atmosphere. The scientific foundations for a cosmogony: Entropy and biology; Negentropy and the gypsy. The way of the hippogryph: a fascinating alternative for the origins of life: Hopeful monster; Ring, beautiful ring of mine. Spin: Minimum effects; Einstein, determinism and chance; Lotus flowers. The planet Earth plays dice: Relations; A special guest at Babette's feast; Other entropy stories with unicorns and the return of Maxwell's devil; My book falls to the ground; The thermodynamics of Prigogine. What a funny planet: Towards an ecodynamic model; Like the face of the Moon; Nature's revenge; The fragile equilibria of the atmosphere; What is the greenhouse effect; Unpredictable scenarios; A return to Ptolemy. Hic sunt leones: Collisions between molecules; The time paradox. Evolutionary conservation or conservation evolution?: The discussion between Bohr and Einstein at the Solvay Conference; Entropy and the leaf. The anti-aesthetic assumption of Newton and Descartes: See the colours; The nymph Echo, Golem-robot, Gargantua and Pantagruel. Towards an evolutionary physics: Unsustainable dualism; A boat on the river, or systems sensitive to initial conditions; "De minimis non curat lex", and so?; Far from equilibrium: small fluctuations and macroscopic divergence; Shadows of Penrose. Linger, fair passing moment: Community with the future; Time, relation and constraints; An oxymoron.