PARADIGMS LOST: Images of Man in the Mirror of Science

by John L. Casti ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 1989

Were a latter-day Rip van Winkle to waken from a sleep of 40 years, he could do worse than read Casti's tome to become au courant concerning the major scientific controversies of our time. This extraordinary mathematician, now living in Vienna (teaching at the Technical Univ.), has assumed the daunting task of reporting the reasoning of rival schools of thought concerning: the origin of life on Earth; sociobiology; the origin of language; artificial intelligence; the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence, and the nature of quantum reality. Moreover, Casti chooses to be judge and jury, presenting the pros and cons in the form of prosecution and defense statements, concluding with his own considered opinion. Hubris, clearly, but brought off with considerable erudition and wit, and with enough salty asides and sketches of the personalities involved to make for absorbing reading. Linking the controversies is the fundamental issue of whether Homo sapiens is unique--in the galaxy, in language, in relation to computers, in the role of scientist as observer--and Casti returns to this theme in a concluding summary. To his credit, it is not always easy to predict his judgments, so fair are his expositions of the theorists. There are exceptions--in the great Skinner Chomsky debate there is no doubt that Skinner loses and earns Casti's contempt. So do the ""off-earthers"" in the question of the origin of life, although Casti has much to criticize in the warm-little-pond school. And it is interesting how applicable are mathematical arguments in most of the issues under contention. (Mathematicians like Casti of course argue that it is just their ability to reason in an abstract universe that permits an analysis of rival paradigms.) However, don't expect reason alone to prevail. In the final analysis, Casti admits to judgments that are based on feelings and esthetics. Thus the reader, too, is free to evaluate the arguments and come up with independent judgments, as well as predicting Casti's position. This audience participation, game-playing aspect adds a fillip to what is already a heady intellectual trip.

Pub Date: June 21, 1989

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1989

Categories: NONFICTION