Books in the Exploring Complexity series

The contents of this book continues the theme as in the previous volume on cultural patterns and cognitive patterns in the East and West, with special regard to those patterns which are determined by our natural-genetic endownments in contrast to those patterns which are influenced by our cultural ("East-West") influences, and within this context a unique flavour is given to the "good life" aspects of adapting to this global community.The chapters written by leading neuroscientists, give an overarching picture from the elementary organisational principles of the human brain through the basic perceptual and motor functions of the brain to the highest levels of cognition, including aesthetical or moral judgments, with an eye on what can be called "good life" in both Eastern and Western cultures. A unique compilation of state-of-the-art overviews of how the human brain is organised and functions in order to achieve high level of social, moral or aesthetic thoughts across cultures.

With his work on computer logic, John H Holland became one of the most important founders of modern computer science. People who knew John H Holland were all amazed and deeply influenced by his incredibly imaginative and creative mind. He produced many more ideas than he could follow up in his life time. This selection of his papers in the field of computer logic entails many of his explored and unexplored ideas. Revisiting the explored ideas and exploring the unexplored ones should be of great interest to scientists of all ages, and of great value to the current research not only in computer science but in many other fields as well.

This interesting book is a compilation of the lectures and discussions held during a four-day event — Grand Challenges for Science in the 21st Century — organized by Para Limes at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.The elite group of speakers included Nobel laureate Sydney Brenner who called on all scientists to adopt a truth-seeking approach and not be afraid of challenging assumptions. The other panellists were Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal and past President of the Royal Society, the much-cited Terrence Sejnowski from the renowned Salk Institute for Biological Studies, the well-known keynote speaker in economics and complexity sciences Brian Arthur, the former President of the European Research Council Helga Nowotny and the Director of the Parmenides Center for the Conceptual Foundations of Science Eors Szathmary.The lively sessions were moderated by the Danish writer Tor Norretranders. The panel tackled topics from evolution and the origin of the universe to modern technologies and artificial intelligence. The challenges presented during the event are bound to get the reader thinking about what may lie ahead in our future.

Human society is no stranger to catastrophe, but the challenges the world faces today - a ballooning population, intense global connectivity and the unquenchable thirst of human consumption - have synergised to make disruptions more frequent, intense and far reaching.Despite the complexity of these problems, the response should not be to give up and surrender to these forces, the crash can be avoided. Humanity does possess the scientific, technological and social knowledge to not just survive, but also to emerge from the tumult by being more resilient and sustainable societies. The most urgent question, therefore, is how can we act on this knowledge.This book brings together 12 esteemed authors from diverse fields ranging from geology to governance, who have come together to collectively issue a unifying clarion call to action.

Human society is no stranger to catastrophe, but the challenges the world faces today - a ballooning population, intense global connectivity and the unquenchable thirst of human consumption - have synergised to make disruptions more frequent, intense and far reaching.Despite the complexity of these problems, the response should not be to give up and surrender to these forces, the crash can be avoided. Humanity does possess the scientific, technological and social knowledge to not just survive, but also to emerge from the tumult by being more resilient and sustainable societies. The most urgent question, therefore, is how can we act on this knowledge.This book brings together 12 esteemed authors from diverse fields ranging from geology to governance, who have come together to collectively issue a unifying clarion call to action.