The Science of Discworld II
Page 41
sentences, hearing 273
Sephardi 141
Seton, Alexander 68
sex
adultery 142
in nursery stories 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
‘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
‘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
‘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
‘arrow of time’ 190, 191, 192, 194, 195
in music 242–3, 274
predicting future 303–5
‘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 265
traditions, cultural identity 98
tragedy, Greek drama 341
travel sickness 274
trees, growth rings 188
tribalism
and barbarism 137–41
commitment strategies 215–16
cultural identity 95–8
fatalism 167–8, 171
music 263, 264–5
perceptual abilities 276–7
puberty rituals 134–7
rules 116, 167
storytelling 96–8, 158
triple-alpha process, carbon formation 28–30
Trobriand Islanders 264
trotting horses 242, 243–4
truth 289–93
tunes 271–3, 274–5
Turner, J.M.W. 275
Twin Paradox, wormholes 315
U
ultraviolet light 290
unicorns 247
United States of America, Amish 142
universe
‘arrow of time’ 191, 192, 195
Big Bang 193, 194, 239, 247
carbon formation 27–30
cold dark matter 20
complexity 193–5
entropy 190, 193–6
&
nbsp; fundamental constants 28, 30, 48
future possibilities 165
as information 196–8
laws of nature 19
‘many-worlds’ concept 197–8, 313
need for storytelling 326
pantheism 77
parallel universes 311, 313
phase spaces 48
predictability 304–5
and religion 209–12, 213
role of science 246
worldviews 248
unnatural selection 135
Up the Line (Silverberg) 313
Ur 210
The User Illusion (Nørretranders) 187
V
Valhalla 157, 206
vampires 247*, 341
Vedas 169
verbal ability, Jews 137
Verne, Jules 27
Victoria, Lake 133–4
viruses
computer 329
mutations 52
vision 288
colour and 289–90
perception 266–8, 273–4
visual cortex, brain 267–8, 288
vomeronasal organ 287
W
waller, Fats 262
warfare, commitment strategy 215
Warwickshire, enclosure uprisings 99
wasps 93, 284
water
Archimedean screw 237
phase space 44–5, 46
Watergate scandal 304
Watson, James 185
weather, predictability 304
weaver birds 116
The Well-Tempered Clavier (Bach) 270
Wells, H.G. 313, 314
werewolves 247, 341
West, John 110*
West of Eden (Harrison) 312–13
whales 90, 110*
‘what if’ questions 155–6, 311
Wheeler, John Archibald 197
Whewell, William 236
White Holes 315
‘why’ questions 47
wild dogs 109
Wild West 79
Will of God 326
Winnie the Pooh 26, 96, 156, 212
wish-fulfilment 74–5, 76, 77
witches 66, 343
wizards 9
wolves 119, 122, 133
women, mitochondrial DNA 123–4
Wonderful Life (Gould) 312–13
woods-apes 108
work cycles, autonomous agents 57
World War I 311
World War II 311, 312
worldviews 248
wormholes 315
wounds, healing 68
Y
Y-chromosome 141, 142–3
Y2K predictions 173–4
yeti 113, 341
Yom Kippur 139
Yoruba 133
Z
Zaire 111
zebras 149–50, 151
Zinjanthropus 109
zodiac 65, 169
Zulus 132
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First published in Great Britain in 2002
This edition published in 2003
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