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Paradigms Regained: A Further Exploration of the Mysteries of Modern Science
The author of Paradigms Lost explores the complexities of modern scientific thought by examining the mysteries of modern science, ranging from the origins of life to the roots of human language. Reprint.
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
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About the author
John L. Casti
60 books22 followersJohn L. Casti (born 1943) is an author, mathematician, and entrepreneur.
As a mathematician and researcher, Casti received his Ph.D. under Richard Bellman at the University of Southern California. He worked at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, CA, and served on the faculties of the University of Arizona, New York University and Princeton University, before moving to Vienna in 1973 to become one of the first members of the research staff at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenburg, Austria. In 1986, he left IIASA to take up a position as a Professor of Operations Research and System Theory at the Technical University of Vienna. He also served as a member of the External Faculty of the Santa Fe Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, from 1992-2002, where he worked extensively on the application of biological metaphors to the mathematical modeling of problems in economics, finance and road-traffic networks, as well as on large-scale computer simulations for the study of such networks.
His primary research interests have shifted somewhat in recent years from the natural sciences to the exploration of questions in the social and behavioral realm. One thread has been exploration of the relationship between the social "mood" of a population its biasing effect on actions and behaviors. In this direction, his 2010 book, Mood Matters: From Rising Skirt Lengths to the Collapse of World Powers, published by Copernicus Books, NY, addresses the directions and patterns of social causation and their implications for future trends and collective social events, such as styles in popular culture, the outcome of political processes, and even the rise and fall of civilizations. His most recent book is X-EVENTS: The Collapse of Everything, which addresses the underlying cause of extreme events generated by human inattention, misunderstanding, error, stupidity and/or malevolent intent. The English original edition was published in June 2012 by HarperCollins/Morrow, New York. The book now exists in 15 foreign editions, as well, including German, Japanese, Russian, Dutch, Korean and Portuguese.
As an entrepreneur, Casti formed two companies in Santa Fe and London in 2000, Qforma, Inc. and SimWorld, Ltd, respectively, devoted to the employment of tools and concepts from modern system theory for the solution of problems in business and finance, as well as health care. Qforma merged with SkilaMederi in June 2013. In early 2005 he returned to Vienna where he co-founded The Kenos Circle, a professional society that aims to make use of complexity science in order to gain a deeper insight into the future than that offered by more conventional statistical tools.
For several years, Professor Casti was a Senior Research Scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria, where he created an initiative for the study on Extreme Events in Human Society. In January 2012 he left IIASA to form a new research institute in Vienna, The X-Center, devoted to the study of human-caused extreme events. The X-Center has now expanded to a network of affiliated X-Centers in Helsinki, Tokyo, Seoul, New York and Singapore. Since early 2013, Dr. Casti has been serving as a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Complex Systems and Enterprises at the Stevens Institute of Technology in the USA.
As an author, Casti has written more than 120 scientific articles and seven technical monographs and textbooks on mathematical modeling. In addition, he was formerly editor of the journals Applied Mathematics & Computation (Elsevier, New York) and Complexity (Wiley, New York). In 1989 his text/reference works Alternate Realities: Mathematical Models of Nature and Man (Wiley, 1989) was awarded a prize by the Association of American Publishers in a competition among all scholarly books published in mathematics and the natural sciences. In 1992, he also published Reality Rules (Wiley, New York), a t
As a mathematician and researcher, Casti received his Ph.D. under Richard Bellman at the University of Southern California. He worked at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, CA, and served on the faculties of the University of Arizona, New York University and Princeton University, before moving to Vienna in 1973 to become one of the first members of the research staff at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenburg, Austria. In 1986, he left IIASA to take up a position as a Professor of Operations Research and System Theory at the Technical University of Vienna. He also served as a member of the External Faculty of the Santa Fe Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, from 1992-2002, where he worked extensively on the application of biological metaphors to the mathematical modeling of problems in economics, finance and road-traffic networks, as well as on large-scale computer simulations for the study of such networks.
His primary research interests have shifted somewhat in recent years from the natural sciences to the exploration of questions in the social and behavioral realm. One thread has been exploration of the relationship between the social "mood" of a population its biasing effect on actions and behaviors. In this direction, his 2010 book, Mood Matters: From Rising Skirt Lengths to the Collapse of World Powers, published by Copernicus Books, NY, addresses the directions and patterns of social causation and their implications for future trends and collective social events, such as styles in popular culture, the outcome of political processes, and even the rise and fall of civilizations. His most recent book is X-EVENTS: The Collapse of Everything, which addresses the underlying cause of extreme events generated by human inattention, misunderstanding, error, stupidity and/or malevolent intent. The English original edition was published in June 2012 by HarperCollins/Morrow, New York. The book now exists in 15 foreign editions, as well, including German, Japanese, Russian, Dutch, Korean and Portuguese.
As an entrepreneur, Casti formed two companies in Santa Fe and London in 2000, Qforma, Inc. and SimWorld, Ltd, respectively, devoted to the employment of tools and concepts from modern system theory for the solution of problems in business and finance, as well as health care. Qforma merged with SkilaMederi in June 2013. In early 2005 he returned to Vienna where he co-founded The Kenos Circle, a professional society that aims to make use of complexity science in order to gain a deeper insight into the future than that offered by more conventional statistical tools.
For several years, Professor Casti was a Senior Research Scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria, where he created an initiative for the study on Extreme Events in Human Society. In January 2012 he left IIASA to form a new research institute in Vienna, The X-Center, devoted to the study of human-caused extreme events. The X-Center has now expanded to a network of affiliated X-Centers in Helsinki, Tokyo, Seoul, New York and Singapore. Since early 2013, Dr. Casti has been serving as a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Complex Systems and Enterprises at the Stevens Institute of Technology in the USA.
As an author, Casti has written more than 120 scientific articles and seven technical monographs and textbooks on mathematical modeling. In addition, he was formerly editor of the journals Applied Mathematics & Computation (Elsevier, New York) and Complexity (Wiley, New York). In 1989 his text/reference works Alternate Realities: Mathematical Models of Nature and Man (Wiley, 1989) was awarded a prize by the Association of American Publishers in a competition among all scholarly books published in mathematics and the natural sciences. In 1992, he also published Reality Rules (Wiley, New York), a t
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 20, 2015
There are a lot of conflict of opinion between Proponents and opponents each chapter.
they are very interesting !
The results are not yet attached .................................
March 22, 2023
ISBN= 0 380 73171 1 John L. Casti
This book was an assignment for my first research class at NOVA Southeastern University in early 2006 and is the sequel to Paradigms Lost. The book revisits the same topics from the earlier book and it makes the point that science and research are never static. Since science had changed since the first book was written the author felt the need to update the conclusions of the first work. Casti summarizes general statements about science in chapter 1 as he did in the earlier book. I see these points as follows:
• We see what we see because of the way we look.
• Science does not seem to enforce / re-enforce atheism. There is room for God and science.
• Humans have contradictory views on a host of issues including God.
• Science has many filters / committees of experts / peer reviews
• Science is impartial, egalitarian and meritocratic
• Scientists are portrayed many ways: evil, noble, obsessive, rationalist, and adventurer.
• Science is tentative it is always subject to modification in light of new evidence.
He revisits the same topics:
1. The start of life on earth.
2. Human behavior and how genes and environment affect behavior.
3. Speech the result of overall development or the result of a special “organ” in the brain
4. Digital computers can think like a human
5. There are other intelligent beings in the universe
6. There is no reality without observation.
Casti introduces new discoveries hence driving home the need for the revised version of the book. Casti modifies his opinion on several topics since further scientific knowledge has been gained since he authored the first book. I think it makes the point that research and science are never static and the very nature of science is that it is not cast in stone.
Mark D
This book was an assignment for my first research class at NOVA Southeastern University in early 2006 and is the sequel to Paradigms Lost. The book revisits the same topics from the earlier book and it makes the point that science and research are never static. Since science had changed since the first book was written the author felt the need to update the conclusions of the first work. Casti summarizes general statements about science in chapter 1 as he did in the earlier book. I see these points as follows:
• We see what we see because of the way we look.
• Science does not seem to enforce / re-enforce atheism. There is room for God and science.
• Humans have contradictory views on a host of issues including God.
• Science has many filters / committees of experts / peer reviews
• Science is impartial, egalitarian and meritocratic
• Scientists are portrayed many ways: evil, noble, obsessive, rationalist, and adventurer.
• Science is tentative it is always subject to modification in light of new evidence.
He revisits the same topics:
1. The start of life on earth.
2. Human behavior and how genes and environment affect behavior.
3. Speech the result of overall development or the result of a special “organ” in the brain
4. Digital computers can think like a human
5. There are other intelligent beings in the universe
6. There is no reality without observation.
Casti introduces new discoveries hence driving home the need for the revised version of the book. Casti modifies his opinion on several topics since further scientific knowledge has been gained since he authored the first book. I think it makes the point that research and science are never static and the very nature of science is that it is not cast in stone.
Mark D
April 24, 2020
This promised to be interesting. After 10 years Casti returns to the six cases of his Paradigms lost. To appeal. But as it turns out nothing really has changed. At least in the eyes of Casti, so this is quite shallow. Although I think that in the Case of Chomsky the evidence against the notion of a language organ is very strong.
June 13, 2018
Casti's on-going exploration and questionings of modern science, re-considering the general aspects and 'facts' of artificial intelligence, language, origins of life, and reality...
December 6, 2011
This book (paperback published in 2001) is a follow-up on the author's book 'Paradigms Lost' published in 1989 (which I have not read). It covers further developments over the intervening ten years or so on six aspects of modern science. Casti uses the conceit of identifying the various fields of study as presenting a case for the prosecution, with counterarguments then presented as the case for the defence, and then, after examining all the evidence, presenting his conclusions as if he were the juror in the decision. If I understand it correctly the original book determined: 1. that life arose out of the natural physical processes here on earth; 2. that human behaviour patterns are dictated primarily by the genes; 3. that human language capacity stems from a unique, innate property of the brain; 4. that digital computers can, in principle, literally think; 5. that there exist intelligent beings in our galaxy with whom we can communicate; and 6. that tree exists no objective reality independent of an observer.
Over the last decade or so, there have been further developments in each of these fields, and Casti presents them again, following the 'judicial' method used in the earlier book, to see what, if anything, has changed. If you don't want to know what these conclusions are, then you should skip the next paragraph.
Of the six issues, the appeal to have the earlier decisions changed was denied for issues 3, 4 and 5; and upheld for decisions 1, 2 and 6. I had some confusion in my mind relating to the counterintuitive use of the words 'prosecution' and 'defence' (particularly the latter, because I kept on thinking it was defending the original stand, whereas in fact it wasn't… Perhaps a more specific rewording of the original and then a rewriting of the new version (if required) would have helped). Specifically, what Casti is saying is that there is insufficient further evidence to change issues 3, 4 and 5 (with issue 4 being further reinforced from extra studies. In the issues where the appeal to alter was upheld, issue 1 really upheld the original idea that life origins are earthly, but there was a case of changing the main argument from the 'clay' model to the RNA model; the upheld appeal to change issue 2 was again not one to change the original issue, but to indicate that in 2001 there was an even stronger case for the predominance of the genes, whereas in the earlier decision that choice was made but only because the issue was so close that it was not as clear cut as it was in 2001. It is only with issue 6 that there appears to have been a complete switchover, with the author now plumbing for an acceptance of reality (in the quantum area) independent of the observer.
Perhaps the most significant thing about this book however, is not the conclusions arrived at in 2001, but that it shows in practice just how ideas in science are generated, subjected to revision and reconsideration, and if need be, new conclusions arrived at, even within such a short time period as 10 years. The argumentation is not always easy reading, but Casti does a very good job of communicating the processes involved. It is now a further 10 years along, and it will be interesting to see if a new version will be published soon.
Over the last decade or so, there have been further developments in each of these fields, and Casti presents them again, following the 'judicial' method used in the earlier book, to see what, if anything, has changed. If you don't want to know what these conclusions are, then you should skip the next paragraph.
Of the six issues, the appeal to have the earlier decisions changed was denied for issues 3, 4 and 5; and upheld for decisions 1, 2 and 6. I had some confusion in my mind relating to the counterintuitive use of the words 'prosecution' and 'defence' (particularly the latter, because I kept on thinking it was defending the original stand, whereas in fact it wasn't… Perhaps a more specific rewording of the original and then a rewriting of the new version (if required) would have helped). Specifically, what Casti is saying is that there is insufficient further evidence to change issues 3, 4 and 5 (with issue 4 being further reinforced from extra studies. In the issues where the appeal to alter was upheld, issue 1 really upheld the original idea that life origins are earthly, but there was a case of changing the main argument from the 'clay' model to the RNA model; the upheld appeal to change issue 2 was again not one to change the original issue, but to indicate that in 2001 there was an even stronger case for the predominance of the genes, whereas in the earlier decision that choice was made but only because the issue was so close that it was not as clear cut as it was in 2001. It is only with issue 6 that there appears to have been a complete switchover, with the author now plumbing for an acceptance of reality (in the quantum area) independent of the observer.
Perhaps the most significant thing about this book however, is not the conclusions arrived at in 2001, but that it shows in practice just how ideas in science are generated, subjected to revision and reconsideration, and if need be, new conclusions arrived at, even within such a short time period as 10 years. The argumentation is not always easy reading, but Casti does a very good job of communicating the processes involved. It is now a further 10 years along, and it will be interesting to see if a new version will be published soon.
August 13, 2010
The book addresses the point: "It's a decade after "Paradigms Lost", what's happened since then?"
I liked the first book and expected to like this volume as much, if not more (because the science was a decade closer to today -- a decade beyond it itself). Silly me. While it is a good book and one whose content I enjoyed, I was a bit disappointed.
First off, it is a slimmer volume that the prior one. So, if it's later and there is arguably more material to cover, then thinner could have been a hint as to how the books might compare. Actually, I was hoping (since I did not pre-read any reviews or the fly-leaf) that Casti was going to cover different material than before.
Instead, this book is a revisiting (and re-judging) of the same issues and arguments (updated, of course) as before. Once I accepted that premise, then seeing how the new material built on the previous ideas and positions was okay. But since it is slimmer, the book makes numerous references back to the original volume. So, if you did not read "Paradigms Lost", you might appreciate the overall thrust and presentations, but you will feel like you picked up "The Two Towers" without having seen, heard of, or read "The Fellowship of The Ring" (not to mention, "The Hobbit"). Even the reference section does the same.
Nonetheless, the book has the same high level of clarity, directness and great explanations that characterized the previous work, and I hope, all of the authors other books. So, I recommend the book, but with two caveats:
1) You must be interested in the development of these issues and ideas, not just the latest developments in one corner of a topic.
2) You must read them in order: "Paradigms Lost", then "Paradigms Regained".
Although the title is a cute play on lost vs. regained, it's really "revisited" that fits the bill best.
I liked the first book and expected to like this volume as much, if not more (because the science was a decade closer to today -- a decade beyond it itself). Silly me. While it is a good book and one whose content I enjoyed, I was a bit disappointed.
First off, it is a slimmer volume that the prior one. So, if it's later and there is arguably more material to cover, then thinner could have been a hint as to how the books might compare. Actually, I was hoping (since I did not pre-read any reviews or the fly-leaf) that Casti was going to cover different material than before.
Instead, this book is a revisiting (and re-judging) of the same issues and arguments (updated, of course) as before. Once I accepted that premise, then seeing how the new material built on the previous ideas and positions was okay. But since it is slimmer, the book makes numerous references back to the original volume. So, if you did not read "Paradigms Lost", you might appreciate the overall thrust and presentations, but you will feel like you picked up "The Two Towers" without having seen, heard of, or read "The Fellowship of The Ring" (not to mention, "The Hobbit"). Even the reference section does the same.
Nonetheless, the book has the same high level of clarity, directness and great explanations that characterized the previous work, and I hope, all of the authors other books. So, I recommend the book, but with two caveats:
1) You must be interested in the development of these issues and ideas, not just the latest developments in one corner of a topic.
2) You must read them in order: "Paradigms Lost", then "Paradigms Regained".
Although the title is a cute play on lost vs. regained, it's really "revisited" that fits the bill best.
January 4, 2013
knowledgeable author but not a good writer.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews