Novedad editorial: Is the Universe a Hologram? Scientists Answer the Most Provocative Questions
Foreword by Tim O'Reilly
Overview
Science today is more a process of collaboration
than moments of individual “eurekas.” This book recreates that kind of
synergy by offering a series of interconnected dialogues with leading
scientists who are asked to reflect on key questions and concepts about
the physical world, technology, and the mind. These thinkers offer both
specific observations and broader comments about the intellectual
traditions that inform these questions; doing so, they reveal a rich
seam of interacting ideas.
The persistent paradox of our era is
that in a world of unprecedented access to information, many of the
most important questions remain unsolved. These conversations
(conducted by a veteran science writer, Adolfo Plasencia) reflect this,
with scientists addressing such issues as intelligence, consciousness,
global warming, energy, technology, matter, the possibility of another
earth, changing the past, and even the philosophical curveball, “is the
universe a hologram?”
The dialogues discuss such fascinating
aspects of the physical world as the function of the quantum bit, the
primordial cosmology of the universe, and the wisdom of hewn stones.
They offer optimistic but reasoned views of technology, considering
convergence culture, algorithms, “Beauty ≠ Truth,” the hacker ethic, AI,
and other topics. And they offer perspectives from a range of
disciplines on intelligence, discussing subjects that include the
neurophysiology of the brain, affective computing, collaborative
innovation, and the wisdom of crowds.
Conversations with
Hal
Abelson, Ricardo Baeza-Yates, John Perry Barlow, Javier Benedicto, José
Bernabéu, Michail Bletsas, Jose M. Carmena, David Casacuberta, Yung Ho
Chang, Ignacio Cirac, Gianluigi Colalucci, Avelino Corma, Bernardo
Cuenca Grau, Javier Echeverria, José Hernández-Orallo, Hiroshi Ishii,
Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, Henry Jenkins, Anne Margulies, Mario J. Molina,
Tim O’Reilly, John Ochsendorf, Paul Osterman, Alvaro Pascual-Leone,
Rosalind W. Picard, Howard Rheingold, Alejandro W. Rodriguez, Israel
Ruiz, Sara Seager, Richard Stallman, Antonio Torralba, Bebo White, José
María Yturralde