Wandering Towards a Goal - How Can Mindless Mathematical Laws Give Rise to Aims and Intention? (Hardcover, 1st ed. 2018)

This collection of prize-winning essays addresses the controversial question of how meaning and goals can emerge in a physical world governed by mathematical laws. What are the prerequisites for a system to have goals? What makes a physical process into a signal? Does eliminating the homunculus solve the problem? The three first-prize winners, Larissa Albantakis, Carlo Rovelli and Jochen Szangolies tackle exactly these challenges, while many other aspects (agency, the role of the observer, causality versus teleology, ghosts in the machine etc.) feature in the other award winning contributions. All contributions are accessible to non-specialists. These seventeen stimulating and often entertaining essays are enhanced versions of the prize-winning entries to the FQXi essay competition in 2017.The Foundational Questions Institute, FQXi, catalyzes, supports, and disseminates research on questions at the foundations of physics and cosmology, particularly new frontiers and innovative ideas integral to a deep understanding of reality, but unlikely to be supported by conventional funding sources.

General

Imprint:	Springer International Publishing AG
Country of origin:	Switzerland
Series:	The Frontiers Collection
Release date:	June 2018
First published:	2018
Editors:	Anthony Aguirre • Brendan Foster • Zeeya Merali
Dimensions:	235 x 155mm (L x W)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	254
Edition:	1st ed. 2018
ISBN-13:	978-3-319-75725-4
Categories:	Books > Science & Mathematics > Science: general issues > Philosophy of science
LSN:	3-319-75725-3
Barcode:	9783319757254

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