of technology
Muller, Richard 156–7
Nabopolassar 98
naga 58–9
Nansen, Fridtjof 111
Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (Poe) 113
NASA 32, 95
RHESSI launched by 127
WMAP of 221
natural selection 106, 140, 170, 181
among religions 309–10
and technology 181
Natural Theology (Paley) 179n
Nature 221, 239
nature, laws of 154–8, 164, 167–72
and climate change 156–7
and fine-tuning 282–95, 299–301
Hobbes on 157
and slavery 157
Nature of Physical Law, The (Feynman) 158
New England Complex Systems Institute 262
New Scientist 319
Newton, Isaac 5–6
and the apple 158
and the cat flap 50
laws of motion of 63, 201, 245–6
Modified Dynamics (MOND) of 245–6
and NASA 32
Niels Klim’s Underground Travels (Holberg) 112
Norenzayan, Ara 263
Novum Organon (Bacon) 80
Nut 97
see also gods/goddesses
Occam’s razor 280
Ocean of Milk 57
Ogdoad 100
Ohm’s law 157, 167–8
Old Illinois Drainage Canal 109
Oldham, Henry Yule 107
Olmecs 52
Omphalos (Gosse) 62n
On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres (Copernicus) 278
One Death 54
see also gods/goddesses
Origin of Species (Darwin) 6, 7, 141
origins:
Earth and Moon 129–33
life on Earth 133–47
thunderstorms 126–9
see also causality
Osiris 52
see also gods/goddesses
Owen, Richard 179n
Owen, Robert 105
Paley, William 180, 181, 189
Pangu 101
see also gods/goddesses
parallelogram 225
particle physics, beginnings of 16
particles 15–22, 23
fundamental 19
Higgs boson 19–22, 23, 28, 37
and waves 28
see also quantum physics
Pauling, Linus 62n
Peary, Robert 111
Pellucidar (Burrows) 113
Penrose, Roger 245
Perelman, Grigori 219
Perry, John 35
petals 85–6
Phantom of the Poles (Reed) 111
Philolaus 99
phlogiston 34–5
photons, behaviour of 73–4
‘pianologists’ 160
Piazzi, Giuseppe 236
Pinker, Steven 81, 253, 310
Pioneer spacecraft 162n
Platinga, Alvin 317
plecostomid catfish 196–7
Poe, Edgar Allen 113
Poincaré, Henri 218–19, 221, 241
Popol Vuh 53–4
primal mound 52, 97–8
cosmic egg replaces 100
Principia Mathematica (Newton) 6
probability 266–8
Ptolemy 279
Punch, John 280n
Puranas 56, 57, 58, 101, 111
pyramids 47, 97
Pythagoras 99
QED (Feynman) 73
quantum physics 18, 23, 28, 164–7, 224–6
and light 73–4
and origin of particles 241
relativity linked to 224
and unified field theory 222–3
see also particles
Ra 97, 100
see also gods/goddesses
radioactivity, discovery of 35–6
rain, ‘purpose’ of 27
rainbows 50, 82–3
Rámáyan of Válmíki 57
Ramayana 56, 59
Rationalist International 319
redshift 237, 243, 245
Reed, William 111
Reimann, Bernhard 214, 215
relativity:
general 215, 217–18, 238
and gravity 224
and unified field theory 222–3
religion:
animism 311, 313
belief/disbelief in 251–71; see also belief
belief ‘that’, ‘in’, ‘about’, confusion among 252
Cathars 259–60
and certainty 308
declining belief in 256
doubt as anathema to 36
human-centred explanations from 38; see also Anthropic Principle; universe: humanity placed at centre of
as means or organisation 309–10
and memes 258–9
monotheism 311–13
Polish Jews 260
science’s uneasy relationship with 38–40, 316–17
scientific studies of 318
Scientology 261
sexism in 23–4
see also belief; God; gods/goddesses
Reufer, Andreas 132
Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI ) 127
ribosomes 142–7 passim
Rig Veda 101
Ring Nebula 112
RNA 135–6, 137–44, 145–6
and viruses 140–2
see also origins: life on Earth
Robertson, Howard 239–40
Rosicrucians 261
see also belief; religion
Ross, John R. 62n
Rowbotham, Samuel Birley 105–6
Russell, Bertrand 55–6, 62
Saccimi 53
see also gods/goddesses
Sagan, Carl 62n
St Athanasius 102
St Augustine 103–4
St Francis Xavier 256
St John Chrysostom 102
Santa Fe Institute for Complex Systems 262
Schrödinger equation 92n, 164, 167
Schrödinger, Irwin 73, 92n
Schrödinger’s cat 73, 75, 92n
science:
conceptual errors in 34–5
funding of 14
logical inference as tool of 32
and phlogiston 34–5
as provisional knowledge 22, 31, 32
religion’s uneasy relationship with 38–40, 316
revisionism encouraged by 33
and theories 32
Science of Discworld, The (Pratchett, Stewart, Cohen) 4, 70, 131, 137, 311
Science of Discworld II, The (Pratchett, Stewart, Cohen) 5, 62n, 131, 132, 235, 286
Science of Discworld III, The (Pratchett, Stewart, Cohen) 6, 77, 106, 200, 223, 225, 235
Science and Religion (Dennett, Platinga) 317
Scientific American 240, 263
scientific method 29, 33
Scientology 261
see also belief; religion
Seaborn, Capt. Adam 113
Selene 130
see also gods/goddesses
Seleucus 100
Seth 52
see also gods/goddesses
Seven Death 54
see also gods/goddesses
Severian of Gabala, Bishop 102
sexism 23–4
Shakespeare, William 5, 6
Shamballa 111
Shannon, Claude 80
Shatpatha Brahmana 56
Shesha 58
Shu 97
see also gods/goddesses
silentio dei 320–2
see also God
Sir Isaac Newton (Brodetsky) 50n
Slipher, Vesto 237
Smith, David 127
snake, in mythology 58
soul 39
space bolas 201
space elevator 201
special relativity 219
Spinoza, Baruch 64
Star Trek 128
Starkman, Gleen 240
stars:
Earth’s distance from 30
as gods 25
Staruszkiewicz, Andrzej 224
steady-state theory 62, 239
final nail in coffin of 239
revival of 245
see also universe, origin of
Stenger, Victor 288, 292, 294
string theory 223, 226–7
Stukeley, William 158n
Sumer 98, 99
Sun:
and Copernican cosmology, see under cosmology
Earth’s distance from 30, 315
as god 25, 97
and Ptolemaic cosmology, see under cosmology
‘purpose’ of 24, 27
temperature of 31
see also cosmology
superconductors 167–8
Symmes, John 111, 112–13
Symmes’ Theory of Concentric Spheres (McBride) 111
Symzonia: a Voyage of Discovery (Seaborn) 113
Synodontis nigriventris 197
Teed, Cyrus 109–10
Temple of Karnak 97–8
Theia 130–2
Theoretical Astronomy Examined and Exposed (Carpenter) 106
theories, meanings of 32
Theory of Everything, see unified field theory
Thompson, William, see Kelvin, Lord
Thomson, J. Anderson 258, 317
Thomson, Joseph John 16, 164
Thor 124, 129
see also gods/goddesses
Thoth 100
see also gods/goddesses
thunderstorms 126–9
time, existence of 225–6
Tippler, Frank 282
Toffler, Alvin 184
topology 215–19
tortoise:
in mythology 55–6, 57, 62
see also turtle
Trousers of Time 5, 72, 78
turtle:
in mythology 51–3, 55–7, 62, 63, 121
see also tortoise
2001: A Space Odyssey 170–1
UFOs 112, 268, 270, 312–13
unified field theory 222–3
see also string theory
universe:
accelerating expansion of 243, 244, 245–6
age of 242
alternative 72–5
finiteness of 221–2
formula for changing shape and size of 241
great scale of 29, 30, 236
humanity placed at centre of 278; see also Anthropic Principle; astrobiology; xenoscience
humanity’s contextual relationship with 26–9, 37, 38–40
increasing complexity of 129
origin of 234–40; see also Big Bang
and standard model of cosmology 240
steady-state theory of 62, 239, 245
see also universe, origin of; universe, shape of
universe, origin of:
and cosmological constant 241, 244
and dark energy 244
and dark matter 243–4
and eternal inflation 244–5
and inflation fields 243
from nothing 241
see also universe; universe, shape of
universe, shape of 211–28
and dodecahedral space 219, 220–1
and doughnuts 215–16
and Escher 227–8, 238
and finiteness 221–2
as football (soccer ball) 220
and general relativity 217–18
hypersphere theory of 217–19, 238
and string theory 223, 226–7
and topology 215–19
as torus 215, 224–7
and unified field theory 222–3; see also string theory
see also Earth: shape of; universe; universe: origin of
Unseen University, thaumaturgy experiment at 2
Unweaving the Rainbow (Dawkins) 71, 254
uranium, for dating 35–6
Urey, Harold 135
US election, 2012 125
Ussher, Archbishop James 108n
Uxmal 53
Van Vogt, A.E. 262n
Vedas 101
Veltman, Martinus 245
Venus, motions of 54, 99
Venus Table of Ammisaduqa 99
Verne, Jules 113
Vernon-Harcourt, Leveson 56
viruses 140–2
Vishnu 57
see also gods/goddesses
Vishnu Purana 57, 59
Voyage of the Space Beagle (Van Vogt) 262n
Vrba, Elizabet 189
Wachtershauser, Gunther 137
Walker, Arthur 239–40
Wallace, Alfred Russell 106
Waltershausen, Sartorius van Waltershausen 214
Walton, Ernest 16
Weeks, Jeffrey 221, 240
Weiner, Norbert 80
Why I Am Not a Christian (Russell) 55–6
Why We Believe in God(s) (Thomson) 258
Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) 221
William of Occam 280
Wilson, Horace Hayman 57
WIMPs 244
Witten, Edward 224
Woese, Carl 140
Wolpert, Daniel 268–9
Wonderful Life (Gould) 184
worldwide web, invention of 87
Wright, J.M.F. 50n
Xenophanes 100
xenoscience 296, 298
Xmucane 54, 55
see also gods/goddesses
Xpiyacoc 54
see also gods/goddesses
Yucatán Diego de Landa, Bishop of 55
Zetetic Astronomy (Rowbotham) 105
Zetetic Society 106
see also Earth: shape of
Zhang, Junjun 132
zircons 36
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Table of Contents
Cover
About the Book
About the Authors
Also by Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart & Jack Cohen
Title Page
PROLOGUE: WORLDS, DISC AND ROUND
GREAT BIG THING
GREAT BIG THINKING
SEEPAGE BETWEEN WORLDS
WORLD TURTLES
MAGIC ISN’T REAL
REALITY ISN’T MAGIC
AMAZING GLOBE
BEMUSING GLOBE
UNHOLY WRIT
WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?
A VERY INTERESTING CASE
LONG ARM OF THE LORE
RINCEWIND’S ADVENTURES IN ROUNDWORLD
A BETTER MOUSETRAP
CASE FOR THE PLAINTIFFS
SPHERICALITY SURELY IS EVERYWHERE
THE WIZARD FORMERLY KNOWN AS THE DEAN
BYE-BYE BIG BANG?
DOES GOD WIGGLE HIS FINGERS?
DISBELIEF SYSTEM
THE TURTLE MOVES!
FAREWELL, FINE-TUNING
OVER-ZEALOUS ZEALOT
NOT COLLECTING STAMPS
EPILOGUE: L-SPACE
INDEX
Copyright