Science of Discworld III

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    A
    Abbott, Edwin A. 75
    Achilles 67, 68
    afterlife 300
    al-Qaeda 301
    aleph-zero 180–1, 182
    aleph-zeroplex 182
    algebraic geometry 174
    aliens 16
    see also Martians
    alleles 264–5
    amphibians 269, 270–1
    ancestors 224
    Ancient Egypt 239–41
    Anglican Church 118, 120, 143, 311, 323
    Ant Country 222–3
    Anthrobalanus 144
    anthropic principle 198
    apes 146
    apprenticeship system 320–1
    Arago, François 238
    archaeopteryx 296–7
    Archimedes 172–3
    Aristotle 248–9
    Arrow paradox 67, 68, 83
    Asimov, Isaac 63, 64
    B
    bacterial flagella 47–9
    Barbour, Julian 80–4
    Barjavel, René 63
    barnacles 143–5
    Baxter, Stephen 227
    Beagle (ship) 117, 120–5, 140–3, 151, 235
    beetles 5, 119
    Behe, Michael 47–8
    beliefs 298–303
    see also faith
    Bertotti, Bruno 80–1
    Besson, Jacob 241
    Bible Belt America 11–12, 13, 21, 49
    Big Bang theory 183–4, 190, 222
    biological weapons, evolutionary 274
    biology 260–1, 263–80
    birds 296–7
    birth defects 266–7
    black holes 18, 95–8, 99
    BMPV 105–6
    rotating 101
    Blackshirts 318
    Blind Watchmaker, The (Dawkins)34
    Blyth, Edward 146–7
    body temperature control 269–70
    Bose-Einstein condensate 104–5
    Boulton, Matthew 239, 245, 246
    Bousso, Raphael 195
    Boyle, Robert 243
    Boyle’s law 243
    Bradbury, Ray 63, 213–14, 295
    Brahma 94
    brain 82–3, 221–3, 226
    branes 105–6, 196–7, 199–201
    Braseneck College 6
    British Army 321–2
    British Empire 311–12
    Bront’ sisters 322
    Buddhism 302
    Burroughs, Edgar Rice 294
    C
    Caius, Salomon de 241–2
    Cambrian explosion 278
    canalised development 267
    Cantor, Georg 175, 177–8, 180–3
    Carrol, Lewis 227
    Carter, John 294
    Casimir effect 100
    causality 212–13, 219–29, 311–12, 324
    Cestesibus 240
    Chambers, Robert 249–50
    change 325
    Channel Tunnel Syndrome 313–14
    chaos theory 217–20, 229, 236
    chaperonins 268
    Chernobyl 270–1
    Chile 124, 125–6
    chimps 278
    China 313, 317
    Christianity 118, 119, 128–9, 150, 301, 318, 323
    Anglican Church 118, 120, 143, 311, 323
    fundamentalism 156–7, 291–2
    Quakers 311, 318
    Roman Catholicism 15
    see also Bible Belt America
    chronology projection conjecture 65, 105–6
    ‘City and Guilds’ examinations 321
    classics 320
    closed timelike curves (CTCs) 93, 94–5, 97, 99, 104, 105–6, 213
    Cohen, Paul 183
    competition 128, 154
    complicity 312–14
    consistent fictions 212–13, 226–7
    continental drift 36–7, 126, 157–8
    convergence/divergence problem 213–14, 217–18
    coral islands 125
    cosmic microwaves 192–3
    cosmology 18–19, 50, 183–4
    counterfactuals 211
    counting 171, 178
    creationism 16–17, 22, 23–5, 49
    Crucifixion 63
    cults 15–17
    cumulative audience paradox 63
    D
    D-branes 105–6
    D’Alembert, Jean Le Rond 73, 76
    Dali, Salvador 47
    Damasio, Antonio 221–2, 225, 227, 229, 293
    dark energy 19
    dark matter 19
    Darwin, Charles 11–13, 21–3, 40–2, 49–50, 117–28, 140–55, 158–60, 211, 213, 263, 273, 290
    against the notion of a cosmic designer 40, 44–5, 47
    B Notebook 127, 248
    and the Beagle voyage 117, 120–5, 140–3, 151, 235
    destined for the clergy 118–19
    discoveries 124
    early books 141–3, 145
    on the eye 44–5, 47
    on geology 117–18, 123, 125–6
    impact of 19
    on the influence of books 322
    influence of Paley on 119–20, 152, 153
    initial interest in evolution 127–9, 143–51
    modern additions to the work of 259–60
    Origin of Species 44, 145–55, 235, 246–52, 319, 325–6
    originality 235–6, 239, 246–7, 248–52
    Red Notebook 127
    social class 319
    summary of his theory of evolution 154
    and Wallace 146–9, 150
    and the wizards (fictional) 5, 31–3, 53–60, 64, 87–8, 91–2, 111–16, 130–8, 140–2, 162–7, 203, 230–1, 253–7, 282, 284–5, 304–10, 324, 327–33
    Darwin, Erasmus 119, 124, 246–8
    Darwin Fox, William 118, 119
    Darwinism 322–3
    Darwin’s finches 41, 43–4, 114, 126, 127, 155
    Dawkins, Richard 31, 32, 34, 266, 275
    decimal places 182
    Deep Time 118, 156–7, 158, 160, 247
    degrees, honorary 321
    deists 301–2
    Dembski, William 17, 34
    Dennett, Daniel 13, 220, 228
    deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) 260, 262–3, 266–7, 270–1, 274–80
    junk DNA 262–3, 275–6, 278–80
    Depew, David 46
    Desmond, Adrian 118
    destiny 76
    determinism 76, 108–9, 220–1, 229
    see also free will
    Deutsch, David 107
    Diana, Princess 292
    Dichotomy 67
    Dickens, Charles 62, 319, 322, 329
    difference, social 317–19,