The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality

Book Description

Computers have dramatically altered life in the late twentieth century. Today we can draw on worldwide computer links, speeding up communications by radio, newspapers, and television. Ideas fly back and forth and circle the globe at the speed of electricity. And just around the corner lurks full-blown virtual reality, in which we will be able to immerse ourselves in a computer simulation not only of the actual physical world, but of any imagined world. As we begin to move in and out of a computer-generated world, Michael Heim asks, how will the way we perceive our world change? In The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality, Heim considers this and other philosophical issues of the Information Age. With an eye for the dark as well as the bright side of computer technology, he explores the logical and historical origins of our computer-generated world and speculates about the future direction of our computerized lives. He discusses such topics as the effect of word-processing on the English language (while word-processors have led to increased productivity, they have also led to physical hazards such as repetitive motion syndrome, which causes inflamed hand and arm tendons). Heim looks into the new kind of literacy promised by Hypertext (technology which allows the user to link audio and video elements, the disadvantages including disorientation and cognitive overload). And he also probes the notion of virtual reality, "cyberspace"--the computer-simulated environments that have captured the popular imagination and may ultimately change the way we define reality itself. Just as the definition of interface itself has evolved from the actual adapter plug used to connect electronic circuits into human entry into a self-contained cyberspace, so too will the notion of reality change with the current technological drive. Like the introduction of the automobile, the advent of virtual reality will change the whole context in which our knowledge and awareness of life are rooted. And along the way, Heim covers such intriguing topics as how computers have altered our thought habits, how we will be able to distinguish virtual from real reality, and the appearance of virtual reality in popular culture (as in Star Trek's holodeck, William Gibson's Neuromancer, and Stephen King's Lawnmower Man). Vividly and entertainingly written, The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality opens a window on a fascinating world that promises--or threatens--to become an integral part of everyday life in the 21st century. As Heim writes, not only do we face a breakthrough in the technology of computer interface, but we face the challenge of knowing ourselves and determining how the technology should develop and ultimately affect the society in which it grows.

Customer Reviews:

persian review.......2003-12-02

For persian visitors, there is a persian review that has been published in Mehr weekly too, in my blog : www.yousefi.persianblog.com

How to really play God.......2003-03-09

No one disputes that the growing sophistication of computing technology has altered the human condition. With the current world population in excess of five billion and the U.S. economy in excess of six trillion dollars annually, computers are essential to the management of life. However, few people ever think about how much this has altered the perception of existence. Philosopher Michael Heim is one such person.
The imminent, but distant development of Artificial Intelligence has forced a thorough rethinking of what human intelligence really is. The Turing test, where a computer interacts with a human via teletype and passes the test if the human thinks that the object on the other end is also human, has been proven inadequate. Other abilities, such as being able to perform extensive arithmetic computations, is also not an indicator of intelligence. As amazing as it may seem to the child struggling to learn their 'rithmetic, the algorithms are just not that complicated. The only conclusive result to date is that intelligent behavior is ill-defined. The best that can be agreed upon is a statement similar to that uttered by a justice of the United State Supreme Court. When asked to define pornography, his response was, "I can't define it, but I know it when I see it."
Robotics, computer viruses and the nebulous discipline of Artificial Life are forcing a re-examination of what life is. Capable of reproducing, but only with the assistance of other objects, computer viruses are remarkably similar to their biological counterparts. Arguing that they are fundamentally different because they are nothing more than a series of instructions misses the point. A biological virus is a set of instructions coded in either RNA or DNA, both of which allow for four options, and is surrounded by a protective protein coat. The computer virus is stored in two option binary on a protective magnetic or optical medium. Each is extremely vulnerable when the instructions are isolated. For the biological virus,
this is when it has infected a host and the instructions are free of the protective coat. In the case of the computer virus, this is when the instructions are in working memory .
Artificial life, generally cellular automata, do many of the things commonly associated with life, including the ability to evolve into other forms. Like all dynamic systems with a random component, this evolution can be in either direction, to more or less "advanced." Again, the argument that a cellular automaton is nothing more than a series of precise instructions being sequentially executed has been rendered invalid. Whatever force you assign to human and animal existence, the core of life is a series of instructions coded in genetic material and requiring outside power sources to function.
While the development of AI and AL are forcing significant alterations in human perceptions of existence, those alterations will be dwarfed by the changes wrought by the advent of Virtual Reality. For here, the foundations of perception itself will be changed. It will be possible to create an existence of ones own choosing that is indistinguishable from that of "true" reality. This will require a redefinition of what is meant by the word God. One of the items under the definition of God in Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary is, "one controlling a particular aspect of part of reality ." Anyone [programmer(s) plus computer(s)] capable of creating a virtual existence will satisfy this definition. Furthermore, AI and AL can both be considered subsets of virtual reality.
Michael Heim, known as "the philosopher of cyberspace," offers a preliminary examination of the consequences of virtual reality on the human mental state. Since VR is still primitive, the explorations here are still fairly speculative. But it is necessary to examine them now, while VR is still a toddler full of potential. He does a good job in setting down the universe of discourse, explaining items in terms that even the computer illiterate can understand. Some historical background in philosophy is used, but all can be understood by those lacking such knowledge.
The successful development of AI, AL, or VR all fit the criteria of a being that satisfies the definition of God. All those interested in the future course of humanity should begin thinking about such things. And this book is a good place to start.

Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.

The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality.......2000-05-23

If you search through the internet on the definition of VR, you'll hit on just about anything having to do with computers. Why? Heim attempts to answer this question with a wonderful explanation of what the term has meant, means now, and may mean in both the near and far future. He reviews the impact products have had on our daily lives, which we take for granted today, and studies what past philosophers feared--have these fears become a reality? The book defines our relationship to computers now, and what our expectations are. It's a fun little book to read. It'll make you stop and think about our real world when your done.

The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality is provocative and fun........1998-12-04

Michael Heim's Metaphysics of Virtual Reality is an investigation of the philosophical underpinnings of digital and virtual technologies. Chapters one through five contain and engaging analysis of information processing technologies and their profound impact on human thought. Heim's simple thesis that digital technologies change the way we think by altering the environment in which we think supports far-reaching claims about the unmittigated impact of the information revolution. Chapters six through ten treat of cyberspaces and virtual realities as products of a cultural imagination in search of ultimate fulfillment. Included is a helpful glossary of technical terms belonging to the somewhat disparate domains of technology and philosophy. Heim has written a fun book inspite of the ponderous subject matter thanks to his crisp prose. He judiciously balances weighty concepts with lively commentary drawn from popular literature, science fiction and film. As is to be expected, when an author incorporates many diverse elements in a concise text, some depth of analysis is sacraficed. However, Heim adequately compensates with thought provoking, if enigmatic predictions for the future of technology that invite the reader to speculate on the nature and ultimate worth of emergent technologies.

Incentives: Motivation and the Economics of Information

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Incentives: Motivation and the Economics of Information
Donald E. Campbell
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Economic History | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 052147857X

Book Description

This book investigates situations in which incentives, contracts or other economic devices can be employed in a wide range of settings to prevent the pursuit of self-interest from being institutionally- or self-defeating. Campbell's treatment of these issues in the economics of information, mechanism design, and game theory can be followed by anyone with a basic knowledge of single-variable calculus and microeconomic theory. Readers learn to grasp economic principles by working carefully through examples, rather than by following proofs of general theorems.

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The Ethics of Cyberspace
Cees J Hamelink
Manufacturer: Sage Publications Ltd
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Comparing Media from Around the World

ASIN: 0761966692

Book Description

In this book, Cees J Hamelink proposes an answer to - how should democratic societies organize cyberspace? - that puts human-rights, rather than profit, at the top of the agenda. He argues that conventional ethical approaches are all seriously flawed. There is a growing volume of moral rules, netiquettes and codes of conduct, but they are of little help in solving the moral dilemmas raised by the new technologies. In this book the author analyzes the inadeqacies of current global governance policies and structures that underpin them, and argues for standards which put justice, human security and freedom first.

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I love this book
The book is rubbish
Maths limitations, undecidability and randomness: a story

Conversations with a Mathematician
Gregory J. Chaitin
Manufacturer: Springer
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Binding: Hardcover

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Exploring Randomness
Meta Math!: The Quest for Omega
The Limits of Mathematics: A Course on Information Theory and the Limits of Formal Reasoning (Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science)
The Unknowable (Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science)

ASIN: 1852335491

Book Description

G. J. Chaitin is at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center in New York. He has shown that God plays dice not only in quantum mechanics, but even in the foundations of mathematics, where Chaitin discovered mathematical facts that are true for no reason, that are true by accident. This book collects his most wide-ranging and non-technical lectures and interviews, and it will be of interest to anyone concerned with the philosophy of mathematics, with the similarities and differences between physics and mathematics, or with the creative process and mathematics as an art."Chaitin has put a scratch on the rock of eternity."Jacob T. Schwartz, Courant Institute, New York University, USA"(Chaitin is) one of the great ideas men of mathematics and computer science."Marcus Chown, author of The Magic Furnace, in NEW SCIENTIST"Finding the right formalization is a large component of the art of doing great mathematics."John Casti, author of Mathematical Mountaintops, on Godel, Turing and Chaitin in NATURE"What mathematicians over the centuries - from the ancients, through Pascal, Fermat, Bernoulli, and de Moivre, to Kolmogorov and Chaitin - have discovered, is that it ÄrandomnessÜ is a profoundly rich concept."Jerrold W. Grossman in the MATHEMATICAL INTELLIGENCER

Customer Reviews:

I love this book.......2003-12-07

I know very little about math, and I say that only to make it clear that I don't have the tools that some people have to explain why I loved reading this book, and why I will read it again, or give it as a gift. But I am a reader, and I couldn't put this book down, and I usually feel that way only about novels. So as a reader I will say that this is a beautiful book. It's almost perfect, in a way. (In the same way that I would say Laurie Colwin's book, Happy All The Time, is the perfect modern American novel.) And that's because it's so hard to put down.

The book is rubbish.......2003-10-13

Do not buy it. You are wasting you time and money.

Maths limitations, undecidability and randomness: a story.......2002-03-31

These interviews of G. Chaitin provide a good picture of what science is about: just another human activity. It shows how subjectivity is a part of what people call science...The book provides a historical perspective of the work by Hilbert, Godel, Turing,...on maths and its limitations. Mostly computer scientists and mathematicians will be interested in reading this book since it goes all about Godel and Turing's achievements on the limits of formalisms, undecidability and the limits of mathematics in general...without forgetting the work of G. Chaitin in algorithmic information theory and randomness in mathematics that continues the work of these great men.

How to Build a Mind: Toward Machines with Imagination

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More Jumpy Than Loopy, Unfortunately
Personal, insider's view of the field of Artificial Intelligence
nice reading
Too much philosophy
Very Basic

How to Build a Mind: Toward Machines with Imagination
Igor Aleksander
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
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Impossible Minds: My Neurons, My Consciousness

ASIN: 0231120125

Book Description

Igor Aleksander heads a major British team that has applied engineering principles to the understanding of the human brain and has built several pioneering machines, culminating in MAGNUS, which he calls a machine with imagination. When he asks it (in words) to produce an image of a banana that is blue with red spots, the image appears on the screen in seconds.

The idea of such an apparently imaginative, even conscious machine seems heretical and its advocates are often accused of sensationalism, arrogance, or philosophical ignorance. Part of the problem, according to Aleksander, is that consciousness remains ill-defined.

Interweaving anecdotes from his own life and research with imagined dialogues between historical figures -- including Descartes, Locke, Hume, Kant, Wittgenstein, Francis Crick, and Steven Pinker -- Aleksander leads readers toward an understanding of consciousness. He shows not only how the latest work with artificial neural systems suggests that an artificial form of consciousness is possible but also that its design would clarify many of the puzzles surrounding the murky concept of consciousness itself. The book also looks at the presentation of "self" in robots, the learning of language, and the nature of emotion, will, instinct, and feelings.

Customer Reviews:

More Jumpy Than Loopy, Unfortunately.......2007-02-21

There's an interesting book waiting to be written for the educated lay audience about how computer systems using artificial intelligence and neural network architectures are being used to study and help understand the processes of the human brain. Such a book will help readers like myself to better grasp the workings of the mind and certain aspects of phenomenal consciousness, and will nicely complement the myriad of speculative works regarding consciousness that have been written over the past two decades by a bevy of psychologists, philosophers and neuroscientists.

Unfortunately, "How to Build a Mind" is not that book. Igor Aleksander tries to cover too many topics in too few pages, and in the end can't bring together his meanderings; he doesn't leave the reader feeling, "hey, I understand it better now". Dr. Aleksander tries to interweave an historical review of philosophical thought regarding the human mind with his own life story, and sprinkle in some details about the connectionist computer tools that he has devised to mimic certain brain functions. But he doesn't tell you enough about the philosophers and their thoughts to trigger any "ah ha" sensations. He offers some tantalizing details about what he tries to do with his computers and how they attempt to do it; but just as you start getting interested in, say, iconic learning processes, he jumps to another line on his vita, discussing another assignment at another university, somewhere in another English town.

The overall effect is, well, jumpy; he doesn't stay long enough with any one topic to leave enough "flavor" to blend with the next discussion. In the end, it's an uncooked stew; the carrots, potatoes and meat chunks are floating apart in luke-warm water. Dr. Aleksander does make one point that almost serves as a leitmotif: the power of feedback and looping processes in understanding and simulating the workings of the mind. It's a point that has been emphasized by many consciousness researchers and thinkers, e.g. Gerald Edelman and Richard Hofstadler. Instead of imagining himself having unfocused conversations with long-dead philosophers, Dr. Aleksander should have spent his writing energies considering and comparing his own work with theirs. Instead of taking Aristotle on, he might have addressed the criticism of one of his lectures by a living philosopher (Dr. Margaret Boden), in lieu of congratulating himself for being taken seriously by someone in today's "consciousness club".

Another annoying thing is Dr. Aleksander's perceived need to present his own opinions regarding what human consciousness is. His views basically amount to simplistic functionalism; but unsophisticated or not, they are really quite unnecessary. As Susan Greenfield points out in her "Private Life of the Brain", Aleksander's work, however useful, is nowhere near mimicing the extremely complex dynamics of the conscious human brain. And yet he keeps hinting that his machines are already transcending the spooky threshold between working brain tissue and subjective feelings and self-awareness, and are on the verge of answering the questions of the ages. Face it, Dr. Aleksander: you chose to be an engineer, and engineers do their best work toiling in the shadows. You are perhaps not destined to be another consciousness "rock star" like David Chalmers, Daniel Dennett, Sue Blackmore and V. S. Ramachandran. But if you keep your nose to the grindstone, it may contribute to eventual conceptual advancements that will make their present debates seem like 18th Century discussions of phrenology and cosmic ether.

I will admit, finally, that Dr. Aleksander's dream sequence regarding a shared stage discussion with the likes of Pinker, Dennett and Crick does give a very compact and incisive summary of the basic issues in the modern consciousness debate. Despite their being quite removed from the immediate import of his own (underexplained) work.

Personal, insider's view of the field of Artificial Intelligence.......2006-05-20

The book is a parallel presentation of the evolution and struggles of AI on one hand, and the author's personal evolution and struggles on the other. It tells the story of an experimentally-minded academic who has to balance his thirst for knowledge with personal, political and bureaucratical considerations.
I think anyone involved in so controversial a field as AI is prone to "err" into philosophy, and Aleksander's imaginary dialogues with philosophers from Aristotle to Dennett are entertaining and to the point. I'm puzzled why he seems to favor Searle over Dennett, when Searle's vague points about "aboutness" are a pale reflection of Dennett's extensive explorations of intentionality. (For those who label Dennett's approach "materialist", the paper "Real patterns" could be an eye opener.) For the non-technical level of the book, the intuitive explanations of neural networks in terms of dimples or attractors are as good as they can be. Given the author's "hardware" background (Sophia, Minerva etc.), his anti-software bias is understandable, but by the time we get to MAGNUS a strange position emerges (pun intended): On one hand he honestly accepts that MAGNUS is a software simulation, and clearly recognizes the advantage of doing it this way. On the other he completely muddles the waters when answering the question if a machine can be conscious: my impression is that he's saying that the software-MAGNUS is just a simulation we use to figure things out (and not capable of consciousness), but once we got it down we'll build a neuron-based hardware-MAGNUS which will be conscious. Huh?
The references are a good selection for those who want to study further. Just one correction: Rosenblat's book is titled "Principles of neurodynamics; perceptrons and the theory of brain mechanisms", not "Introduction ..."

nice reading.......2005-05-28

Igor's passion for artificial consciousness is well known. This book talks more of philosophy than the engineering behind his passion. It has some intersting imaginary dialogues with some of the pioneers in the theory of consciousness. It stirs more questions than it answers. Nevertheless its a good read.

Too much philosophy.......2005-01-28

The author's goal is to answer the question as to whether a (non-human) machine can imagine. Clearly he believes that machines can, and throughout the book he gives his reasons for believing so. Early on, he emphasizes to the reader that he is an engineer, but given the view by most that engineering is a practical profession, he also wants the reader to know that it is philosophy that permits a true understanding of the nature of machine intelligence and forms the proper context for addressing questions regarding the ability of machines to have an imagination. Indeed, research into machine imagination is considered to be a combination of engineering and philosophy. Those readers, including this reviewer, who find philosophical speculation a distraction to the actual construction of intelligent machines might not want to read further. However, there is enough discussion on the history of the author's involvement in the development of intelligent machines to make the book worthwhile to read. This is especially true for the author's discussion on the MAGNUS machine, which he considers to be a machine "driven by inner states." In addition, the author is very aware of the pitfalls of philosophical musings on the nature of consciousness and machine intelligence. One of these concerns the conflict between the use of mathematics and physics to promote true understanding, versus the insistence that such understanding can only be reached from the use of thought experiments and argumentation. Another problem, says the author, is the predilection of philosophers to deny or negate the thoughts of their predecessors, which stymies progress to true understanding and is to be contrasted with the more effective approach in scientific circles, where consensus can be reached based on available evidence. Lastly, the author believes, the drive to understand consciousness has driven philosophers to the embrace of mysticism, with a consequent rejection of quantitative approaches.

The design of non-biological machines with imagination is not only driven by curiosity, but also by the desire to shed light on the nature of consciousness itself, says the author. The actual implementation of conscious imagination in non-biological machines can assist in the understanding of how it is done in biological machines, or at least how they are to be contrasted. The mechanisms giving rise to imaginative consciousness may have common elements in biological and non-biological machines. The author wants to find what aspects of "artificial" imagination are in fact true for "real" imagination.

At various places in the book, the author includes hypothetical discussions and debates with various philosophers and notable persons in history. These are interesting for sure, but they distract the reader from the discussion on the actual engineering of conscious and imaginative machines. Philosophers who find machine consciousness an elusive or impossible goal will never be convinced by any arguments supporting this goal. It would be better if researchers in machine intelligence would declare a moratorium on philosophical debate and speculation, and instead get busy with the real goal of designing and constructing intelligent machines.

The author characterizes consciousness in a machine as being the ability to know where it is situated, as being an understanding of its origins, and having its own motivations for the making of decisions. These criteria don't really that seem to difficult to implement in non-biological machines, and as one reads the book it becomes more apparent with each passing page that the author does not consider the implementation of non-biological machine consciousness as being a problem of overwhelming difficulty. His optimism in this regard is very characteristic of those who work in the field of machine intelligence. Their efforts are admirable, and even though the engineering of consciousness in a non-biological machine may remain elusive in years to come, there is no doubt that various types of machine intelligence have been realized in some of the machines of today. We can only expect further advances, and the rise of new types of intelligent machines. Whether these machines meet our expectations is another matter, but they have already exceeded expectations in many cases. Conscious or not, the machines of the future will certainly be fascinating entities with which to interact.

Very Basic.......2002-09-16

This book treats consciousness with a disturbing kind of ease. While Mr. Aleksander brings out the issues surrounding consciousness (if one can even do that!). All too often the issues are either one sided to too simplified to the point it makes the author look like he has his mind made up before he asks the question.

Another serious issue I have is the ratio of philosophers to text used. I haven't seen this blatant use of names since I read Bart Kosko's book on fuzzy logic. While Aleksander tries to model a "mind" on silicon he eludes defining consciousness while raising the ability of machines. From his book; "The key difference between the machine and the person is that the machine would be conscious of being a machine, whereas the person is conscious of being a living human." How are we even to guess when a machine is conscious of being a machine? Does my toaster "believe" it's a toaster?

I am not a philosopher but an engineer and I've studied neural networks and I do agree with his suggestion that emergent properties can arise from complex systems. While others see consciousness an emergent property of a neural network - I have yet to see evidence of this or... even an indication of this. If you haven't had any exposure to neural networks or philosophy AND you want to see a snapshot of the controversy surrounding the issues of consciousness THEN you might want to read this book.

Ethics in Information Technology
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Great Discussion Questions

Business MIS not ethics

Ethics in Information Technology
George Reynolds
Manufacturer: Course Technology
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0619062770

Book Description

Filled with current examples and ideal for a full or part course on ethics, this text provides the foundation needed to make appropriate decisions when faced with ethical situations in the field of information technology.

Customer Reviews:

Great Discussion Questions.......2007-06-08

You don't normally think of ethical issues in the case of information technology, but this book brings many, many questions to the fore. ==For instance should American companies (Sun, Cisco, Yahoo! & Goodle) assist the Chinese government in censoring web access. They block access to words like 'Dalai Lama' and 'democracy.'

We have seen a raft of corporations filing bogus financial statements. These were undoubtedly produced on a computer. What about access to porn sights from public facilities like libraries or schools? What about pirated software, or pirated movies or songs. And computer controlled surveillance - it is said that the average person in London appears on 300 cameras. Where does a right to privacy interfere with a society's right to protection from vandals, from terrorists.

This book features white pages and grey pages. The white pages describe facts, laws, rules, equipment and so on. The grey pages summarize the chapters but then give a large number of questions that either review the material or which can service as discussion questions for classroom use.

Business MIS not ethics.......2003-05-03

This text is highly reductionist. From the beginning his only concern is argue for protecting from monitary loss (he describes unethical behavior based on how much money you loose). In summary this is a book designed to develop a background for understanding why we have corporate security on IT/IS systems. The book really should be titled "MIS and Corporate Security the Current Social Backdrop".

Book Description

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Third International Conference on Discovery Science, DS 2000, held in Kyoto, Japan in December 2000. The 15 revised full papers presented together with three invited contributions and 22 posters were carefully reviewed and selected from 48 submissions. Among the topics and areas addressed in their relation to discovery science are inference, algorithmic learning, heuristic search, database management, data mining, networking, inductive logic programming, information agents, information retrieval, visualization, etc.

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Ethics and Computing

Manufacturer: Wiley-IEEE Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0780360192

Book Description

All you have to do is watch the news, or be warned not to open your email today, to recognize the necessity for this revised and enhanced edition of this critical work, first published in 1995. We are inundated daily with intellectual property issues and warnings against computer viruses and hackers. Government and law enforcement agency involvement in the security of our computer systems leaves us vulnerable to abuse of privacy, and raises the specter of "Big Brother". Also, many critical systems controlled by computers, such as nuclear power facilities and missile defense systems, are often designed and tested with an over-reliance on computer modeling, which can cause failure, injury or loss of life.

Ethics and Computing, Second Edition promotes awareness of these and other major issues and accepted procedures and policies in the area of ethics and computing, using real-world companies, incidents, products and people. An entire chapter is dedicated to detailed analysis of the major ethical codes relevant to computing professionals: The Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP) code of ethics, IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) code of ethics, the Association of Computing Machinery codes of ethics, and the ACM/IEEE Software Engineering code of ethics.

Book Description

In this original book, distinguished cell biologist Heinz Herrmann explores how we understand living and other complex systems. In addition to the conventional basis of understanding that rests on abstract general theories, he proposes a new paradigm-conceptual continuity-as a way to compare systems of divergent complexity and to resolve problems in such complex systems as human societies.

Customer Reviews:

Insightful treatise, wise and scholarly.......1999-08-23

Carefully written and well documented, FROM BIOLOGY TO SOCIOPOLITICS by Heinz Herrmann is a remarkable work. Herrmann has studied the processes by which we humans handle the complexity and chaos of natural systems in the decision-making process whether in our sociopolitical behavior or in our quest for scientific truth. Science is as dependent on a commonly recognized conceptual construct as it is on a recognized vocabulary or classification system. Without vocabulary we could not communicate and without a conceptual construct we could not reason. Herrmann proposes a new paradigm for science and society -- conceptual continuity. Conceptual continuity provides a construct for the intellectual encapsulation of conplex or chaotic observations within the precepts of science enabling its orderly progress without the need for rejection of phenomena whose causes are unknowable or whose processes are complex. Herrmann's articulation of that paradigm is remarkable enough for the sciences alone but even more remarkable is his generalization of "conceptual continuity" to the realm of sociopolitics. In hindsight the generalization seems simple and natural but most great ideas do.

The treatment presented in the work is especially significant because it is accomplished through the direct application of careful logical thinking and not flung out of a computer as reworked information, so common in this electronically driven information age. The work is a tribute to the human mind and an example of the advantage that the wise ones, the sapiens, still hold over the flawless memories of the electronic ones -- an exquisite example of the ability of the human intellect to raise information to the level of knowledge and, through careful generalization, to elevate knowledge to the level of wisdom. The human triumphs through perfert , selective "forgetting" rather than through perfect memory. Wisdom is achieved through careful documentation, analysis and generalization rather than through flawless recapitulation. Ultimately society and science will be moved more by wisdom than by information. FROM BIOLOGY TO SOCIOPOLITICS is a clear articulation of a remarkable insight by a truly wise man and it is one of the most thought provoking works I have had the pleasure to read.

I read FROM BIOLOGY TO SOCIOPOLITICS on the heals of reading some works by Amartya Sen who wrote extensively on the role of "entitlement" as the social glue derived from government and creating a mutual need for induvidual success at all social levels. Sen was impressed with the lack of famine in democratic societies and his perception of of mutual needs or entitlements in those societies was a remarkable insight. It won the Nobel Prize. Herrmann's insight strikes me as no less remarkable.

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