Best Selling Books by Menas Kafatos

A discussion of the implications for philosophy of recent experimental results that confirm some counterintuitive aspects of the way matter behaves. The authors show that a generalised principle of complementarity is pervasive not only in physical theories such as cosmological models of the universe, but also in the construction of all human realities. They discuss in detail Bells inequalities for quantum mechanical measurements as well as recent experiments which imply that even remote parts of the universe are "entangled." They go on to suggest that consciousness can no longer be divorced from the way science operates, and conclude by claiming that this entails a new way of understanding the universe - one that could obviate much of the current conflict between science and religion while providing at the same time a basis for valuation that is better suited for co-ordinating all human experience. This second edition has been completely rewritten and brought up to date.

Classical physics states that physical reality is local--a point in space cannot influence another point beyond a relatively short distance. However, In 1997, experiments were conducted in which light particles (photons) originated under certain conditions and traveled in opposite directions to detectors located about seven miles apart. The amazing results indicated that the photons "interacted" or "communicated" with one another instantly or "in no time." Since a distance of seven miles is quite vast in quantum physics, this led physicists to an extraordinary conclusion--even if experiments could somehow be conducted in which the distance between the detectors was half-way across the known universe, the results would indicate that interaction or communication between the photons would be instantaneous. What was revealed in these little-known experiments in 1997 is that physical reality is non-local--a discovery that Robert Nadeau and Menas Kafatos view as "the most momentous in the history of science." In The Non-Local Universe, Nadeau and Kafatos offer a revolutionary look at the breathtaking implications of non-locality. They argue that since every particle in the universe has been "entangled" with other particles like the two photons in the 1997 experiments, physical reality on the most basic level is an undivided wholeness. In addition to demonstrating that physical processes are vastly interdependent and interactive, they also show that more complex systems in both physics and biology display emergent properties and/or behaviors that cannot be explained in the terms of the sum of parts. One of the most startling implications of non-locality in human terms, claim the authors, is that there is no longer any basis for believing in the stark division between mind and world that has preoccupied much of western thought since the seventeenth century. And they also make a convincing case that human consciousness can now be viewed as emergent from and seamlessly connected with the entire cosmos. In pursuing this groundbreaking argument, the authors not only provide a fascinating history of developments that led to the discovery of non-locality and the sometimes heated debate between the great scientists responsible for these discoveries. They also argue that advances in scientific knowledge have further eroded the boundaries between physics and biology, and that recent studies on the evolution of the human brain suggest that the logical foundations of mathematics and ordinary language are much more similar than we previously imagined. What this new knowledge reveals, the authors conclude, is that the connection between mind and nature is far more intimate than we previously dared to imagine. What they offer is a revolutionary look at the implications of non-locality, implications that reach deep into that most intimate aspect of humanity--consciousness.

The first GIS book on how to prototype and develop Network GIS, this book supplies readers with both the principles behind, and hands-on experiences with, how to design and implement Network GIS. To meet this goal, this book is organized in four parts: 1) Introduction gives an overview of Network GIS, 2) Fundamental Knowledge provides basic network developing knowledge, 3) Inside-Out deals with the details of how to build a Network GIS, and 4) Advanced Topics introduces advanced techniques as well as research frontiers. If you are a GISer, software developer, graduate/undergraduate in GIS/Information System, this book is for you.