The Science of Discworld IV

change 156–7
    and fine-tuning 282–95, 299–301
    Hobbes on 157
    and slavery 157
    Nature of Physical Law
,
The
(Feynman) 158
    New England Complex Systems Institute 262
    New Scientist
319
    Newton, Isaac 5–6
    and the apple 158
    and the cat flap 50
    laws of motion of 63, 201, 245–6
    Modified Dynamics (MOND) of 245–6
    and NASA 32
    Niels Klim’s Underground Travels
(Holberg) 112
    Norenzayan, Ara 263
    Novum Organon
(Bacon) 80
    Nut 97
    see also
gods/goddesses
    Occam’s razor 280
    Ocean of Milk 57
    Ogdoad 100
    Ohm’s law 157, 167–8
    Old Illinois Drainage Canal 109
    Oldham, Henry Yule 107
    Olmecs 52
    Omphalos
(Gosse) 62
n
    On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres
(Copernicus) 278
    One Death 54
    see also
gods/goddesses
    Origin of Species
(Darwin) 6, 7, 141
    origins:
    Earth and Moon 129–33
    life on Earth 133–47
    thunderstorms 126–9
    see also
causality
    Osiris 52
    see also
gods/goddesses
    Owen, Richard 179
n
    Owen, Robert 105
    Paley, William 180, 181, 189
    Pangu 101
    see also
gods/goddesses
    parallelogram 225
    particle physics, beginnings of 16
    particles 15–22, 23
    fundamental 19
    Higgs boson 19–22, 23, 28, 37
    and waves 28
    see also
quantum physics
    Pauling, Linus 62
n
    Peary, Robert 111
    Pellucidar
(Burrows) 113
    Penrose, Roger 245
    Perelman, Grigori 219
    Perry, John 35
    petals 85–6
    Phantom of the Poles
(Reed) 111
    Philolaus 99
    phlogiston 34–5
    photons, behaviour of 73–4
    ‘pianologists’ 160
    Piazzi, Giuseppe 236
    Pinker, Steven 81, 253, 310
    Pioneer
spacecraft 162
n
    Platinga, Alvin 317
    plecostomid catfish 196–7
    Poe, Edgar Allen 113
    Poincaré, Henri 218–19, 221, 241
    Popol Vuh
53–4
    primal mound 52, 97–8
    cosmic egg replaces 100
    Principia Mathematica
(Newton) 6
    probability 266–8
    Ptolemy 279
    Punch, John 280
n
    Puranas
56, 57, 58, 101, 111
    pyramids 47, 97
    Pythagoras 99
    QED
(Feynman) 73
    quantum physics 18, 23, 28, 164–7, 224–6
    and light 73–4
    and origin of particles 241
    relativity linked to 224
    and unified field theory 222–3
    see also
particles
    Ra 97, 100
    see also
gods/goddesses
    radioactivity, discovery of 35–6
    rain, ‘purpose’ of 27
    rainbows 50, 82–3
    Rámáyan of Válmíki
57
    Ramayana
56, 59
    Rationalist International 319
    redshift 237, 243, 245
    Reed, William 111
    Reimann, Bernhard 214, 215
    relativity:
    general 215, 217–18, 238
    and gravity 224
    and unified field theory 222–3
    religion:
    animism 311, 313
    belief/disbelief in 251–71;
see also
belief
    belief ‘that’, ‘in’, ‘about’, confusion among 252
    Cathars 259–60
    and certainty 308
    declining belief in 256
    doubt as anathema to 36
    human-centred explanations from 38;
see also
Anthropic Principle; universe: humanity placed at centre of
    as means or organisation 309–10
    and memes 258–9
    monotheism 311–13
    Polish Jews 260
    science’s uneasy relationship with 38–40, 316–17
    scientific studies of 318
    Scientology 261
    sexism in 23–4
    see also
belief; God; gods/goddesses
    Reufer, Andreas 132
    Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI ) 127
    ribosomes 142–7
passim
    Rig Veda
101
    Ring Nebula 112
    RNA 135–6, 137–44, 145–6
    and viruses 140–2
    see also
origins: life on Earth
    Robertson, Howard 239–40
    Rosicrucians 261
    see also
belief; religion
    Ross, John R. 62
n
    Rowbotham, Samuel Birley 105–6
    Russell, Bertrand 55–6, 62
    Saccimi 53
    see also
gods/goddesses
    Sagan, Carl 62
n
    St Athanasius 102
    St Augustine 103–4
    St Francis Xavier 256
    St John Chrysostom 102
    Santa Fe Institute for Complex Systems 262
    Schrödinger equation 92
n
, 164, 167
    Schrödinger, Irwin 73, 92
n
    Schrödinger’s cat 73, 75, 92
n
    science:
    conceptual errors in 34–5
    funding of 14
    logical inference as tool of 32
    and phlogiston 34–5
    as provisional knowledge 22, 31, 32
    religion’s uneasy relationship with 38–40, 316
    revisionism encouraged by 33
    and theories 32
    Science of Discworld
,
The
(Pratchett, Stewart, Cohen) 4, 70, 131, 137, 311
    Science of Discworld II
,
The
(Pratchett, Stewart, Cohen) 5, 62
n
, 131, 132, 235, 286
    Science of Discworld III
,
The
(Pratchett, Stewart, Cohen) 6, 77, 106, 200, 223, 225, 235
    Science and Religion
(Dennett, Platinga) 317
    Scientific American
240, 263
    scientific method 29, 33
    Scientology 261
    see also
belief; religion
    Seaborn, Capt. Adam 113
    Selene 130
    see also
gods/goddesses
    Seleucus 100
    Seth 52
    see also
gods/goddesses
    Seven Death 54
    see also
gods/goddesses
    Severian of Gabala, Bishop 102
    sexism