The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Change the World is a bold, all-encompassing intellectual adventure.
David Deutsch, the critically acclaimed author of The Context of the Real World, explores the big questions that shape our understanding of how the real world works.
"The Context of the Real World" describes four profound branches of our current knowledge - evolution, quantum physics, knowledge and computing, and the worldview they bring.
"The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Change the World" applies this worldview to many different topics and unanswered questions, including free will, creativity and the laws of nature, the future and origins of humanity, reality and appearance, explanation and infinity.
Fiercely rational and optimistic, Deutsch reaches startling new conclusions about the nature of human selection, scientific explanation, and cultural evolution.
His stance comes not from hopeful aphorisms but from facts about how the real world works. His core conclusion is that "explanation" has a fundamental place in the universe.
The scope for interpretation and the ability to effect change are endless. Their creators—thinking creatures such as humans—are important entities in the universe.
Everything is within the reach of reason, not just science and numbers, but also moral philosophy, political philosophy, and aesthetics.
There are no limits to progress as long as the universal laws of physics allow it.
This is a book that changes your mindset and will surely become a classic among similar books.
Reader comments
Underlying it all is an idea so simple, so beautiful that when we realize it in ten years, a century, or a thousand years, we will all say to each other, how could anything else be possible? ——John Archibald Wheeler: "Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences", 480 (1986) To the naked eye, the universe outside the solar system is just thousands of small points of light shining in the night sky, and the dim and ethereal streaks of the Milky Way. But if you ask astronomers what those are, they won't talk about dots and streaks. They'll talk about stars.
Life always contains some philosophical questions, such as how the world works, the origin of human beings, or the formation of various substances in the world. These are profound and worthy of exploration. After reading the world described by the author, I have a lot to think about. Scientists continue to explore matter and proton variables in nature, and humanities scholars study the development and progress of human society. These are all interpreted and analyzed in the book, which makes people think.
The Beginning of Infinity proposes a unique world view, the "Infinite Beginning" theory, which believes that the universe is an infinite, infinite space in which there are many different fields and levels, each with its own laws of nature and free will. Free will is a phenomenon, part of the natural laws of the universe, that allows humans to explore and discover new things. At the same time, this worldview also emphasizes the importance of creativity, believing that creativity is a special ability used by humans to explore and discover new things.
A fascinating book that touches on everything from physics to history to economics. I think all the advances in this book, both theoretical and practical, stem from a single human activity: the pursuit of what I call good explanations. Experience is indeed essential to science, but its role is different from that of empiricism. It is not a theoretical source. Its main use is to choose between already guessed theories. This is "learning from experience".
This book is like an intellectual adventure full of surprises! Author David Deutsch uses a rational and optimistic attitude to explore major issues in the operation of the real world. I especially liked his point about explanation, it made me realize that our thinking and creativity are endless. The content in the book covers many fields and made me think more deeply about free will, human origins and other issues. This is not only a book that changes your mind, but also a classic worth reading again and again!
So hard to read, but a good book
It's a good book, but my knowledge system can't support it.
Although some parts are incomprehensible, it is still interesting.
Underlying it all is an idea so simple, so beautiful that when we realize it in ten years, a century, or a thousand years, we will all say to each other, how could anything else be possible? ——John Archibald Wheeler: "Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences", 480 (1986) To the naked eye, the universe outside the solar system is just thousands of small points of light shining in the night sky, and the dim and ethereal streaks of the Milky Way. But if you ask astronomers what those are, they won't talk about dots and streaks. They'll talk about stars.
Life always contains some philosophical questions, such as how the world works, the origin of human beings, or the formation of various substances in the world. These are profound and worthy of exploration. After reading the world described by the author, I have a lot to think about. Scientists continue to explore matter and proton variables in nature, and humanities scholars study the development and progress of human society. These are all interpreted and analyzed in the book, which makes people think.
The Beginning of Infinity proposes a unique world view, the "Infinite Beginning" theory, which believes that the universe is an infinite, infinite space in which there are many different fields and levels, each with its own laws of nature and free will. Free will is a phenomenon, part of the natural laws of the universe, that allows humans to explore and discover new things. At the same time, this worldview also emphasizes the importance of creativity, believing that creativity is a special ability used by humans to explore and discover new things.
A fascinating book that touches on everything from physics to history to economics. I think all the advances in this book, both theoretical and practical, stem from a single human activity: the pursuit of what I call good explanations. Experience is indeed essential to science, but its role is different from that of empiricism. It is not a theoretical source. Its main use is to choose between already guessed theories. This is "learning from experience".
This book is like an intellectual adventure full of surprises! Author David Deutsch uses a rational and optimistic attitude to explore major issues in the operation of the real world. I especially liked his point about explanation, it made me realize that our thinking and creativity are endless. The content in the book covers many fields and made me think more deeply about free will, human origins and other issues. This is not only a book that changes your mind, but also a classic worth reading again and again!
So hard to read, but a good book
It's a good book, but my knowledge system can't support it.
Although some parts are incomprehensible, it is still interesting.