With The Ascent of Babel , psycholinguist Gerry Altmann takes us on a journey of discovery, illuminating how, through the workings of the brain, we use language to reach out and touch each other's minds.
With The Ascent of Babel , psycholinguist Gerry Altmann takes us on a journey of discovery, illuminating how, through the workings of the brain, we use language to reach out and touch each other's minds.
Niall Ferguson follows the money to tell the human story behind the evolution of finance, from its origins to the latest upheavals on what he calls Planet Finance. Bread, cash, dosh, dough, loot, lucre, moolah, readies, the wherewithal: Call it what you like, it matters. To Christians, love of it is the root of all evil. To generals, it’s the sinews of war. To revolutionaries, it’s the chains of labor. But Niall Ferguson shows that finance is in fact the foundation of human progress. What’s more, he reveals financial history as the essential backstory behind all history.
What is the significance of mankind in the Universe? Ever since Copernicus, scientists have been moving man further and further from his lofty position at the center of Creation. But in recent years a startling new concept has evolved that puts humans more firmly than ever in a special position. Known as the Anthropic Cosmological Principle, it holds that the fundamental structure of the Universe is determined by the existence of intelligent observers: the universe is as it is because if it were otherwise, observers could not exist. In its most radical version, the Anthropic Principle asserts: "Intelligent information-processing must come into existence in the Universe, and once it comes into existence, it will never die out."