The Book of
Prisms:
Integration and
Differentiation within the Human Calculus
Half a century
ago, Erwin Schroedinger, one of the main contributors to modern physics, made
a remark that is even more valid now than it was in his time 1)
. It aptly characterizes the
inherent epistemological dilemma of contemporary science. Noting that we have
"inherited from our forefathers the keen longing for unified, all-embracing
knowledge,"
Schroedinger continues:
"But the spread, both in width and depth, of the multifarious branches of
knowledge during the last hundred odd years has confronted us with a queer
dilemma. We feel clearly that we are only now beginning to acquire reliable
material for welding together the sum total of all that is known into a whole; but, on
the other hand, it has become next to impossible for a single mind fully to command
more than a small specialized portion of it."
Trends towards
unification have a complex history of waxing and waning and of partial victories
over the inherent tendency of the sciences to over-specialize and diverge from each other. Ever
since the seventies we have encountered a renaissance of attempts at universality. This time
around, it shows an enhanced emphasis on everything complex and, furthermore, on the
concept of complexity itself. The whole institute, devoted to promoting the science of
complexity, was established in Santa Fe. There, zealous scientists - mathematicians, physicists,
biologists, economists, astronomers and information scientists - search for a common language
and shared concepts. Similar institutes and efforts may be found today in an ever-increasing
number of places in the U.S. and Europe.
Are we any closer
to the ideal of unified knowledge?
1. Integrals and Differentials
