Renowned scholars in history, sociology, philosophy and anthropology consider seventeenth and twentieth century weapon testing, particle physics, biology and other topics in an account of important and often famous experiments.
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.
The Reader focuses on the practices of modern and contemporary science and technology located in different national and institutional settings, with some attention to non- Western contexts. By mapping some of the open questions and points of tension likely to occupy the field for years to come, the essays in the Reader cast fresh light on what "science" means at the end of the twentieth century.
Shapin and Schaffer work out the implications of these debates [between Hobbes and Boyle] for the history of science with great skill of interpretation and exposition. They use their findings and their analysis to give an explanation of the experimental enterprise in general, which, although it is not philosophical in nature, always takes philosophy most seriously. This is simply one of the most original, enjoyable and important books published in the history of science in recent years.--Owen Hannaway, Technology and Culture