51, 95–6, 121, 292, 315–16
Free Democratic Party (FDP, Germany) 339–40
freedom 51, 217, 250, 343, 369, 392, 405, 457
French Revolution 66
Freyr myth 20, 21, 25
Friedman, David 444
fun 35, 36–7, 41, 115, 149
fundamental theory or phenomenon see significance
fungibility 265–9, 270, 272–305, 450
difficulty of imagining 269
diversity within 268, 278, 289
future
anthropic reasoning about the future 452–6
of creativity 358, 415–16
not yet imaginable 444
optimism and the desirable future 446–7
and the pessimistic view of bounded knowledge 198, 445–6, 447–9
and the shedding of parochialism 444–5
and the simulation argument 453–4
unpredictability of knowledge growth see under unpredictability
won’t resemble the past 5–7, 29, 31
see also prophecy
galaxies 2–3, 28, 34–40, 44–5, 58, 68, 101, 275, 281, 302
clusters of 34–6
effects of dark energy on 451
effects of dark matter on 46
Milky Way 1, 2, 47, 70–71, 101, 202–3
space between see space, intergalactic
Galileo Galilei 14, 219–20, 390
gambler’s prophecy see prophecy
game theory see social-choice theory
gamma rays 68
bursts of 2, 208
Gauss, Carl Friedrich 183
generation ship 44, 69
genes 29, 43, 56–7, 58, 59, 78, 80, 89–92, 105–6, 142, 158, 315, 316, 364, 371, 378, 399
and co-evolution 360–64, 414–15
of endangered species 95
genetic code and the jump to universality 142–6, 162–3, 458
genetic engineering see biotechnology
genetic evidence 49, 56, 206
genetic explanations of individual human attributes 317–19, 323, 356, 359, 401, 410, 429
knowledge implicit in 29, 50, 56–7, 59, 60, 72, 88, 111, 114, 366, 400
and memes 372–97, 404, 405, 407, 408, 413, 414
and neo-Darwinism 89–96
see also DNA; genomes; replicators
genomes 56–7, 144, 362, 364, 378, 379, 411
geocentric theory 8, 42
see also celestial sphere theory
geography
biogeography 425–31
of Mars 5
of the universe 443
geometry 7, 23, 24, 42, 113, 119, 161, 183–4, 188, 230, 233, 240, 252
see also space, Euclidean; space, curvature of spacetime
Gibson, William: The Difference Engine 137
giraffes, evolution of the neck 88, 362
global warming 437–41
God 52, 80–81, 87
argument from design for existence of 83–7
creationism and 81
and mathematical infinities 166
gods 21, 26, 42, 43, 60, 64, 79, 80, 81, 97, 104, 203, 217, 243
Gödel, Kurt 184–5
gold 1–2, 30
golden age
of Athens 216–17, 254, 386
of Florence 218, 386
Islamic 220
myths 52, 63
Grace, Fall from 52
grammatical rules 374–5
gravity 29, 107, 112–13
gravitational effects of dark matter 46
gravitational energy 3
quantum 178, 449–50
see also space, curvature of spacetime; relativity
Great Rift Valley 48, 50, 58, 69
guessing see conjecture
Gutenberg, Johannes 134
Hades 19
Haldane, John 53, 56, 59, 81, 95
hallucination 301
see also mirages
Hamilton, Alexander 330
Hamilton’s rule 330, 331, 332
Hanson, Norwood Russell 10n
Hanson, Robin 457
happiness 316–19
Harris, Robert: Fatherland 259
Harris, Roger 321
Hawking, Stephen 44, 45, 63, 175, 202, 203, 204, 208
Heisenberg, Werner 255, 289, 306–7, 309
Heisenberg uncertainty principle 289, 291, 303–4
heliocentric theory 8, 26–7
helium 1, 47, 96
helots 218, 247
Heraclitus 7
Hermes, and ‘a dream of Socrates’ 223–43
Herodotus 216
high-level phenomena 108–10, 114, 160, 300–301, 371
Hilbert, David 186, 189
Infinity Hotel thought experiment 167–77, 181, 185–6, 195
Hill, Joseph Adna 334
historians of science 256
histories (sequences of events in a multiverse)
coarse-grained 293, 298
definition 265
differentiation/splitting of 273–5, 276–9, 285–8, 293–4
distinguished from universes 265
and entanglement information 281, 289–90
and explicability 301
and fungibility see fungibility
and interference 283–8, 291, 293
measurement and 307
multiplicity of histories between observations 308
rate of growth of distinct histories 288
rejoining of split histories 282–5
and strata 293
history 265, 429
alternative-history fiction 259, 294
distinguished from ‘world’, ‘universe’ and ‘multiverse’ 265
of ideas 4, 5, 43, 216, 305–16, 428, 442 see also philosophy
of life 68, 92, 95, 379–80
of optimism 216
pessimism in 216
of philosophy 255
see also civilization; prehistory
Hofstadter, Douglas 115–18, 138, 149–50
holism 110, 123–4
Homo erectus 400
Horgan, John 447–9
House of Representatives, US 326, 330, 331, 349–50
humanism 219
humans
anthropocentrism see anthropocentrism
not supported by the biosphere 48–50
as channels of information flow 302
as chemical scum 44–8, 51, 72, 73
and the doomsday argument 455–6
escapes from extinction 49, 196–7, 204–5, 206–7
as glowing 46
human appearance 365
and matter 46
as problem-solvers 435; see also problem solving
the reach of human adaptations 56–65
significance of knowledge and 70–75, 76
as spark for knowledge creation 75
survival of civilization/species 49, 62–3, 196–7, 202, 204–5, 206–8
as universal constructors 58–60, 62, 429
see also people
Hume, David 118, 120
humour 150, 151, 156–7, 174, 310, 355, 372–3, 374
origin and evolution of jokes 93, 372–3, 374, 388
Hunt, Terry 418
Huxley, Thomas 355
hydrogen 47, 56, 66, 73, 75, 96, 145, 290–91
bombs 139, 196
transmutation of 1, 61, 67
ideas
conjectural see conjecture
replicating see memes
see also explanations
ignorance, infinite 447
imagination 26, 264–5
see also fiction; science fiction
imitation 402, 403–10, 417
aping 405
behaviour parsing 407–9
parroting 405, 406–7
immortality 63, 214, 455, 459
impartiality see fairness
incredulity, argument from personal 164
indiscernibles, Leibniz’s doctrine of 265–6
induction see inductivism
inductivism 5–7, 9, 27, 30, 210, 220, 318, 340, 403
and Lamarckism 89, 106, 210, 411–12
principle of induction 5, 7, 28, 31
inexplicability 53–4, 104, 103, 264–5, 281–2, 445–6
see also supernatural
inexplicit knowledge 365, 367, 369, 374, 375, 380, 403–5, 408, 412, 414
infinity 164–95
Cantor’s definition 167, 181
and confusions of abstract attributes with physical ones of the same name 182–6
of the continuum 164, 170, 195
countable 171,