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Paradoxical Life

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Paradoxical Life Synopsis

For readers of Hofstadter’s Gödel, Escher, Bach, a fascinating look at the hidden meaning in matter What can a fingernail tell us about the mysteries of creation? In one sense, a nail is merely a hunk of mute matter, yet in another, it’s an information superhighway quite literally at our fingertips. Every moment, streams of molecular signals direct our cells to move, flatten, swell, shrink, divide, or die. Andreas Wagner’s ambitious new book explores this hidden web of unimaginably complex interactions in every living being. In the process, he unveils a host of paradoxes underpinning our understanding of modern biology, contradictions he considers gatekeepers at the frontiers of knowledge. Though we tend to think of concepts in such mutually exclusive pairs as mind-matter, self-other, and nature-nurture, Wagner argues that these opposing ideas are not actually separate. Indeed, they are as inextricably connected as the two sides of a coin. Through a tour of modern biological marvels, Wagner illustrates how this paradoxical tension has a profound effect on the way we define the world around us. Paradoxical Life is thus not only a unique account of modern biology. It ultimately serves a radical—and optimistic—outlook for humans and the world we help create.

About This Edition

ISBN: 9780300171525
Publication date: 28th June 2011
Author: Andreas Wagner
Publisher: Yale University Press
Format: Paperback
Pagination: 272 pages
Genres: Popular Science
Life sciences: general issues
Philosophy: metaphysics and ontology