All --
Book recommendation: "The Best of All Possible Worlds: Mathematics
and Destiny" by Ivar Ekeland.
I've liked almost all of what Ekeland has written (particularly,
"Mathematics and the Unexpected") . . . this one talks about a variety
of issues including teleology/causality, least action (actually,
stationary action) principles, and what "science" is all about. As
Freeman Dyson said in NYRB, "Ekeland moves easily from mathematics to
physics, biology, ethics, and philosophy." There's some nice history
here too . . .
Any book whose bibliographical notes include the sentence
"Meanwhile, readers who want to continue investigating these questions
in an entertaining (yet profound) way, are directed to the science-
fiction books of Stanislaw Lem" can't be all bad :-)
tom
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