Bedeviled: A Shadow History of Demons in Science

by Jimena Canales

How scientists through the ages have conducted thought experiments using imaginary entities--demons--to test the laws of nature and push the frontiers of what is possible.

Science may be known for banishing the demons of superstition from the modern world. Yet just as the demon-haunted world was being exorcized by the enlightening power of reason, a new kind of demon mischievously materialized in the scientific imagination itself. Scientists began to employ hypothetical beings to perform certain roles in thought experiments--experiments that can only be done in the imagination--and these impish assistants helped scientists achieve major breakthroughs that pushed forward the frontiers of science and technology.

Spanning four centuries of discovery--from Rene Descartes, whose demon could hijack sensorial reality, to James Clerk Maxwell, whose molecular-sized demon deftly broke the second law of thermodynamics, to Darwin, Einstein, Feynman, and beyond--Jimena Canales tells a shadow history of science and the demons that bedevil it. She reveals how the greatest scientific thinkers used demons to explore problems, test the limits of what is possible, and better understand nature. Their imaginary familiars helped unlock the secrets of entropy, heredity, relativity, quantum mechanics, and other scientific wonders--and continue to inspire breakthroughs in the realms of computer science, artificial intelligence, and economics today.

The world may no longer be haunted as it once was, but the demons of the scientific imagination are alive and well, continuing to play a vital role in scientists' efforts to explore the unknown and make the impossible real.

Genres: Science, History, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Physics

416 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2020

Reviews

[cardulelia carduelis · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was the first book I received in the science-based book-box from 51st Street Seminary Books in Chicago.
And I was a bit surprised when it arrived. For a popular-science litbox I was expecting: popular science. Not social histories written through the lens of a historian. Nevertheless I went into this with as open a mind as possible.

Unfortunately, even before the main text started I was starting to worry. After finishing the introduction I got the impression that Canales intended to pathologise constructs in thought experiments and the way science approaches the unknown. There were some strange hyperbolae, e.g. "To catch them [demons], scientists must think like them." And I know this was meant in terms of planning for the unknown but it sounded so ominous. At the end of the foreword Canales writes about creating a "Modern demonology for the twnetieth century", which in this context seems absolutely contrived: unless she meant to factor scientific mishaps into this? (spoiler: she doesn't).

The further I read the more frustrated I became. The author seems prone to hyperbolae and repetition. Her prose is clouded with peripheral quotes backing up every single statement made. For example in Chapter 3, Maxewell's Demon, the first 3 pages of the chapter serve to convince the reader than Maxwell was a big deal, but I'll be damned if there's an ounce of content in the entire thing. When we actually get around to describing the 'demons', and the hole in our knowledge they attempt to plaster over, the scientific question they're associated with is again seen through the obsfucated eye of a historian. I found myself more confused leaving the chapter than entering it.

For the rest of the book Maxwell's demon resurfaces again and again. The most cringey moment for me was the bit about daemon programs: that literally are just programs running in the background on a computer. In Canales's frame though we get a goose chase going from the imitation game to machine learning. The whole book reads this way and it's exhausting.

I will say that some of the actual content, when we got to it, was new to me and interesting, e.g. King James's demonology.
I started skimming this book after the 50 page mark. Cannot recommend.

[Entintadas · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Es importante distinguir entre lo que no existe ahora y lo que nunca existirá"


En este libro la autora nos presenta la otra historia de la ciencia, centrada en lo que no se ha descubierto, en las incógnitas que quedan después de un gran éxito científico. La lectura es interesante gracias a ello, ya que vas saltando de autor en autor, ves sus debates e incertidumbres y lo que ha impulsado al avance tecnológico. A pesar de ello, es un libro denso y, a mi parecer, demasiado centrado en la física y dándole mucha menos importancia a otras ciencias. Me habría gustado saber más de las incógnitas que se dan en otras ramas como la biología o la medicina más en profundidad, ya que de éstas sólo se dan algunas pinceladas.

Soy una amante de la ciencia y me apasiona aprender cosas nuevas, por ello cogí este libro. Sin embargo, la obra de Canales me queda un poco floja ya que, como digo, está muy centrada en el ámbito de la física. Además, la narrativa siento que no ayuda, abusa de citar directamente las fuentes y, aunque esto hace que sea más veraz, también creo que hace que la narración sea menos fluida. Habría agradecido citas menos literales y que se mezclase un poco más con narrativa pura de la autora, aunque se perdiese algo de veracidad o fidelidad a la fuente.

Es un libro interesante si te gusta la ciencia, pero para leer con calma, ya que no pierde detalle al explicar muchos de los descubrimientos. Lo recomiendo sobre todo para alguien del ámbito de la física, las matemáticas o la ingeniería. Si eres de otras ramas (como yo), creo que saldrás algo decepcionade.

Irbis.

[Ramin · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Here's an excerpt of the review I wrote for Nature magazine. Please check out the whole essay here: https://www.nature.com/articles/d4158... ]

The workings of powerful computers, the processes of evolution, the market forces that drive the global economy. To conceptualize such unseen forces, researchers have long invoked thought experiments involving demons, devils, golems or genies.

These strange beasts aren’t creatures of superstition and pseudoscience. They are useful ideas that have had an important role in the advancement of science, argues historian of science Jimena Canales. Her latest book, Bedeviled, sizes up imagined imps over the centuries and follows their impacts.

The seventeenth-century French philosopher René Descartes conceived of the disturbing possibility that some devious spirit could hijack our sense of reality. This ‘malicious demon’ would affect what we think we see, hear, smell and touch — presaging how virtual reality challenges us today. Descartes’s idea caused him to question his senses, and even his existence. He found his way back to reality by asserting that cogito ergo sum — he thought, therefore he was. A reasoning human being foiled the deceptive demon...

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a doctorate in the History of Science and teach science at a university. The best things about history of science is its ability to teach science by taking you through the process of how it was created. The history of science is invaluable this way. I am an old hat at most of these ideas, but my understanding was deepened by reading the thought processes from which these concepts arose. It is better to be "shown" than "told."

There are some truly terrible history of science books that don't analyze. They simply narrate. This is not one. The key to this work's success lies in its power to see beyond the narrative.

This book tends to lose some of its power when it tries to be overly comprehensive. I'm the first to understand the need for thoroughness as a scholar, however, this seems to be marketed to a general audience (obviously not the author's fault). The encyclopedic nature of the final chapters makes the latter portion of the book seem overwhelming. It begins to feel more like a chore at points.

However, this is a fresh way to understand some important scientific principles.

[Esteban Martínez · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very original take on the history of science. Studying the analogies scientists use sheds light into the creative process of scientific discovery. I liked the approach, it kind of feels very novel, like a new way of thinking about science.

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book for history but not as much for the details of the thought experiments themselves (at least from a math/physics detail perspective). I admit that I was hoping for a more technical read with a deeper dive into the various "demons", which led me to have different expectations for this book. Canales starts with Descartes' thought experiment (brain in a vat, essentially), goes on to Laplace's demon, and mostly stays with Maxwell's demon for the rest of the book with forays into daemons in computer science, applications in biology, and applications in economics.

The book is not technical (there may have been one or two equations mentioned, but I don't think any were used), and so may be more ideal for a lay reader. I was familiar with these concepts in physics and so had hoped the book would dig deeper into the technicalities, and so did not always feel immersed in the book. The writing is good (not overly academic or flowery), and the basics of each of the thought experiments are explained well, but the book just was not quite what I was expecting and so I felt a bit disappointed.

The history is interesting and well-explained as well so that this will serve as a good reference if I ever want to delve more into the thought experiments. I also thought the author made good points about what is "real" in science and how those conceptions affect scientific progress in the conclusion (although I would not agree with all these points), but felt this part was a bit too short to fully develop the nuance I think would have made these passages great.

[Subhadra Jayaraman · Rating 4 out of 5]

😈 𝐁𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐉𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐚 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 😈
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"𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒙 𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒏𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔"
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This shadow history of demons in science was a fantastic, artful take on the history of thought and scientific discoveries
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Jimena Canales takes us through various philosophical and scientific theories and their development by thinkers who conjured up demons as tools of thought to answer the most fundamental questions and satiate the most fabulous curiosities
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Descartes' philosophical demon, Maxwell's sorting demon, Laplace's statistics demon, and even Darwin's genetic demon - were all as important in the theories of these thinkers as were their intellectual observations of the physical world
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The book is quite heavy on the scientific side, and it takes a while to absorb the laws and theories that are the sidekicks in this book to the demonic protagonists, so I would recommend this to anyone who loves everything science and is looking to explore the old and new ways of thinking
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I absolutely loved the audiobook narrator, Peter Berkrot. He was just perfect for this book, with his Ramsay Bolton-like voice and accent, making the story of demons all the more real!
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"𝑫𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒍 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒖𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔"

[Manuel Javier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Libro al que sobran 250 páginas.
Puedo parecer bruto, pero es así. Es un recorrido científico desde Laplace hasta nuestros días en el que se introduce la figura del diablo/demonio en todo aquello que sirvió de duda o desconocimiento mientras se investigaba.
La ciencia, y su método, usaron la veracidad y la comprobación como base para investigar y entender qué ocurre y por qué pasan las cosas. Desde los principios de la termodinámica hasta el hallazgo del microchip, pasando por la energía nuclear, el recorrido ha estado repleto de sombras y recovecos que ocultaron la realidad a los ojos del hombre y nunca faltó quien echó mano del mito, la magia e incluso del maligno para entender sus estudios.
El hombre no tiene que saberlo todo, pero cuando busca la verdad o intenta comprender las cosas debe hacer todo lo posible para ofrecer respuestas o parecer que sabe lo que está haciendo. Cuando no lo consigue lo moral puede alejarse de lo científico. La tecnología choca con la ética y ahí empiezan los problemas.
No lo volveré a leer. Demasiada intensidad. Soy de los que prefieren quedarse sin saber un final si esa ignorancia es sincera. Buscar a toda costa una respuesta añade parches y cuestiones que deberán ser imaginadas, y la imaginación ayuda, pero no lo explica todo.

[kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a wonderful mixture of the history of science and philosophy