Paradoxical Life: Meaning, Matter, and the Power of Human Choice - Couverture souple

Wagner, Andreas

 
9780300171525: Paradoxical Life: Meaning, Matter, and the Power of Human Choice
Couverture souple
ISBN 10 : 0300171528 ISBN 13 : 9780300171525
Editeur : Yale University Press, 2011

Synopsis

For readers of Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach, a fascinating look at the hidden meaning in matter

What can a fingernail tell us about the mysteries of creation? In one sense, a nail is merely a hunk of mute matter, yet in another, it's an information superhighway quite literally at our fingertips. Every moment, streams of molecular signals direct our cells to move, flatten, swell, shrink, divide, or die. Andreas Wagner's ambitious new book explores this hidden web of unimaginably complex interactions in every living being. In the process, he unveils a host of paradoxes underpinning our understanding of modern biology, contradictions he considers gatekeepers at the frontiers of knowledge.

Though we tend to think of concepts in such mutually exclusive pairs as mind-matter, self-other, and nature-nurture, Wagner argues that these opposing ideas are not actually separate. Indeed, they are as inextricably connected as the two sides of a coin. Through a tour of modern biological marvels, Wagner illustrates how this paradoxical tension has a profound effect on the way we define the world around us. Paradoxical Life is thus not only a unique account of modern biology. It ultimately serves a radical--and optimistic--outlook for humans and the world we help create.

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À propos de l?auteur

Andreas Wagner is a professor in the department of biochemistry at the University of Zurich and an external faculty member at the Santa Fe Institute. Educated at Yale University and at the University of Vienna, Wagner focuses his research on the evolution and evolvability of biological systems. He lives in Zurich.

Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

Éditeur
Yale University Press
Date d'édition
2011
Langue
anglais
ISBN 10 
0300171528
ISBN 13 
9780300171525
Reliure
Broché
Nombre de pages
272
Coordonnées du fabricant
non disponible
Personne responsable
non disponible

Autres éditions populaires du même titre

9780300149234: Paradoxical Life: Meaning, Matter, and the Power of Human Choice

Edition présentée

ISBN 10 :  0300149239 ISBN 13 :  9780300149234
Editeur : Yale University Press, 2009
Couverture rigide