The Science of Discworld II

115
    predicting sex of babies 307–8
    sex hormones 287
    Shakespeare, William 89, 298–300, 301, 307, 323, 345
    barbarism and tribalism 86, 99–100, 138
    The Comedy of Errors 334
    Hamlet 271
    Macbeth 343
    memes 333
    A Midsummer Night’s Dream 100, 327, 335–6, 342–4
    modern mind and 265–6
    Shannon, Claude, information theory 182–3, 184, 186, 189, 192
    â€˜Shema’ prayer 331*
    Siegfried 158
    sight 288
    colour and 289–90
    perception 266–8, 273–4
    sign language 154
    signals
    compressing 183–4
    information 182–3
    patterns 183–4
    silk moths 116
    Silverberg, Robert 313, 314
    Simmons, James 288
    Sivapithecus 108
    slaves 242
    Slovenia 131
    smell, sense of 284, 286–7
    smiles, babies 153–4
    soap bubbles, shape of 45–6
    social animals, cultural evolution 94–5
    society
    and magic of technology 76
    puberty rituals 134–7
    solar system
    phase space 47, 56, 303
    predictability 304, 305
    sonar 288
    songs
    â€˜Happy Birthday to You’ 328, 329
    and time 242
    words of 273
    Sophocles 341
    sounds
    echo-location 287–9
    hearing 268–9, 290
    music 270
    understanding language 283
    South Africa 113, 131
    South America 95
    space travel
    Moon landings 27
    space elevator 88–9
    wormholes 315
    spacetime, theory of relativity 314–15
    Spain 121, 141
    Spanish Inquisition 218, 220, 221–2
    species
    evolution 93
    extinction 133–4
    interbreeding 110, 111
    polyphyletic species 122
    speech, development of 269, 290
    see also language
    Speel, Hans-Cees 332
    spells 74
    sperm count, human 245*
    spheres, volume 46
    Spinoza, Baruch 66, 76–7, 78
    spirituality 70, 208–9, 222
    Stanford, Leland Jr 242
    stars
    astrology 66
    constellations 170
    red giants 28, 29, 30
    states, phase spaces 44–8
    Stenger, Victor 30
    Stone Age 264
    storytelling 23, 26–7, 31–2, 66
    â€˜adult’ stories 75
    alternative scenarios 151, 155–6
    archetypal stories 340–1
    barbarians 157–8
    basic plots 173
    causality 74–5
    and child development 74–5, 78–9, 151–2, 326–7, 342
    computer’s inability to understand 53
    and cultural identity 96–8
    emergent dynamics 303
    exploration of alternatives 47
    feminist myths 79
    future possibilities 171, 174
    guessing what other people feel 282–3
    in history 309
    iconic figures 74, 155
    importance of 116–17
    and information 182
    language and 158–9
    learning from failure 78–9
    and meaning 184–5
    myths 344–5
    narrative imperative 24, 324–5, 327, 341
    newspapers 325–6
    power of stories 323–7, 330, 333
    science as 246–7, 248, 326
    teaching children 114–15
    see also fiction
    Stravinsky, Igor 263, 264
    subatomic particles, quantum mechanics 306–7
    submarines 288
    sulphuric acid 66
    supermarkets 76
    supernatural 247
    superstitions 301, 344
    Supply and Demand, Law of 51
    swallows 116
    Swift, Jonathan 222
    swimming 91
    symbiosis, and human evolution 117–18
    Symons, John 142
    syphilis 68
    systems
    phase spaces 44–8
    work cycles 57
    see also dynamical systems
    T
    Tanganyika, Lake 134*
    tarantula wasps 93
    taxi-drivers, economic phase space 51
    teaching 93–4, 291
    technology
    ancient Greeks 70, 237–8, 242, 243
    conflicts with religion 171–2
    as magic 73, 75, 76
    and science 238
    teeth, co-evolution 310
    telepathy 282
    television 344
    advertising 329
    background music 262–3
    watching 273–4
    Teresa, Mother 333
    texture, sense of 288
    theatre 282–3, 340–1
    theories, scientific method 239–41, 248–9
    Theory of Everything 247
    thermodynamics
    entropy 189–90, 192–3, 195
    First Law of Thermodynamics 189, 190
    models of universe 195–6
    phase spaces 48, 54–5, 56
    Second Law of Thermodynamics 55, 57, 189–91, 193, 196
    Third Law of Thermodynamics 189, 190
    and time-reversibility 190–1
    things, personifying 211–12
    thought
    perception and 289
    physical processes 21–2
    thymine 52
    Tibet 107
    time
    â€˜arrow of time’ 190, 191, 192, 194, 195
    in music 242–3, 274
    predicting future 303–5
    â€˜time-binding’ ability 156, 166, 215
    time-reversibility 190–1, 193–4
    time travel 164, 313–16
    The Time Machine (Wells) 313
    The Times 292
    titanotheres 310
    tomatoes 217*
    tools
    australopithecines 109
    Neanderthals 114
    Tooth Fairy 97–8
    Torah 66
    torture 136, 218, 220, 221–2
    tourism