Customer Reviews

The Fuzzy Future: From Society and Science to Heaven in a Chip

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There is a lot going on in this book. I'd like to say that it was actually good. But I can't. It was OK. About ten years ago I read an interview of Kosko in the IEEE Spectrum magazine. I was immediately floored by this man's talents: musician, mathematician, scientist, philosopher, you name it, the man had done it. At about the same time, I read Kosko's Fuzzy Thinking. This was at the tail end of a graduate school career, and I enjoyed it very much. The raves from that interview were true. That book opened my mind to a whole new way of approaching math. Recently, I was in the book store, and noticed Kosko's newest book, Noise, on the shelf; I opened it up, skimmed the contents, and remembered what a pleaseure it was to read Fuzzy Thinking so many years ago. I thought I would "catch up" with my Kosko reading before tackling his newest volume. So this is why I bought Heaven in a Chip.

The book is full of ideas.

Unfortunately, many of these ideas read like science fiction, and only a small fraction of them will prove prescient. The appendix is loaded with equations and notes that, I think, would have read better if they were integrated into the main text. The book reads like a stream-of-consciousness at times, with the end-notes tacked on to provide some rigor. Kosko surely knows his stuff.

Being ten years older than when I read Kosko for the first time, I'm much more tuned in to the man's writing ability, his ability to convey ideas in a tight manner, and his grammar and punctuation. Probably due to the success of his previous work (or laziness by the editor) many punctuation errors abound, giving way to choppy sentences and difficult to understand prose. The ideas are there, but they're not tight.

The book is divided into three parts:
Part 1: Fuzzy Politics
Part 2: Fuzzy science
Part 3: Fuzzy Digital Culture

Each part is divided into chapters that give examples of how fuzzy logic can help make a better society, make better technology, or make better government.

In brief, fuzzy logic is the application of the belief that things in the world (and universe) are not just "black and white," but shades of gray. Objects can "be" two apposing properties at once. For example, a person can be both evil and good, to a certain degree, at the same time. Extend this reasoning to math, and then apply it to society, government, and science, and you have the jist of this book.

I don't know where you will find a book quite like this one. Buy it because it's unique, but try not to squirm too much every time Kosko misses a comma.

"The Fuzzy Future" is a wide-ranging work that attempts to integrate concepts from disciplines as diverse as physics, neurophysiology, and the social sciences. It's well-written, but not always easy to follow, due to the diverse subject matter. Definitely not "light reading"!

Kosko predicts the future within the framework of a paradigm shift from binary thinking to fuzzy logic. There is an extensive index to allow for easy reference and about 100 pages of footnotes that keep the technical jargon out of the primary text. The story flows like a science fiction novel in which the author is constantly surprising the reader with new insights into the way things may be. A great book that leaves you feeling enlightened and just plain smarter.

I've read several books on fuzzy logic and complexity and I started Kosko's book with the same excitement I approach all books related to science and hisory. It didn't take me loog to realize reading this book would be a major waste of my time given that I have at least 5-10 other scientic/history books on my bookshelves just waiting for me to read them. I got half-way through the first section. Within that section this author committed two cardinal sins for a non-fiction writer. He blasted Thomas Jefferson by repeating all the usual crap about his fathering Sally Hemming children. Any serious author checks original sources before making the sweeping generalizations Kosko does. And at best, readers should be made aware of how that story was introduced into the mythology of American history. Second, he seriously does not understand the differences between the "Left" and the "Right" in this country and as such cannot even begin to qualify and/or quantify the so-called differences and he totally leaves out the "independent" middle in ranking behaviorial experiences and/or expectations. Why waste time reading a book when it is obvious from the first few pages the author lacks the scientific reasoning skills and the willingness to remove his personal bias from his writing to do the kind of job that truly informs the reader?

Kosko hits a home run here. Much better than his Fuzzy Thinking tome.

Worth the wait!

Gray rules

Anyone know when this book is coming out?

Schedule has changed many times.

Enjoyed "Nanotime" and Kosko's previous books.

Helped me finally understand the mismatch in math and physics.