The Tides Of Mind Uncovering The Spectrum Of Consciousness

A “rock star” (New York Times) of the computing world provides a radical new work on the meaning of human consciousness. The holy grail of psychologists and scientists for nearly a century has been to understand and replicate both human thought and the human mind. In fact, it's what attracted the now-legendary computer scientist and AI authority David Gelernter to the discipline in the first place. As a student and young researcher in the 1980s, Gelernter hoped to build a program with a dial marked "focus." At maximum "focus," the program would "think" rationally, formally, reasonably. As the dial was turned down and "focus" diminished, its "mind" would start to wander, and as you dialed even lower, this artificial mind would start to free-associate, eventually ignoring the user completely as it cruised off into the mental adventures we know as sleep. While the program was a only a partial success, it laid the foundation for The Tides of Mind, a groundbreaking new exploration of the human psyche that shows us how the very purpose of the mind changes throughout the day. Indeed, as Gelernter explains, when we are at our most alert, when reasoning and creating new memories is our main mental business, the mind is a computer-like machine that keeps emotion on a short leash and attention on our surroundings. As we gradually tire, however, and descend the "mental spectrum," reasoning comes unglued. Memory ranges more freely, the mind wanders, and daydreams grow more insistent. Self-awareness fades, reflection blinks out, and at last we are completely immersed in our own minds. With far-reaching implications, Gelernter’s landmark "Spectrum of Consciousness" finally helps decode some of the most mysterious wonders of the human mind, such as the numinous light of early childhood, why dreams are so often predictive, and why sadism and masochism underpin some of our greatest artistic achievements. It’s a theory that also challenges the very notion of the mind as a machine—and not through empirical studies or "hard science" but by listening to our great poets and novelists, who have proven themselves as humanity's most trusted guides to the subjective mind and inner self. In the great introspective tradition of Wilhelm Wundt and René Descartes, David Gelernter promises to not only revolutionize our understanding of what it means to be human but also to help answer many of our most fundamental questions about the origins of creativity, thought, and consciousness.

What does it mean to “believe” in America? Why do we always speak of our country as having a mission or purpose that is higher than other nations? Modern liberals have invested a great deal in the notion that America was founded as a secular state, with religion relegated to the private sphere. David Gelernter argues that America is not secular at all, but a powerful religious idea—indeed, a religion in its own right. Gelernter argues that what we have come to call “Americanism” is in fact a secular version of Zionism. Not the Zionism of the ancient Hebrews, but that of the Puritan founders who saw themselves as the new children of Israel, creating a new Jerusalem in a new world. Their faith-based ideals of liberty, equality, and democratic governance had a greater influence on the nation’s founders than the Enlightenment. Gelernter traces the development of the American religion from its roots in the Puritan Zionism of seventeenth-century New England to the idealistic fighting faith it has become, a militant creed dedicated to spreading freedom around the world. The central figures in this process were Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson, who presided over the secularization of the American Zionist idea into the form we now know as Americanism. If America is a religion, it is a religion without a god, and it is a global religion. People who believe in America live all over the world. Its adherents have included oppressed and freedom-loving peoples everywhere—from the patriots of the Greek and Hungarian revolutions to the martyred Chinese dissidents of Tiananmen Square. Gelernter also shows that anti-Americanism, particularly the virulent kind that is found today in Europe, is a reaction against this religious conception of America on the part of those who adhere to a rival religion of pacifism and appeasement. A startlingly original argument about the religious meaning of America and why it is loved—and hated—with so much passion at home and abroad.

Technology doesn't flow smoothly; it's the big surprises that matter, and Yale computer expert David Gelernter sees one such giant leap right on the horizon. Today's small scale software programs are about to be joined by vast public software works that will revolutionize computing and transform society as a whole. One such vast program is the "Mirror World." Imagine looking at your computer screen and seeing reality--an image of your city, for instance, complete with moving traffic patterns, or a picture that sketches the state of an entire far-flung corporation at this second. These representations are called Mirror Worlds, and according to Gelernter they will soon be available to everyone. Mirror Worlds are high-tech voodoo dolls: by interacting with the images, you interact with reality. Indeed, Mirror Worlds will revolutionize the use of computers, transforming them from (mere) handy tools to crystal balls which will allow us to see the world more vividly and see into it more deeply. Reality will be replaced gradually, piece-by-piece, by a software imitation; we will live inside the imitation; and the surprising thing is--this will be a great humanistic advance. We gain control over our world, plus a huge new measure of insight and vision. In this fascinating book--part speculation, part explanation--Gelernter takes us on a tour of the computer technology of the near future. Mirror Worlds, he contends, will allow us to explore the world in unprecedented depth and detail without ever changing out of our pajamas. A hospital administrator might wander through an entire medical complex via a desktop computer. Any citizen might explore the performance of the local schools, chat electronically with teachers and other Mirror World visitors, plant software agents to report back on interesting topics; decide to run for the local school board, hire a campaign manager, and conduct the better part of the campaign itself--all by interacting with the Mirror World. Gelernter doesn't just speculate about how this amazing new software will be used--he shows us how it will be made, explaining carefully and in detail how to build a Mirror World using technology already available. We learn about "disembodied machines," "trellises," "ensembles," and other computer components which sound obscure, but which Gelernter explains using familiar metaphors and terms. (He tells us that a Mirror World is a microcosm just like a Japanese garden or a Gothic cathedral, and that a computer program is translated by the computer in the same way a symphony is translated by a violinist into music.) Mirror Worlds offers a lucid and humanistic account of the coming software revolution, told by a computer scientist at the cutting edge of his field.

The author started his working career as an Air Traffic Control Officer in the Royal Australian Air Force, and after resigning his commission, spent thirty-five years in the Information Services industry. In the context of his writings, he describes himself as an analyst, by aspiration, inclination, proclivity, training, and occupation. His books reflect his primary intellectual pursuit: explanations given for human existence by both religions and evolution. Having published several analyses including “Religion: Of God or Man” and “Seeking After God”, he concluded that there was nothing more that he could learn on that subject – the issue remained an enduring mystery. Returning to the other explanation, evolution, he had long wanted to complete a more thorough analysis of evolution theory, than as presented in his earlier publications, “The Dawkins Deficiency” and “Information, Knowledge, Evolution and Self”. This required that he acquire and study dozens of academic books and other publications, seeking to understand the plausibility, and at times hollowness, of scientific explanations. Using his background knowledge of relevant technologies, he was able to identify parallels between modern automation and mechanisation, and human biological processes. One of particular interest was an analysis of the technical similarities between the human sensory system, and modern telemetry systems. With a lifelong passion for a travel, and a modest appetite for adventure, he has trekked in the Khumbu and Annapurna regions of Nepal, the Peruvian Andes, and Patagonia. His hobby, apart from writing, has been a love of all things motorcycling, from touring remote areas, and attending races, to complete restoration of vintage motorcycles. He has motorcycled throughout parts of his native Australia, North America, New Zealand, Iceland, Bolivia, Peru, Turkey, the Himalaya, Morocco, Greece, and eastern Europe. His business and holiday travels have taken him through sixty countries, and all continents, including Antarctica. Evolution is defined as the change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations, resulting in changes in both the genotype and phenotype. The evidence for evolution is primarily circumstantial, being based on fossils of extinct species, physical similarities, and a largely common genome. Charles Darwin believed that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual's ability to compete, survive, and reproduce. Today, we know so much more than Darwin did 150 years ago, leading many scientists to discard genetic mutation and natural selection as having the development power previously ascribed to them. What has been missing in the science so far is “systems thinking” - a holistic approach to analysis that focuses on the way that a system's constituent parts interrelate, and how systems work over time and within the context of larger systems. Questioning whether the mind consists of organs of the brain, an emergent property of the brain, or activities of the brain, as scientists suggest, the author has concluded for none of these. The brain being physical, it can only deal with the physical, but the mind deals in the conceptual, which has no physical properties. With his background in related technologies, the author has compared the human nervous system with telemetry systems as used in modern aircraft, vehicles, and other applications. Though implemented differently, the functional requirements remain the same, which has prompted a different perspective on how it could have evolved. The telemetry system in the human body is astounding in its complexity, accuracy, and reliability, leading to the author’s doubts as to its claimed evolutionary origins. Crossing a Chasm is an analysis of the probability that such could be accomplished by innumerable, unguided small steps, over whatever time.

To romance: “to tell stories that are not true, or to describe an event in a way that makes it sound better than it was – in this case, more scientific than it is. A myth is not always a fairy story, but most often, the presentation of facts belonging to one category in the idioms appropriate to another. Usually, there is some factual basis for the narrative. This book seeks to expose neuromythology – mythology developed by scientists in their attempts to describe the human mind in material and mechanistic terms.

Bestselling author and economist Jay W. Richards makes the definitive case for how the free market and individual responsibility can save the American Dream in an age of automation and mass disruption. For two and a half centuries, America has been held together by the belief that if you work hard and conduct yourself responsibly in this country, you will be able to prosper and leave a better life for your children. But over the past decade, that idea has come into crisis. A recession, the mass outsourcing of stable jobs, and a coming wave of automation that will replace millions of blue- and white-collar jobs alike have left many people worried that the game is rigged and that our best days are behind us. In this story-driven manifesto on the future of American work, Jay Richards argues that such thinking is counterproductive--making us more fragile, more dependent, and less equipped to succeed in a rapidly changing economy. If we're going to survive, we need a new model for how ordinary people can thrive in this age of mass disruption. Richards pulls back the curtain on what's really happening in our economy, dispatching myths about capitalism, greed, and upward mobility. And he tells the stories of how real individuals have begun to rebuild a culture of virtue, capitalizing on the skills that are most uniquely human: creativity, resilience, and empathy for the needs of others. Destined to take its place alongside classics like Economics in One Lesson, The Human Advantage is the essential book for understanding the future of American work, and how each of us can make this era of staggering change work on our behalf.

Why Call It God? contends that God is the order of the universe, including "divine intangibles" such as love, justice, beauty, and compassion, which correctly give us faith that our lives have purpose and meaning. The age-old problem of evil, science increasingly explaining how the world works when we used to turn to God and religion for answers, and rampant secularism have produced a decline in religion, though less a rebellion than simply a drifting away. We need to understand that God is the order of the universe and thus the ultimate source of life, meaning, and spirituality. Since no one fully understands the divine, all God talk is metaphorical and approximate. Many moderns mistakenly think they are religious doubters when in fact they are just holding on to personal metaphors for God as "king" and "judge" when they could, and most often do, believe in the awe-inspiring order of being, a conviction enhanced by science, religion, ethics, and the arts.

Homosexuality, Transsexuality, Psychoanalysis and Traditional Judaism explores the often incommensurable and irreconcilable beliefs and understandings of sexuality and gender in the Orthodox Jewish community from psychoanalytic, rabbinic, feminist, and queer perspectives. The book explores how seemingly irreconcilable differences might be resolved. The book is divided into two separate but related sections. The first highlights the divide between the psychoanalytic, academic, and traditional Orthodox Jewish perspectives on sexual identity and orientation, and the acute psychic and social challenges faced by gay and lesbian members of the Orthodox Jewish world. The contributors ask us to engage with them in a dialogue that allows for authentic conversation. The second section focuses on gender identity, especially as experienced by the Orthodox transgender members of the community. It also highlights the divide between theories that see gender as fluid and traditional Judaism that sees gender as strictly binary. The contributors write about their views and experiences from both sides of the divide. They ask us to engage in true authentic dialogue about these complex and crucial emotional and religious challenges. Homosexuality, Transsexuality, Psychoanalysis and Traditional Judaism will be of great interest to psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists as well as members and leaders of Jewish communities working with LGBTQ issues.