"Brilliant important strongly recommended reads at times like a 'Tom Robbins of physics'." - Jacquelyn Small, author of Awakening in Time, and Becoming a Practical Mystic "With this book, Thomas Brophy establishes his credentials as a paradigmatist, that rarest of thinkers, whose models of reality not only enhance human understanding of their world, but give form to new historical movements. By integrating several cutting edge paradigms, and by highlighting the role of spirit in the universe, The Mechanism Demands a Mysticism is sure to inform, instruct, entertain, and even inspire its readers." -Stanley Krippner, Ph.D., former president of the American Psychological Association's Division of Humanistic Psychology; author of Dream Telepathy. "Integrating the words of many holy people with scientific theories and a study of phenomena, Brophy indicates the limitations of scientific and religious dogmas this kind of integration will become more and more necessary in the next century." -Hiroshi Motoyama, Ph.D., Litt. D., author of Karma and Reincarnation; Head Priest of Tamamitsu Shinto Shrine, Tokyo. "Well, 'just a few pages' has turned into reading the whole thing. Eminently readable and highly entertaining or infotaining. A good book! Never thought of juxtaposing Newton and Basho myself." -Yasuhiko Kimura, CEO of the University of Science & Philosophy and Director of the Twilight Club/Center for Evolutionary Ethics, former Zen priest. "Your ideas are profound. The Mechanism Demands a Mysticism deserves a broader exposure." - Jeffrey Mishlove, Ph.D., host of Thinking Allowed, and "Virtual U" Wisdom Radio. "You are opening the eyes of scientists all over. Bravo!" -Judith Orloff, M.D. Board Certified Psychiatrist, author of Second Sight.

Offers a new paradigm of reality, based on the interaction between science, culture, spirituality, religion, and society. The quantum, biological, and information revolutions of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries should have thoroughly changed our view of reality, yet the old viewpoint based on classical science remains dominant, reinforcing a notion of a rational, mechanistic world that allows for endless progress. In practice, this view has promoted much violence among humans. Basarab Nicolescu heralds a new era, cosmodernity, founded on a contemporary vision of the interaction between science, culture, spirituality, religion, and society. Here, reality is plastic and its people are active participants in the cosmos, and the world is simultaneously knowable and unknowable. Ultimately, every human recognizes his or her face in the face of every other human being, independent of his or her particular religious or philosophical beliefs. Nicolescu notes a new spirituality free of dogmas and looks at quantum physics, literature, theater, and art to reveal the emergence of a newer, cosmodern consciousness.

What is conceptual art? Is it really a kind of art in its own right? Is it clever – or too clever? Of all the different art forms it is perhaps conceptual art which at once fascinates and infuriates the most. In this much-needed book Peter Goldie and Elisabeth Schellekens demystify conceptual art using the sharp tools of philosophy. They explain how conceptual art is driven by ideas rather than the manipulation of paint and physical materials; how it challenges the very basis of what we can know about art, as well as our received ideas of beauty; and why conceptual art requires us to rethink concepts fundamental to art and aesthetics, such as artistic interpretation and appreciation. Including helpful illustrations of the work of celebrated conceptual artists from Marcel Duchamp, Joseph Kosuth and Piero Manzoni to Dan Perjovschi and Martin Creed, Who’s Afraid of Conceptual Art? is a superb starting point for anyone intrigued but perplexed by conceptual art - and by art in general. It will be particularly helpful to students of philosophy, art and visual studies seeking an introduction not only to conceptual art but fundamental topics in art and aesthetics.

This book traces the origins and evolution of cybersemiotics, beginning with the integration of semiotics into the theoretical framework of cybernetics and information theory. The book opens with chapters that situate the roots of cybersemiotics in Peircean semiotics, describe the advent of the Information Age and cybernetics, and lay out the proposition that notions of system, communication, self-reference, information, meaning, form, autopoiesis, and self-control are of equal topical interest to semiotics and systems theory. Subsequent chapters introduce a cybersemiotic viewpoint on the capacity of arts and other practices for knowing. This suggests pathways for developing Practice as Research and practice-led research, and prompts the reader to view this new configuration in cybersemiotic terms. Other contributors discuss cultural and perceptual shifts that lead to interaction with hybrid environments such as Alexa. The relationship of storytelling and cybersemiotics is covered at chapter length, and another chapter describes an individual-collectivity dialectics, in which the latter (Commind) constrains the former (interactants), but the former fuels the latter. The concluding chapter begins with the observation that digital technologies have infiltrated every corner of the metropolis - homes, workplaces, and places of leisure - to the extent that cities and bodies have transformed into interconnected interfaces. The book challenges the reader to participate in a broader discussion of the potential, limitations, alternatives, and criticisms of cybersemiotics.

An intertextual examination of popular films and scripture.

Southern Africa is well-blessed with a diverse and vibrant human population and a wealth of natural capital. The key challenge for sustainable development is to grow society?s capacity to use this natural capital to meet the needs of the region?s human population, especially the poor, in ways that sustain environmental life-support systems. Collaborating across disciplines, the authors explore the underpinning principles and the potential of sustainability science in a number of case studies.

Scientists have always attempted to explain the world in terms of a few unifying principles. In the fifth century B.C. Democritus boldly claimed that reality is simply a collection of indivisible and eternal parts or atoms. Over the centuries his doctrine has remained a landmark, and much progress in physics is due to its distinction between subjective perception and objective reality. This book discusses theory reduction in physics, which states that the whole is nothing more than the sum of its parts: the properties of things are directly determined by their constituent parts. Reductionism deals with the relation between different theories that address different levels of reality, and uses extrapolations to apply that relation in different sciences. Reality shows a complex structure of connections, and the dream of a unified interpretation of all phenomena in several simple laws continues to attract anyone with genuine philosophical and scientific interests. If the most radical reductionist point of view is correct, the relationship between disciplines is strictly inclusive: chemistry becomes physics, biology becomes chemistry, and so on. Eventually, only one science, indeed just a single theory, would survive, with all others merging in the Theory of Everything. Is the current coexistence of different sciences a mere historical venture which will end when the Theory of Everything has been established? Can there be a unified description of nature? Rather than an analysis of full reductionism, this book focuses on aspects of theory reduction in physics and stimulates reflection on related questions: is there any evidence of actual reduction? Are the examples used in the philosophy of science too simplistic? What has been endangered by the search for (the) ultimate truth? Has the dream of reductionist reason created any monsters? Is big science one such monster? What is the point of embedding science Y within science X, if predictions cannot be made on that basis?

The amazing account of the mystical experiences of Steve made possible by his teacher Tor. They would change his life forever. What happens next is as shocking as it is beautiful.

This collection of essays, the result of a 2006 conference at the University of Wales in Lampeter, look at the influence of philosophical texts on the ancient novel. In both Greek and Latin novels substantial traces of philosophical ideas can be found; these essays discuss the levels on which they were intended to operate, and how they were meant to resonate with their audiences. Specific authors discussed include Xenophon of Ephesus, Achilles Tatius, Longus, Apuleius and Lucian, while the philosophical influences include Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics.

Have you ever wondered what is behind the UFO/alien phenomenon? Where did they come from? Are these beings from some distant galaxy or somewhere closer? How did they get here? Have they taken up residence on Planet Earth? What if you could travel in a space between dimensions and be present to both the seen and the unseen? What would you learn? These are questions Art, author Donielle Ingersolls, main character in the book, Absolute Choice: The Infinity Trilogy Book One faces. Art accidentally discovers how to travel between the seen and unseen worlds. With the power of absolute choice, he can travel backward and forward in time, visit parallel universes, and witness the others that are among us without being observed. He can create things out of his thoughts, making millions of dollars with new technology. He could control the world if he only realized it. The Infinity Project is only on loan to him, and he better make the best use of the clock as it is winding down. When it stops, so does absolute choice. Or does it? Absolute Choice: The Infinity Trilogy Book One merges reality and imagination into a world many would find appealing. But would you make the right decisions and in time?