The Science of Discworld II

29–30
    electron-volts 29*
    Laws of Thermodynamics 189–93
    phase spaces 44–8
    potential energy 45
    work cycles 57
    engineering, ancient Greece 70, 237–8, 242, 243
    Enlightenment 76
    Enoch 125*
    entertainment, storytelling as 327
    entropy
    information 189, 192–3
    thermodynamic 189–90, 192–3
    universe 193–6
    epigenetics 185
    essential fatty acids, and human evolution 92
    E.T. 117
    ethics, cloning 31
    Ethics (Spinoza) 77
    Euclid 65
    Euripides 341
    Europe
    Ashkenazi Jews 141
    human evolution 113–14, 122
    music 270
    twentieth-century history 311
    Eve
    existence of 125
    â€˜mitochondrial Eve’ 122–4
    pre-formation theory 72
    evil, elimination of 107
    evolution
    adaptive radiation 133–4
    â€˜alternate universe’ stories 312
    altruism 213–14, 215
    apes 107–8
    co-evolution 119–21, 310
    competition 214–15
    and complexity 54, 57
    cultural evolution 89–100
    dynamics of 308–9
    elephants 110–12
    extinction 133–4
    genomes 185–6
    gracile and robust forms 109–11, 113
    humans 87–8, 108–9, 112–14
    lying and 284–6
    memes 328–33
    phase space 55
    predictions 309–10
    exformation, context 187
    exotic matter 315
    experiments
    interpreting 197–8
    scientific method 239–41, 243–4, 248
    extelligence
    cultural evolution 89–90, 99
    eliminating evil 107
    future possibilities 166
    memetics 330
    overcommitment strategy 216
    symbiosis and 118
    â€˜time-binding’ ability 156, 166
    extended present, and sense of music 274
    extinction
    genetic diversity 133–4
    Neanderthals 134–5, 137
    eyes
    colour vision 290
    vision 266–8, 273–4
    F
    failure, learning from 78–9
    fairies 158, 247, 343
    fairy stories
    function of 74, 152, 155, 342
    hidden meanings 115–16
    Falla, Manuel de 264
    false narratives 28
    fantasy stories 75
    fatalism 149, 167–8, 171
    Father Christmas 97–8
    fatty acids, and human evolution 92
    feminism, myths 79
    â€˜feral’ children 283
    Fermi, Enrico 314*
    Fermi Paradox 314
    feudalism 76
    Feynman, Richard 262
    Feynman diagrams, time travel 315–16
    fiction
    â€˜alternate universe’ stories 312–13
    getting inside another person’s mind 282
    time travel 313–14
    see also storytelling
    Figments of Reality (Stewart and Cohen) 89, 119, 136, 174, 288
    films
    background music 262–3, 265
    narrative imperative 341
    â€˜primitive’ tribes in 265
    watching 273–4
    finches 133
    Finnegan’s Wake (Joyce) 50*
    fire 57
    Fire Dance (Falla) 264
    First Law of Thermodynamics 189, 190
    fish, adaptive radiation 133–4
    Fisher, Ronald Aylmer 213, 214
    flames 57
    Flintstones 264
    Florida 27
    food, and human evolution 92
    Ford Model T 118
    forest elephants 110–11
    forests 107–8
    fortune-telling 168
    fossils
    apes 107, 108
    hominids 88
    free will 164–6
    animals 165
    laws of physics and 174–5
    paradoxes of 168–9
    tests for 174
    tribalism and 167, 170–1
    Freemasons 71*, 238
    French language 269
    frequencies
    hearing 268
    pitch and harmony 270
    Freud, Sigmund 264
    Fritz, Jonathan 288
    fruit 217*
    fundamental constants, physics 28, 30, 48
    future possibilities
    attitudes to 164–75
    chaos theory 304–5
    cheating predictions 307–8
    determinism 303–4
    free will 165–6
    â€˜time-binding’ ability 156, 166, 215
    time travel 313–16
    see also predictions
    G
    gaits, patterns of movement 270
    Galápagos islands 133
    galaxies, and cold dark matter 20
    Galen 67
    Galileo Galilei 242–3, 245
    Gandhi, Mahatma 86*
    Garden of Eden 276
    gardens 153
    gases, thermodynamics 48, 54–5, 56, 189–93, 195–6
    Geffrye Museum, London 134
    general relativity, theory of 314–15
    Genesis 125*
    genetically modified organisms 118
    genetics
    altruism 213–14, 215
    basic unit 330–1
    cloning 31
    Cohen family 141–3
    and culture 93–4
    DNA 51–4, 185–8
    and evolution 94
    human diversity 122, 132–3
    immune system 124–5, 131–2
    mitochondrial DNA 123–4
    Y-chromosome 141, 142–3
    genomes
    DNA phase space 51–4
    human evolution 88
    information 185–7
    meaning 188
    Georgiadis, Nicholas 110–11
    Germany, World War II 311, 312
    Gerrold, David 314
    gibbons 108
    goats 117
    God 171
    images of 342, 344
    as lord of knowledge 236
    monotheism 172, 247
    pantheism 77
    personification of 211–12
    proof of existence