This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Quantum Interaction, QI 2015, held in Filzbach, Switzerland, in July 2015.The 20 papers together with 2 invited keynotes presented in this book were carefully selected from 27 submissions. Quantum Interaction has developed into an emerging interdisciplinary area of science combining research topics in mathematics, physics, psychology, economics, cognitive science, and co...

The current volume of the Parmenides Series “On Thinking” addresses our deepest and most personal experience of the world, the experience of “the present,” from a modern perspective combining physics and philosophy. Many prominent researchers have contributed articles to the volume, in which they present models and express their opinions on and, in some cases, also their skepticism about the subject and how it may be (or may not be) addressed, as well as which aspects they consider most re...

A radical new explanation of how life and consciousness emerge from physics and chemistry.As physicists work toward completing a theory of the universe and biologists unravel the molecular complexity of life, a glaring incompleteness in this scientific vision becomes apparent. The "Theory of Everything" that appears to be emerging includes everything but us: the feelings, meanings, consciousness, and purposes that make us (and many of our animal cousins) what we are. These most imm...

From a leading computer scientist, a unifying theory that will revolutionize our understanding of how life evolves and learns.How does life prosper in a complex and erratic world? While we know that nature follows patterns -- such as the law of gravity -- our everyday lives are beyond what known science can predict. We nevertheless muddle through even in the absence of theories of how to act. But how do we do it?In Probably Approximately Correct, c...

Many scientists regard mass and energy as the primary currency of nature. In recent years, however, the concept of information has gained importance. Why? In this book, eminent scientists, philosophers and theologians chart various aspects of information, from quantum information to biological and digital information, in order to understand how nature works. Beginning with a historical treatment of the topic, the book also examines physical and biological approaches to information, and its...

The intellectual and cultural battles now raging over theism and atheism, conservatism and secular progressivism, dualism and monism, realism and antirealism, and transcendent reality versus material reality extend even into the scientific disciplines. This stunning new volume captures this titanic clash of worldviews among those who have thought most deeply about the nature of science and of the universe itself.Unmatched in its breadth and scope, The Nature of Nature bring...

What is the origin of our universe? What are dark matter and dark energy? What is our role in the universe as human beings capable of knowledge? What makes us intelligent cognitive agents seemingly endowed with consciousness? Scientific research across both the physical and cognitive sciences raises fascinating philosophical questions. Philosophy and the Sciences For Everyone introduces these questions and more. It begins by asking what good is philosophy for the sciences before e...

This book represents the first synthesis of the considerable body of new research into positive definite matrices. These matrices play the same role in noncommutative analysis as positive real numbers do in classical analysis. They have theoretical and computational uses across a broad spectrum of disciplines, including calculus, electrical engineering, statistics, physics, numerical analysis, quantum information theory, and geometry. Through detailed explanations and an authoritative and ...

The classic book on a major modern theoryBertalanffy’s selected writings on his theory of laws applicable to virtually every scientific field. This conceptual approach has had a profound impact on biology, economics, psychology, and demography, with new relevancies today. The new foreword by University of Vienna system theory professor, Wolfgang Hofkirchner, and Centre for Systems Philosophy director, David Rousseau, discusses the theory’s contemporary applications...

This book provides clear presentations of more than sixty important unsolved problems in mathematical systems and control theory. Each of the problems included here is proposed by a leading expert and set forth in an accessible manner. Covering a wide range of areas, the book will be an ideal reference for anyone interested in the latest developments in the field, including specialists in applied mathematics, engineering, and computer science.The book consists of ten parts represen...

This book represents the best of the first three years of the Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology conferences. While chaos theory has been a topic of considerable interest in the physical and biological sciences, its applications in psychology and related fields have been obscured until recently by its complexity. Nevertheless, a small but rapidly growing community of psychologists, neurobiologists, sociologists, mathematicians, and philosophers have been coming together to discuss its ...

This book provides a historic overview of what is defined as "soft computing" with its techniques: neural networks, fuzzy logic, genetic algorithms and cellular automata.