Immense Journey, The: From The Birth Of The Universe To The Rise Of Intelligence

by Gerald E Marsh

Overview

This book is an attempt to trace the majestic immense journey from the coming into being of the universe to the emergence and evolution of life. It is intended to complement the many excellent books that cover different aspects of this journey.The contents have been classified into five parts. Part I covers the coming into existence of the universe while Part II presents the beginning of life on the early Earth, following which Part III discusses the emergence of consciousness and intelligence, and Part IV, the immense journey of the universe beyond Earth. Finally, Part V addresses the problems raised by the rise of higher-order consciousness in human beings as captured by the phrase 'the human condition'.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789811208317
Publisher:	World Scientific Publishing Company, Incorporated
Publication date:	04/24/2018
Pages:	340
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.71(d)

About the Author

Gerald E. Marsh is a physicist, retired from Argonne National Laboratory, who has worked and published widely in the areas of science, nuclear power, and foreign affairs. He was a consultant to the Department of Defense on strategic nuclear technology and policy in the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations, and served with the U.S. START delegation in Geneva. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Part I The Coming into Existence of the Universe 1

I In the Beginning 3

II Quantum Foundations and the Building Blocks of Matter 7

Does God Play Dice? Conceptual Quantum Physics for the Perplexed 8

The Feynman Path Integral 22

Entanglement 25

The Basic Building Blocks of Matter 28

III Let there be Light 33

Part II The Beginning of Life on the Early Earth 39

IV Prebiotic Molecules and Protocells 41

Prebiotic Molecules 44

Protocells 51

V The First Cells 63

Metabolism 66

The Beginning of Life 75

The Early Earth: Plate Tectonics and Serpentinization 75

Proteins and the Genetic Code of Early Life 85

The Tree of Life from Darwin to Woese 89

An Endosymbiotic Interlude 92

The Tree of Life Revisited 95

Photosynthesis and the Oxygenation of the Atmosphere 102

The Evolution of Multicellularity 105

VI Darwinian Evolution and Beyond 107

Horizontal or Lateral Gene Transfer 109

Tempo and Mode 114

Epigenetics 116

Epigenetics and Phenotypic Plasticity 120

Part III The Emergence of Consciousness 129

VII Sense, Thought and Consciousness 131

Modes of Thought 134

Vision 140

Primary Consciousness 145

The Special Case of Dolphins 151

Higher-Order Consciousness 153

The Human Advantage 158

Cultural Evolution and Social Darwinism 164

The Neural Basis of Human Language 168

Homunculus: The "I" or Inner Self 170

The Ultimate Source of Consciousness 180

Emergence in Biological Neural Networks 187

The Neural Basis of Memory 192

Part IV The Immense Journey of the Universe 197

VIII Beyond our Earth 199

Thermal History of the Earth 201

Venus and the Runaway Greenhouse Effect 210

Life on other Planets in the Solar System 212

Part V The Human Condition 225

IX Civilization and its Discontents 227

The Evolution of Humans, Race, and Culture 227

Race 228

Human Capabilities and Culture 230

The Human Condition: Past and Present 237

The Human Condition and the 21^st Century 240

The Tragedy of the Commons 242

Sources of Energy 248

What is Wrong with the Climate Models? 251

Automation and Education 254

Preconditions for Reversing Current Trends 260

A Gloomy Prediction 264

Coda and Implications 265

Appendix A Space-Time-Matter 269

Introduction 269

Spacetime 269

Time and the Expansion of the Universe 277

The Asymmetry of Time 280

Thermodynamic Time 284

Time Asymmetry in Quantum Mechanics 287

Particles and their Motion 289

Quantum Mechanical Motion 300

Space, Time, and Matter 305

Appendix B Group Theory and Quantum Mechanics 313

Index 325