How Can Physics Underlie the Mind?

Top-Down Causation in the Human Context

George Ellis (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

XXVI, 482 Seiten

2018 | 1. Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2016
Springer Berlin (Verlag)
978-3-662-57036-4 (ISBN)

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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	05.03.2022
Reihe/Serie	The Frontiers Collection
Zusatzinfo	XXVI, 482 p. 36 illus.
Verlagsort	Berlin
Sprache	englisch
Maße	155 x 235 mm
Gewicht	7606 g
Themenwelt	Mathematik / Informatik ► Informatik ► Theorie / Studium
	Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Theoretische Physik
	Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Thermodynamik
Schlagworte	Adaptive Systems • Biological Information • Emergent Complexity • Human Brain • Top-Down Causation
ISBN-10	3-662-57036-X / 366257036X
ISBN-13	978-3-662-57036-4 / 9783662570364
Zustand	Neuware