Books are overrated, says one librarian.

Literacy today is defined less by how English departments or a librarian might teach Wordsworth or Faulkner than by how we find our way through the digital forest of information overload.

A Librarian's Lament: Books Are a Hard Sell

Publishers Weekly review:

Twenty years after The Society of Mind, where he introduced the concept that "minds are what brains do," Minsky probes deeper into the question of natural intelligence. Don't look for simple explanations: he believes "we need to find more complicated ways to explain our most familiar mental events"; we need to break our thought processes down into the most precise steps possible. In fact, in order to truly understand the human mind, Minsky suggests, we'll probably need to reverse-engineer a machine that can replicate those functions so we can study it. Thus, he rejects the idea of consciousness as a unitary "Self" in favor of "a decentralized cloud" of more than 20 distinct mental processes. In this view, emotional states like love and shame are not the opposite of rational cogitation; both, Minsky says, are ways of thinking. This is not a book to be read casually; Minsky builds his argument with constant reference to earlier and later sections, imagining objections from a variety of philosophical positions and refuting them. A steady stream of diagrams helps clarify matters, but readers will be forced to dig for the "aha!" moments: they're worth the effort.

The Emotion Machine: Commonsense Thinking, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of the Human Mind, by Marvin Minsky

Check this out.

Publishers Weekly Starred Review. In an eclectic but deeply satisfying collection, Dyson, a Nobel Prize–winning physicist and prolific author (Weapons and Hope), presents 33 previously published book reviews, essays and speeches (15 from the New York Review of Books). Dyson expresses his precise thinking in prose of crystal clarity, and readers will be absolutely enthralled by his breadth, his almost uncanny ability to tie diverse topics together and his many provocative statements. In the title essay, Dyson writes, "Science is an alliance of free spirits in all cultures rebelling against" the tyranny of their local cultures. In a 2006 review of Daniel Dennett's book, Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, Dyson, himself a man of faith, takes issue with Dennett's quoting of physicist Stephen Weinberg that "for good people to do bad things—that takes religion." The converse is also true, says Dyson: "for bad people to do good things—that takes religion."

Three of the best chapters (reprinted from Weapons and Hope) deal with the politics of the cold war. And his writings on Einstein, Teller, Newton, Oppenheimer, Norbert Wiener and Feynman will amuse while presenting deep insights into the nature of science and humanity. Virtually every chapter deserves to be savored.

I suggest pairing this with A Jacques Barzun Reader:

Taken as a whole, these more than six dozen essays constitute one of the great critical collections of recent times and amply showcase one of the outstanding scholarly intellects of the last century.

The Scientist as Rebel, by Freeman Dyson

Dr. Smith warned against getting ahead of the day’s announcement and envisioning the disappearing Romulan warbirds of “Star Trek” on the horizon.

“It could easily take years to figure out what the stuff is really good for from a practical, pragmatic standpoint. But, boy, it sure is really cool from a short-term standpoint.”

I should have posted this next to the editorial on space policy, as Trekkies may recall The Treaty of Algeron:

The treaty stated that the Federation would refrain from researching or implementing cloaking technology. However, an amendment added later allowed the Federation to install a Romulan cloaking device on one ship, the Defiant, for use only in the Gamma Quadrant and under the supervision of a Romulan officer, and under the condition that the Federation would share its intelligence on the Dominion.

See also the articles, [2] at Memory Alpha. (In reviewing these links, I am reminded of the incredible geekiness (and perhaps wonkiness) of Star Trek.)

Scientists Take Step Toward Invisibility

Lately, string theory has come in for considerable criticism. And so, this is an auspicious moment to reflect on the state of the art.

Brian Greene defends string theory against its detractors.

The Universe on a String

After having been neglected for most of the twentieth century, the subject of consciousness has become fashionable. Amazon lists 3,865 books under "consciousness," a number of them new releases of the last year or two. What exactly is the problem of consciousness, and why exactly is it so difficult, if not impossible, for us to agree on a solution to it?

...

There are lots of explanations in science and philosophy that are not in the form of equations. In fact, equations are rather rare in biology. Think of the germ theory of disease or the theory of evolution. What we are interested in, in these cases, are causal mechanisms, not equations. What causes disease symptoms? What is the causal account of the evolution of human and animal species from simpler forms of life? And now, what causes consciousness?

Minding the Brain, by John Searle

Starred Review, From Publishers Weekly:

With his usual eloquence, patience and humor, Wilson, our modern-day Thoreau, adds his thoughts to the ongoing conversation between science and religion. Couched in the form of letters to a Southern Baptist pastor, the Pulitzer Prize–winning entomologist pleads for the salvation of biodiversity, arguing that both secular humanists like himself and believers in God acknowledge the glory of nature and can work together to save it. The "depth and complexity of living Nature still exceeds human imagination," he asserts (somewhere between 1.5 million and 1.8 million species of plants, animals and microorganisms have been discovered to date), and most of the world around us remains unknowable, as does God. Each species functions as a self-contained universe with its own evolutionary history, its own genetic structure and its own ecological role. Human life is tangled inextricably in this intricate and fragile web. Understanding these small universes, Wilson says, can foster human life.

Wilson convincingly demonstrates that such rich diversity offers a compelling moral argument from biology for preserving the "Creation." Wilson passionately leads us by the hand into an amazing and abundantly diverse natural order, singing its wonders and its beauty and captivating our hearts and imaginations with nature's mysterious ways.

From Booklist:

Famed entomologist, humanist thinker, and cogent writer Wilson issues a forthright call for unity between religion and science in order to save the "creation," or living nature, which is in "deep trouble." Addressing his commonsensical yet ardent discourse to "Dear Pastor," he asks why religious leaders haven't made protecting the creation part of their mission.

Forget about life's origins, Wilson suggests, and focus on the fact that while nature achieves "sustainability through complexity," human activities are driving myriad species into extinction, thus depleting the biosphere and jeopardizing civilization. Wilson celebrates individual species, each a "masterpiece of biology," and acutely analyzes the nexus between nature and the human psyche.

In the book's frankest passages, he neatly refutes fantasies about humanity's ability to re-create nature's intricate web, and deplores the use of religious belief (God will take care of it) as an impediment to conservation. Wilson's eloquent defense of nature, insights into our resistance to environmental preservation, and praise of scientific inquiry coalesce in a blueprint for a renaissance in biology reminiscent of the technological advances engendered by the space race.

The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth, by Edward O. Wilson

If evolution involves a competition for survival, then how can we explain altruism?

Biologist Dugatkin splendidly narrates a fast-paced tale of scientific breakthrough, genius and intellectual history as he examines the lives of seven scientists -- from T.H. Huxley through Richard Dawkins and E.O. Wilson -- whose groundbreaking work attempts to answer this question.

Darwin's "bulldog," T.H. Huxley, believed altruism was rare, and that blood kinship provided the key to an evolutionary understanding of altruism. The Russian anarchist Prince Pyotr Kropotkin, on the other hand, believed altruism was widespread and unrelated to kinship. But the idea of the kinship link won out, and in the 1960s, William Hamilton developed a cost-benefit analysis to explain the genetic basis of altruism:

"If a gene for altruism is to evolve, then the cost of altruism must somehow be balanced by compensating benefits to the altruist."

This superb tale of scientific discovery is required reading for everyone interested in the nature of human morality.

The Altruism Equation: Seven Scientists Search for the Origins of Goodness

My interest in assisted reproduction is more than academic. In December 2005 I flew to Chicago, underwent general anesthesia, endured a minor medical procedure, and sold 12 ova to a pair of strangers for $10,000. Like thousands of other women that year, I joined in an assembly-line production of a human embryo.

The "breeders" envisioned 20 years ago are now college students selling their genetic material and low-income women renting out their wombs. There is considerable debate about whether they should be allowed to trade reproductive capacity for cash, how they should be compensated, and how far is too far. But the more interesting questions are not regulatory.

... the linguistic equivalent of a doily ...

Ova for Sale: The art of the deal in the gray market for human eggs

Travel during the Thanksgiving holiday may be the central event in determining the rapidity of transmission. This effect was particularly pronounced after the Sept. 11 attacks, when a temporary flight ban was instituted in the United States and airline travel volume was lower than in any other season from 1996 to 2005.

Who would have thought?

Thanks
Thanks a lot
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Speed of the Spread of Flu Is Linked to Airline Travel