Authors:Mark A. Bedau, Paul Humphreys,
Publisher: The MIT Press
Keywords: bradford, books, science, philosophy, contemporary, readings, emergence
Number of Pages: 482
Published: 2008-04-30
List price: $85.00
ISBN-10: 026202621X
ISBN-13: 9780262026215

Emergence, largely ignored just thirty years ago, has become one of the liveliest areas of research in both philosophy and science. Fueled by advances in complexity theory, artificial life, physics, psychology, sociology, and biology and by the parallel development of new conceptual tools in philosophy, the idea of emergence offers a way to understand a wide variety of complex phenomena in ways that are intriguingly different from more traditional approaches. This reader collects for the first time in one easily accessible place classic writings on emergence from contemporary philosophy and sc

Authors:Russell Standish, Mark A. Bedau, Hussein A. Abbass,
Publisher: The MIT Press
Keywords: artificial, life, complex, systems, conference, adaptive, eighth, viii, proceedings, international
Number of Pages: 444
Published: 2003-01-01
List price: $90.00
ISBN-10: 0262692813
ISBN-13: 9780262692816

The term "artificial life" describes research into synthetic systems that possess some of the essential properties of life. This interdisciplinary field includes biologists, computer scientists, physicists, chemists, geneticists, and others. Artificial life may be viewed as an attempt to understand high-level behavior from low-level rules--for example, how the simple interactions between ants and their environment lead to complex trail-following behavior. An understanding of such relationships in particular systems can suggest novel solutions to complex real-world problems such as disease prev

Authors:Jordan Pollack, Mark A. Bedau, Phil Husbands, Takashi
Publisher: The MIT Press
Keywords: living, synthesis, systems, bradford, books, simulation, conference, life, proceedings, ninth, international, artificial
Number of Pages: 603
Published: 2004-10-01
List price: $80.00
ISBN-10: 0262661837
ISBN-13: 9780262661836

Artificial Life is an interdisciplinary effort to investigate the fundamental properties of living systems through the simulation and synthesis of life-like processes. The young field brings a powerful set of tools to the study of how high-level behavior can arise in systems governed by simple rules of interaction. Some of the fundamental questions include: What are the principles of evolution, learning, and growth that can be understood well enough to simulate as an information process? Can robots be built faster and more cheaply by mimicking biology than by the product design process use

Authors:Mark Bedau, John McCaskill, Norman Packard, John S. M
Publisher: The MIT Press
Keywords: artificial, life, complex, systems, conference, adaptive, seventh, vii, proceedings, international
Number of Pages: 500
Published: 2000-07-31
List price: $90.00
ISBN-10: 026252290X
ISBN-13: 9780262522908

The term "artificial life" describes research into synthetic systems that possess some of the essential properties of life. This truly interdisciplinary field includes biologists, computer scientists, physicists, chemists, geneticists, and others. Artificial life may be viewed as an attempt to understand high-level behavior from low-level rules--for example, how the simple interactions between ants and their environment lead to complex trail-following behavior. An understanding of such relationships in particular systems can suggest novel solutions to complex real-world problems such as diseas

Author: Hugo Bedau
Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin’s
Keywords: philosophy, writing, thinking
Number of Pages: 205
Published: 2002-03-08
List price: unknow
ISBN-10: 0312396538
ISBN-13: 9780312396534

With 16 readings by prominent philosophers and 8 examples of student writing, this concise and inexpensive guide discusses every stage of reading, analyzing, and responding to philosophical texts and arguments and offers thorough coverage of research and documentation.

Author: Hugo Adam Bedau
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Keywords: moral, casuistry, exercises, three, mortal, choices, making
Number of Pages: 136
Published: 1997-01-09
List price: $45.00
ISBN-10: 0195108787
ISBN-13: 9780195108781

In this provocative study, Bedau demonstrates the usefulness of "casuistry," or "the method of cases" in arriving at moral decisions. He examines well-known cases, including the aftermath of the sinking of the William Brown in 1841, that compel us to consider questions about who ought to survive when not all can. By doing so, we learn something about how we actually reason concerning such life and death situations, as well as about how we ought to reason if we wish both to be consistent and to properly respect human life. Bedau’s elegant book will be a valuable resource for students, ph

Author: Hugo Adam Bedau
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Keywords: oxford, paperbacks, controversies, current, penalty, america, death
Number of Pages: 544
Published: 1998-05-28
List price: $24.95
ISBN-10: 0195122860
ISBN-13: 9780195122862

In The Death Penalty in America: Current Controversies, Hugo Adam Bedau, one of our preeminent scholars on the subject, provides a comprehensive sourcebook on the death penalty, making the process of informed consideration not only possible but fascinating as well. No mere revision of the third edition of The Death Penalty in America--which the New York Times praised as "the most complete, well-edited and comprehensive collection of readings on the pros and cons of the death penalty"--this volume brings together an entirely new selection of 40 essays and includes updated statistical and resear