The Machine as Metaphor and Tool

Hermann Haken, Anders Karlqvist, Uno Svedin (Herausgeber)

Buch | Softcover

IX, 165 Seiten

2011 | 1. Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1993
Springer Berlin (Verlag)
978-3-642-77713-4 (ISBN)

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The chapters in this book centre around one main theme, the concept of the machine and its use as metaphor in a variety of contexts. This concept is deeply rooted in western culture and is frequently used to interpret complex systems in nature and society. With the advent of electronic computers, the machine metaphor applied to thinking and the brain has becOIne even more pertinent. The idea of a machine has changed over time. In this book these transformations are made trans parent, various aspects of the machine metaphor are discussed and limitations and pitfalls of the metaphor are elaborated. The chapters are written in a non-technical fashion and are accessible to a large readership of scientists and also laymen interested in the scientific per spectives and logical foundations of the machine concept that has been so influential in western thinking. The idea of the book has its origin in a workshop held at the Sci entific Station in Abisko, Sweden, in May 1990, where several of the present authors participated. The meeting was organized and spon sored by the Swedish Council for Planning and Coordination of Re search (FRN). Since 1983, the FRN has actively promoted a series of such annual events at Abisko, all of which have been devoted to the exploration of various aspects of complex systems and their evolution.

Hermann Haken is Professor of the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of Stuttgart. He is known as the founder of synergetics. His research has been in nonlinear optics (in particular laser physics), solid state physics, statistical physics, and group theory. After the implementation of the first laser in 1960, Professor Haken developed his institute to an international center for laser theory. The interpretation of the laser principles as self organization of non equilibrium systems paved the way to the development of synergetics, of which Haken is recognized as the founder. Hermann Haken has been visiting professor or guest scientist in England, France, Japan, USA, Russia, and China. He is the author of some 23 textbooks and monographs that cover an impressive number of topics from laser physics to synergetics, and editor of a book series in synergetics. For his pathbreaking work and his influence on academic research, he has been awarded many-times. Among others, he is member of the Order "Pour le merite" and received the Max Planck Medal in 1990.

1. Introduction.- 2. The Brain's Software: The Natural Languages and Poetic Information Processing.- 3. The Mechanization of Time.- 4. The Three-Dimensional Text: Computers, Writing and Performance.- 5. Misled by Metaphors: Two Tools that Don't Always Work.- 6. Bionics Revisited.- 7. Mathematical Machines.- 8. Are Synergetic Systems (Including Brains) Machines?.- 9. From Clocks to Chaos: Humanizing the Mechanistic World-View.

Erscheint lt. Verlag	16.12.2011
Zusatzinfo	IX, 165 p.
Verlagsort	Berlin
Sprache	englisch
Maße	133 x 205 mm
Gewicht	211 g
Themenwelt	Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Allgemeines / Lexika
Themenwelt	Sozialwissenschaften
Schlagworte	Complex System • Complex Systems • Cybernetics • Diffusion • Dualism • Dualismus • Evolution • History of Science • Kybernetik • Materialism • Materialismus • Science • Wissenschaftsgeschichte
ISBN-10	3-642-77713-9 / 3642777139
ISBN-13	978-3-642-77713-4 / 9783642777134
Zustand	Neuware