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Paradoxical Life
Andreas Wagner
其他書名
Meaning, Matter, and the Power of Human Choice
出版
Yale University Press
, 2009-09-01
主題
Science / Life Sciences / Biology
Philosophy / General
Science / General
Social Science / General
ISBN
9780300156379
0300156375
URL
http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=jJr38pU9qz4C&hl=&source=gbs_api
EBook
SAMPLE
註釋
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.