Impossibility : the limits of science and the science of limits / John D. Barrow.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barrow, John D., 1952-2020, author.

Series:

Oxford scholarship online.

Oxford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Science--Philosophy.

Science.

Limit (Logic).

Gödel's theorem.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (294 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2023.

Summary:

In 'Impossibility', John D. Barrow - one of our most elegant and accomplished science writers - argues convincingly that there are limits to human discovery, that there are things that are ultimately unknowable, undoable, or unreachable. Barrow first examines the limits of the human mind: our brain evolved to meet the demands of our immediate environment, and much that lies outside this small circle may also lie outside our understanding. He investigates practical impossibilities, such as those imposed by complexity, uncomputability, or the finiteness of time, space, and resources. Is the universe finite or infinite? Can information be transmitted faster than the speed of light? The book also examines deeper theoretical restrictions on our ability to know, including Gödel's theorem, which proved that there were things that could not be proved.

Contents:

Contents; Chapter 1: The art of the impossible; Chapter 2: The hope of progress; Chapter 3: Back to the future; Chapter 4: Being human; Chapter 5: Technological limits; Chapter 6: Cosmological limits; Chapter 7: Deep limits; Chapter 8: Impossibility and us; Chapter 9: Impossibility: taking stock; Notes; Index

Notes:

Previously issued in print: 1998.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (viewed on November 21, 2023).

ISBN:

0-19-773235-6

1-280-83316-5

9786610833160

0-19-152338-0

0-19-535138-X

OCLC:

609830435