Biocosm The New Scientific Theory of Evolution: Intelligent Life Is the Architect of the Universe

by Gardner, James N.; Shostak, Seth

• ISBN13: 9781930722224
• ISBN10: 1930722222
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-07-17
• Publisher: Inner Ocean Publishing

Summary

Publisher's description: Biocosm challenges both sides of the controversy over evolution and creationism. This carefully reasoned book proposes that life and intelligence have not emerged as a series of random accidents, as Darwinists like Stephen Jay Gould have maintained, but are hardwired into the cycle of cosmic creation, evolution, death, and rebirth. Gardner's theory of an exponential coevolution of biological and electronic intelligence, designed and directed, offers an extraordinary vision of a universe of point and purpose.

Table of Contents

Sidebars
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Introduction
The Profound Mystery of an Anthropic Universe	p. 1
Searching for ET in All the Wrong Places	p. 3
A Life-Friendly Cosmos	p. 13
Hints of a Fourth Law	p. 49
The Coming Fusion of Biology and Cosmology	p. 61
The Dreams of Christian de Duve	p. 63
Biology and Teleology: Deciphering the Utility Function of the Cosmos	p. 75
Professor Smolin's Incredible Reproducing Universe	p. 81
Design, Complexity, and Evolution: An Eternal Cosmic Waltz	p. 87
Creationists vs. Evolutionists: Dispatches from a Hot Cultural War	p. 89
Cosmic Ontogeny and Earthly Phylogeny	p. 97
To the Ends of the Universe	p. 103
Point Omega: Dreams of a Transhuman Rapture	p. 119
The Selfish Biocosm: An Emergent Replicator Class	p. 121
Testing the Selfish Biocosm Hypothesis: Rendezvous in Rio	p. 133
A Second Test: Probing the Eschaton at the End of Time	p. 139
Intimations of Cosmic Grandeur	p. 153
A Cosmological Origin of Biological Information	p. 155
The Tool Kit of Cosmic Ontogeny and Reproduction	p. 167
A Scientifically Credible Strong Anthropic Principle	p. 175
The Biocosm and Humanity	p. 181
Climbing Darwin's Ladder	p. 183
Mind and Supermind	p. 207
A New Measure of Humankind	p. 215
Afterword: The Biocosm Beckons	p. 231
App. 1	p. 235
App. 2	p. 251
Notes	p. 259
Glossary	p. 277
Bibliography	p. 289
Photo Credits	p. 295
Index	p. 297
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.