Biocosm: The New Scientific Theory of Evolution: Intelligent Life Is the Architect of the Universe [Paperback]

Seth Shostak (Author), James N. Gardner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 17, 2003 | ISBN-10: 1930722222 | ISBN-13: 978-1930722224

Biocosm challenges both sides of the controversy over evolution and creationism. This carefully reasoned book proposes that life and intelligence have not emerged as a series of random accidents, as Darwinists like Stephen Jay Gould have maintained, but are hardwired into the cycle of cosmic creation, evolution, death, and rebirth. Gardner's theory of an exponential coevolution of biological and electronic intelligence, designed and directed, offers an extraordinary vision of a universe of point and purpose. Stunning color photos are included.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

For many years, traditional cosmologists and proponents of faith-based "intelligent design" have fought over the origin of the universe. One side maintains that pure chance can explain everything; the other that there must be a God. In Biocosm, James Gardner examines the evidence and finds a third hypothesis, one that has the approval of a number of noted skeptics and scientists. He calls it the "Selfish Biocosm," in a nod to Richard Dawkins, and outlines it in this homage to Charles Darwin. Gardner states his hypothesis:

The basic idea is that the anthropic, or life-friendly, qualities that our universe exhibits are logical and predictable consequences of a cosmic reproduction cycle in which a cosmologically extended biosphere, developed and evolved over billions of years to unimaginable levels of sophistication, serves as the device by which our cosmos duplicates itself and propagates one or more "baby universes."

Like many of the sentences in Biocosm, this one requires multiple readings before its meaning and ramifications sink in. This is not an easygoing, blow-your-mind look at the universe. Gardner is meticulous in outlining his ideas, explaining their falsifiability and scientific rigor, and offering deep chaos theory to support them. Did our universe create intelligent life in order to ensure its own reproduction? Gardner thinks so, though he knows his position will irk many cosmologists exhausted from battling pseudoscientists and creationists. His impressive list of scientific supporters includes Sir Martin Rees (Britain's Astronomer Royal), Michael Shermer (publisher of Skeptic magazine), and John Casti (Santa Fe Institute honcho). Biocosm synthesizes many disciplines and theories in its conclusions, offering much food for cosmological thought. --Therese Littleton

From Publishers Weekly

Science has yet to find a way of knowing what, if anything, existed before the Big Bang that created our universe. Further, how can we account for physical laws that are so finely tuned for the creation of carbon-based life? Science writer and amateur cosmologist Gardner proposes a startling theory: that a pre-existing superintelligent race that inhabited a "mother universe" created this one and tweaked the physical laws in its baby universe to ensure the continuity of intelligent life and of the cosmos itself; this universe, then, will foster the growth of a new superintelligence eons from now with complete command over the laws of nature and the ability to create yet more universes with inheritable characteristics. Thus, Gardner argues, our universe is a "Selfish Biocosm" that created intelligent life to ensure its own survival. Gardner marshals cutting-edge thinking in cosmology, string theory and the associated M theory, and complexity theory to support his ideas. Readers may want to jump to chapter 15 for a full statement of his theory, since the pr‚cis in his introduction is vague; still, this is not for casual readers of popular science. If one doesn't favor an explanation for the creation of life that involves a deity of some sort, then Gardner's theory seems a plausible alternative, though some readers may feel that speculating on superintelligences in pre-existing universes may be akin to Darwin's proverbial dog speculating on the mind of Newton. 8-page color insert not seen by PW.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: Inner Ocean Publishing (July 17, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930722222
• ISBN-13: 978-1930722224
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,044,006 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James N. Gardner is a widely published complexity theorist and science essayist whose peer-reviewed articles and scientific papers have appeared in prestigious scientific journals, including Complexity (the journal of the Santa Fe Institute), Acta Astronautica (the journal of the International Academy of Astronautics), and the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society. He has also written popular articles for WIRED, Nature Biotechnology, The Wall Street Journal, and World Link (the magazine of the World Economic Forum).