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The Tree of Knowledge

The Bright and the Dark Sides of Science

  • Book
  • © 2014

Overview

Authors:
  1. Claudio Ronchi

    1. Karlsdorf-Neuthard, Germany

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  • A fascinating long view of science by an author with extensive "insider" knowledge

  • Warns against the assumption that science equates with salvation

  • Paints plausible pictures of different futures, showing how they relate to our use and abuse of science

  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xx
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Time of Growth

    • Claudio Ronchi
    Pages 1-34

  3. Birth and Floruit of Science in the Occident

    • Claudio Ronchi
    Pages 35-105

  4. Scientific Research as a Global Enterprise

    • Claudio Ronchi
    Pages 107-123

  5. The Crisis of Growth

    • Claudio Ronchi
    Pages 125-177

  6. Orthodoxy Versus Heresy

    • Claudio Ronchi
    Pages 179-192

  7. The Dissemination of Knowledge

    • Claudio Ronchi
    Pages 193-209

  8. Beyond Mankind

    • Claudio Ronchi
    Pages 211-236

  9. Artificial Intelligence and Post-Humanity

    • Claudio Ronchi
    Pages 237-246

  10. The Beginning and the “End”

    • Claudio Ronchi
    Pages 247-264

  11. Back Matter

    Pages 265-286
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Keywords

About this book

Whether considered a divine gift or a Promethean conquest, science has indisputably and indelibly marked the course of human history. A product of the intellectual elite, but always nourished by the many fruits of its applications, science appears today to be a perfect system, whose laws and discoveries guide all human activities. Yet the foundations of its authority remain an open question, entailing disquieting aspects that are also to be identified in modern science. Furthermore it is seen to be exerting an increasing power over mankind. Readers are invited to follow an itinerary through the history of science, a voyage which, in the end, enables them to catch a glimpse of two divergent futures: One in which science accelerates the downfall of Homo sapiens, and another in which it helps our species to engage in a new and positive adventure, whose outcome nobody can know.

Reviews

From the reviews:

“This is a fascinating, extensive, and insightful journey through the history of science. … as a work of sound scholarship, it belongs in all college libraries. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through researchers/faculty.” (V. V. Raman, Choice, Vol. 51 (10), June, 2014)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Karlsdorf-Neuthard, Germany

    Claudio Ronchi

About the author

Claudio Ronchi Dr., Gartenstrasse 37, D 76689 Karlsdorf-Neuthard, claron@arcor.de

CLAUDIO RONCHI was born in Milan in 1940. He attended the Classic Grammar School and after graduating in mathematics and physics from the State University of Milan, he joined the European Fast Reactor Project. He worked in German, French, English and Americans laboratories. In the 1990s he was requisitioned by the European Commission to establish a collaborative effort with the countries of the former Soviet Union. To this end he coordinated the first joint nuclear research projects with important Russian and European laboratories. Until his retirement he was head of the Materials Research Division of the European Institute of Transuranium Elements to Karlsruhe, where he also supervised  PhD works of students from all over the world. He presently lives in Germany.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Tree of Knowledge

  • Book Subtitle: The Bright and the Dark Sides of Science

  • Authors: Claudio Ronchi

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01484-5

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-01483-8Published: 22 November 2013

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-34652-6Published: 23 August 2016

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-01484-5Published: 08 November 2013

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XX, 286

  • Number of Illustrations: 48 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics, Popular Science, general, History of Science

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