Richard Dawkins
English ethologist, evolutionary biologist, and author Richard Dawkins FRS FRSL (born Clinton Richard Dawkins; 26 March 1941)[24] is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist, and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was the University of Oxford's Professor for Public Understanding of Science from 1995 until 2008. Dawkins first came to prominence with his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, which popularised the gene-centred view of evolution and introduced the term meme. With his book The Extended Phenotype (1982), he introduced into evolutionary biology the influential concept that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not necessarily limited to an organism's body, but can stretch far into the environment. In 2006, he founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. Dawkins is known as an outspoken atheist. Background[edit] Early life[edit] Education[edit] Teaching[edit] Work[edit] Evolutionary biology[edit] Fathering the meme[edit] Foundation[edit] Media[edit]
DYNAMO (programming language)
Simulation language & graphical notation DYNAMO was designed to emphasize the following: ease-of-use for the industrial dynamics modeling community (who were not assumed to be expert programmers);immediate execution of the compiled model, without producing an intermediate object file; andproviding graphical output, with line printer and pen plotter graphics. Among the ways in which DYNAMO was above the standard of the time, it featured units checking of numerical types and relatively clear error messages.
James Lovelock
James Ephraim Lovelock, CH, CBE, FRS[2] (born 26 July 1919) is an independent scientist, environmentalist and futurist who lives in Dorset, England. He is best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis, which postulates that the biosphere is a self-regulating entity with the capacity to keep our planet healthy by controlling the interconnections of the chemical and physical environment.[5] Biography[edit] Career[edit] James Lovelock around 1960 A lifelong inventor, Lovelock has created and developed many scientific instruments, some of which were designed for NASA in its program of planetary exploration. In early 1961, Lovelock was engaged by NASA to develop sensitive instruments for the analysis of extraterrestrial atmospheres and planetary surfaces. Lovelock was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1974. On 8 May 2012, he appeared on the Radio Four series "The Life Scientific", talking to Jim al-Khalili about the Gaia hypothesis. CFCs[edit] Gaia[edit] Nuclear power[edit] Climate[edit]
Emergence
In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence is a process whereby larger entities, patterns, and regularities arise through interactions among smaller or simpler entities that themselves do not exhibit such properties. Emergence is central in theories of integrative levels and of complex systems. For instance, the phenomenon life as studied in biology is commonly perceived as an emergent property of interacting molecules as studied in chemistry, whose phenomena reflect interactions among elementary particles, modeled in particle physics, that at such higher mass—via substantial conglomeration—exhibit motion as modeled in gravitational physics. Neurobiological phenomena are often presumed to suffice as the underlying basis of psychological phenomena, whereby economic phenomena are in turn presumed to principally emerge. In philosophy, emergence typically refers to emergentism. In philosophy[edit] Main article: Emergentism Definitions[edit] Strong and weak emergence[edit]
Gaia hypothesis
The study of planetary habitability is partly based upon extrapolation from knowledge of the Earth's conditions, as the Earth is the only planet currently known to harbour life The Gaia hypothesis, also known as Gaia theory or Gaia principle, proposes that organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a self-regulating, complex system that contributes to maintaining the conditions for life on the planet. Topics of interest include how the biosphere and the evolution of life forms affect the stability of global temperature, ocean salinity, oxygen in the atmosphere and other environmental variables that affect the habitability of Earth. Introduction[edit] Less accepted versions of the hypothesis claim that changes in the biosphere are brought about through the coordination of living organisms and maintain those conditions through homeostasis. Details[edit] Regulation of the salinity in the oceans[edit] Regulation of oxygen in the atmosphere[edit] Processing of CO2[edit]
System dynamics
Dynamic stock and flow diagram of model New product adoption (model from article by John Sterman 2001) System dynamics is an approach to understanding the behaviour of complex systems over time. It deals with internal feedback loops and time delays that affect the behaviour of the entire system.[1] What makes using system dynamics different from other approaches to studying complex systems is the use of feedback loops and stocks and flows. Overview[edit] System dynamics (SD) is a methodology and mathematical modeling technique for framing, understanding, and discussing complex issues and problems. Convenient GUI system dynamics software developed into user friendly versions by the 1990s and have been applied to diverse systems. System dynamics is an aspect of systems theory as a method for understanding the dynamic behavior of complex systems. History[edit] System dynamics was created during the mid-1950s[3] by Professor Jay Forrester of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system.[1] Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics, medicine and allied disciplines, philosophy, physics, and psychology. It also exerts influence on other fields, such as neuroeducation[2] and neurolaw. The term neurobiology is usually used interchangeably with the term neuroscience, although the former refers specifically to the biology of the nervous system, whereas the latter refers to the entire science of the nervous system. Because of the increasing number of scientists who study the nervous system, several prominent neuroscience organizations have been formed to provide a forum to all neuroscientists and educators. History[edit] The study of the nervous system dates back to ancient Egypt. Modern neuroscience[edit] Human nervous system
Fixes that fail
Fixes that fail is a system archetype that in system dynamics is used to describe and analyze a situation, where a fix effective in the short-term creates side effects for the long-term behaviour of the system and may result in the need of even more fixes.[1] This archetype may be also known as fixes that backfire[2] or corrective actions that fail.[3] It resembles the Shifting the burden archetype.[4] Description[edit] In a "fixes that fail" scenario the encounter of a problem is faced by a corrective action or fix that seems to solve the issue. However, this action leads to some unforeseen consequences. Fig. 1: Causal loop diagram In system dynamics this is described by a circles of causality (Fig. 1) as a system consisting of two feedback loops. Representation of the long-term disadvantages of the scenario can be seen on Fig. 2. Fig. 2: Behavior over time A representation with a stock and flow diagram of this archetype is on Fig. 3. Fig. 3: Stock and flow diagram Uses[edit] Examples[edit]
