Predicting the Future

Leon Howell

ISBN 10: 0521413230 / ISBN 13: 9780521413237

Published by Cambridge University Press, 1993

About this Item

Leichte Kratzer / Abnutzungen / Druckstellen; Abnutzung / Risse - leicht; Vergilbt / ausgeblichen. Auguries, oracles, omens.and software simulation. This exploration delves into humankind's enduring desire to foresee and influence future events. It opens with Stephen Hawking's predictions about the universe's billion-year future and concludes with Don Cupitt's reflections on the Last Judgement. The narrative traces the evolution of prediction, from ancient soothsayers and astrologers who relied on religious and traditional authority to today's experts who utilize empirical observation and scientific theory to forecast outcomes in various fields, including the economy and medicine. Despite advancements, contributors acknowledge that prediction remains fraught with uncertainty, navigating a delicate balance between alarmism and complacency, often disrupted by human unpredictability, unforeseen changes, or flawed data. Originating from the sixth annual series of Darwin College Lectures in Cambridge in 1991, the work features insights from various contributors, including Leo Howe, Ian Stewart, Simon Schaffer, Frank Hahn, Ian Kennedy, Averil Cameron, and Richard Gombrich, each offering unique perspectives on the complexities of predicting the future.

Seller Inventory # 8ddff538-29a3-475d-8cc0-332a294a044b

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Predicting the Future
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication Date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521413230
• ISBN 13: 9780521413237
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Fine

About this title

Synopsis

Whether there is a future to predict is not a question many people care to think about too deeply, though the process of predicting the future has itself a history. We did not always predict from the same assumptions as we do now, or for the same reasons. Today, on the basis of empirical observation and scientific theory, accredited experts and specialists forecast the economy, the social consequences of medical innovation and even what will happen to the universe in billions of years time. In the past soothsayers, priests, oracles and comets foretold the future on the basis of religious ideology and traditional authority. In a remarkable series of thought-provoking essays the authors examine both approaches and their consequences and chart our continuing attempts to see beyond the present.

Book Description

Auguries, oracles, omens ... and software simulation. From antiquity to the electronic age, Predicting the Future examines humankind's obsessive urge to look beyond the present in the hope of controlling events in the days to come with contributions from such well known authors as Stephen Hawking and Don Cupitt.