Science of Discworld III

143–4, 148–9, 151, 251
    Hubble volumes 191, 193
    human genome 262, 265, 275–80
    Humboldt, Alexander von 120
    Huxley, Thomas Henry 151, 211, 251, 319, 322–3
    hybrids 156
    hypotheses 19–20, 290
    I
    immune system, maternal 279–80
    infinity 168–83, 190–5
    actual 169
    alternatives 181
    Cantorian 178–83
    context-dependent nature 174
    Hilbert on 175–7, 180, 183
    potential 169
    of the universe 169, 183, 190–5
    inflation 191
    ‘intelligent design’ theory 12–13, 16, 17, 34–6, 39–40, 47–9, 126–7, 160
    intervals 78–9
    introns 274, 276, 277, 279
    invention 236–8
    ‘irreducible complexity’ 47–9
    Islam 291–2
    J
    Jack the Ripper 211
    John Paul II, Pope 12, 22
    Jorgensen, Richard 276–7
    Judaism/Jews 300, 301, 318
    Jurassic Park (film) 212
    K
    Kali 301
    Kasner, Edward 169–70
    Kingsley, Charles 150, 319, 322
    Kirby, William 117
    Krasnikov, Sergei 102–3
    Kronecker, Leopold 181
    L
    Lagrange, Joseph-Louis 73, 76
    Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste 248, 249, 290
    Lamarckism 271–2
    Langevin, Paul 98
    Laplace, Pierre Simon de 95, 299–300
    Lawson, Nicholas 124
    lens 39–40, 45
    Leonardo da Vinci 241
    Levi-Civita, Tullio 100–1, 104
    Lewontin, Richard 264–5, 268
    life on earth
    ancient 39
    see also evolution
    light
    faster-than-light speeds 100, 102–3
    gravitational lensing 79–80
    photons 77, 78
    slow 104–5
    speed of 75–8, 95–6, 98, 102
    light cones 77, 79
    light-years 77, 78
    limbs 216
    Lincoln, Abraham 210–11, 214, 218, 219, 235
    Linnaean Society 149
    Lunar Society 247, 311
    Lyell, Charles 118, 123, 125–6, 143, 146–9, 151, 157, 247
    M
    Maccone, Claudio 101
    McCormick, Robert 121
    magnetic fields 100–1, 104, 158
    magnetic gravity 101
    Mallett, Ronald 103–4, 105
    Malthus, Thomas 127–8, 147–8, 159
    mammals 261–2, 268–70, 279–80
    Manson killers 295
    many worlds interpretation 107, 184–5, 187–9, 191, 221
    Markov chain 84
    Mars 293–6
    Martians 294–5
    martyrdom 301
    matching 178–80, 181
    maternal immune system 279–80
    mathematics 72–4, 76, 185–8, 195–200, 291
    of infinity 168–83
    sets 178–80, 181, 183
    matter
    dark 19
    exotic 100, 101, 102
    Maxwell, James Clerk 76
    Mead, George Herbert 212, 221
    mechanics
    classical 186
    Hamiltonian 68, 83
    see also quantum mechanics
    memeplexes 300–1
    messenger RNA 275–6
    Michell, John 95
    microwaves, cosmic background 192–3
    middle classes 311, 313, 320
    Miller, Kenneth 49
    mind, theory of 220
    mines, flooding of 242–4
    Minkowski, Hermann 76, 236
    Minkowski spacetime 76, 77–8, 80, 93–5
    Mitchell, Edward 70
    momentum 68, 83
    Montevideo 141
    Moore, James 118
    Morland, Sir Samuel 242
    Morris, Michael 99, 104
    Mosley, Sir Oswald 318
    motion 66–8, 77–80
    Newton’s law of 18, 186, 188, 210, 314–15
    Moving Rows paradox 67
    Moya, Miguel Alcubierre 102–3
    multiculturalism 300–1
    Murray, John 150, 151
    mutation 261, 263–5, 268, 270–2
    mysticism 302
    N
    Napoleon 300
    narrativium 1–3, 52, 63, 77, 84, 103–4, 140
    natural selection 13, 34, 40–2, 45, 142, 144, 147, 160, 217
    common interpretations of 260, 263
    and competition 128, 154
    fundamental nature of 259
    and mutation 265
    originality of 235–6, 246–7, 248–52
    summary of the theory of 153–4
    see also evolution
    Nazism 318
    negative energy 100, 103
    negentropy 298
    neo-Darwinism 263
    New Scientist 80–1
    Newcomb, Simon 73, 74
    Newcomen, Thomas 244
    Newman, James 169–70
    Newton, Isaac 18, 19, 23, 186, 188, 210, 236, 263
    Newtonian physics 75–6, 78–80, 95
    Newton’s law of motion 18, 186, 188, 210, 314–15
    Nilsson, Daniel 45, 46
    Noah 158
    Nobel Prize 11–12
    numbers
    definition 178
    quantum 196
    transfinite 178
    O
    Occam’s razor 189
    Odysseus 220, 221, 229
    officer-training 321–2
    Olum, Ken 103
    Oppenheimer, Robert 96
    Origin of Species (Darwin) 44, 145–55, 235, 319
    conclusion 325–6
    originality 246–7, 248–52
    origins 145–51
    structure 151–2
    Owen, Fanny 119
    P
    Paley, William 23–6, 38–40, 41–2, 44, 46, 117, 235, 249
    argument from design 34–6, 39–40, 126–7, 160
    influence on Darwin 119–20, 152, 153
    Pans narrans 323
    Papin, Dennis 243
    paradoxes
    Arrow 67, 68, 83
    cumulative audience 63
    ‘grandfather’ 63, 64, 107–8, 223–4
    Moving Rows 67
    twin 98–9, 102
    parallel worlds (multiverse) 56–60, 106–7, 184–5, 187–95
    four levels of 189–95
    parasites 217, 273–4
    parochials 216
    particles 76–81
    past 77, 93–4, 104, 212, 214, 229
    see also future; history; present; time