A review by sarsaparillo
The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World by David Deutsch
4.0
This is an exciting epistemological thesis from a deep thinker — an account of how knowledge is acquired, according to Deutsch, and the practical, moral and cultural consequences of the theory. The book begins with a tour and critique of the main epistemic positions, including a demolition of empiricism and induction. Later in the book, logical positivism meets the same fate. But this isn't dry argumentation. Deutsch draws on fundamental physics, science fiction and anecdote to makes his points, and provides juicy crash courses in some of the relevant subjects along the way.
Deutsch's tone is confident, bordering on arrogant. He states some conjectures as if they're facts, such as the existence of the multiverse. Opposing viewpoints are termed "misconceptions" in his neatly laid out scheme.
The primary building block of the philosophy here is the "explanation", which is an account of why the world is the way it is. Explanations can be ranked in at least two ways. An explanation is "good" if it can't be varied by much without it failing. It is precise and non-arbitrary. This is related to Ockham's famous Razor. Another measure of an explanation is its "reach". An explanation has reach if it is able to explain phenomena beyond that for which it was originally developed. Prime examples are physical models such as Newton's and Einstein's which can explain the universe well beyond the planet on which their inventor's were confined — their reach is universal.
"Problems are soluble," is the progressive mantra Deutsch repeats throughout the book. Solutions also have wide reach when they solve problems beyond their original target. The evolution of the human mind is prototypical example here. It evolved solve "parochial" problems (this word has a special significance to Deutsch) but ended up becoming a "universal explainer". That is, a "person," using Deutsch's broad definition of that term, which would also apply to any artificial intelligence or alien species that have the same quality of far-reaching explanation generation.
This is the basis for an fascinating exploration various fields of thought, on which Deutsche gives his take. The "principle of mediocrity" and the "spaceship earth" perspective are taken to task, convincingly, for not giving humans their due as the only known universal explainers. Spaceship Earth is the notion that the planet is a finely-tuned human preserving machine, and that by disturbing its function, we imperil ourselves. Deutsch points out that the Earth is, by our own standards, naturally hostile to not only human life but to all species, and that we have only ourselves to thank for the comfort and prosperity we now enjoy. Later, the related notion of "sustainability" is subjected to similar treatment, but one gets the impression that Deutsche is an environmentalist progressive — he is just wary of the conservatism inherent in conservation.
The culture among quantum theorists in the 20th century is likewise criticized for its conservative instrumental attitudes, at odds with science in general.
There are some mind-bending thoughts on mathematics and computer science here. His explanation of why only digital computers (and opposed to analogue) can be universalised, due to error correction being possible with discrete systems, was new to me despite being a computer science buff. He also makes the startling claim that mathematical proof is a physical process of computation, and that the types of theorems that can be proved is dependent on the physical laws of our universe. An example of this are the algorithms only quantum computers can perform, but not classical ones.
The concept of "memes" spends a lot of time in centre stage, and a qualitative comparison is made between ideas and genes. There is an interesting theory on the use of memes in "dynamic" societies (such as the post-enlightenment west), and "static" societies (almost every other time and place). In the former there is a culture of creativity and criticism: memes continually change and - through a process not unlike natural selection - improve. In the latter, memes are self-preserving, encouraging faithful replication and punishing deviation from social norms.
Deutsche is a big fan of the Enlightenment, seeing it as the only time the human race has been able to sustain a "dynamic" society for more than a couple of generations, thanks to a combination of peaceful but self-correcting political institutions with a creative/critical scientific culture. There are clear echos of Pinker's Enlightenment Now, and I've heard Pinker acknowledge this book as an influence. As for influence on this book, Deutsch wears his admiration for Karl Popper on his sleeve, and it feels like one of this book's aims is to carry Popper's torch.
The somewhat silly-sounding "Infinity" in the title is the idea that humanity's ability to explain things and solve problems is unbounded. It is not just a flowery title but a recurrent theme throughout. This is a profoundly optimistic book. But, like Pinker's, it could easily be misunderstood as naive. However, both books when read carefully can be seen as optimistic only in our potential. There is an acknowledged risk that any number of misadventures might steer humanity off the path the infinity and back to static misery, or oblivion.
One thing I found frustrating were the occasional allusions to the notions of emergent phenomena, and levels of abstraction. Deutsch seemed to saying that these high-level descriptions of the world are in some sense "objectively" true. But it felt like these ideas were never fully fleshed out. Perhaps they can be found in another book?
Despite a few misgivings I would highly recommend this book for an interesting perspective on the universe, knowledge, and us.
Deutsch's tone is confident, bordering on arrogant. He states some conjectures as if they're facts, such as the existence of the multiverse. Opposing viewpoints are termed "misconceptions" in his neatly laid out scheme.
The primary building block of the philosophy here is the "explanation", which is an account of why the world is the way it is. Explanations can be ranked in at least two ways. An explanation is "good" if it can't be varied by much without it failing. It is precise and non-arbitrary. This is related to Ockham's famous Razor. Another measure of an explanation is its "reach". An explanation has reach if it is able to explain phenomena beyond that for which it was originally developed. Prime examples are physical models such as Newton's and Einstein's which can explain the universe well beyond the planet on which their inventor's were confined — their reach is universal.
"Problems are soluble," is the progressive mantra Deutsch repeats throughout the book. Solutions also have wide reach when they solve problems beyond their original target. The evolution of the human mind is prototypical example here. It evolved solve "parochial" problems (this word has a special significance to Deutsch) but ended up becoming a "universal explainer". That is, a "person," using Deutsch's broad definition of that term, which would also apply to any artificial intelligence or alien species that have the same quality of far-reaching explanation generation.
This is the basis for an fascinating exploration various fields of thought, on which Deutsche gives his take. The "principle of mediocrity" and the "spaceship earth" perspective are taken to task, convincingly, for not giving humans their due as the only known universal explainers. Spaceship Earth is the notion that the planet is a finely-tuned human preserving machine, and that by disturbing its function, we imperil ourselves. Deutsch points out that the Earth is, by our own standards, naturally hostile to not only human life but to all species, and that we have only ourselves to thank for the comfort and prosperity we now enjoy. Later, the related notion of "sustainability" is subjected to similar treatment, but one gets the impression that Deutsche is an environmentalist progressive — he is just wary of the conservatism inherent in conservation.
The culture among quantum theorists in the 20th century is likewise criticized for its conservative instrumental attitudes, at odds with science in general.
There are some mind-bending thoughts on mathematics and computer science here. His explanation of why only digital computers (and opposed to analogue) can be universalised, due to error correction being possible with discrete systems, was new to me despite being a computer science buff. He also makes the startling claim that mathematical proof is a physical process of computation, and that the types of theorems that can be proved is dependent on the physical laws of our universe. An example of this are the algorithms only quantum computers can perform, but not classical ones.
The concept of "memes" spends a lot of time in centre stage, and a qualitative comparison is made between ideas and genes. There is an interesting theory on the use of memes in "dynamic" societies (such as the post-enlightenment west), and "static" societies (almost every other time and place). In the former there is a culture of creativity and criticism: memes continually change and - through a process not unlike natural selection - improve. In the latter, memes are self-preserving, encouraging faithful replication and punishing deviation from social norms.
Deutsche is a big fan of the Enlightenment, seeing it as the only time the human race has been able to sustain a "dynamic" society for more than a couple of generations, thanks to a combination of peaceful but self-correcting political institutions with a creative/critical scientific culture. There are clear echos of Pinker's Enlightenment Now, and I've heard Pinker acknowledge this book as an influence. As for influence on this book, Deutsch wears his admiration for Karl Popper on his sleeve, and it feels like one of this book's aims is to carry Popper's torch.
The somewhat silly-sounding "Infinity" in the title is the idea that humanity's ability to explain things and solve problems is unbounded. It is not just a flowery title but a recurrent theme throughout. This is a profoundly optimistic book. But, like Pinker's, it could easily be misunderstood as naive. However, both books when read carefully can be seen as optimistic only in our potential. There is an acknowledged risk that any number of misadventures might steer humanity off the path the infinity and back to static misery, or oblivion.
One thing I found frustrating were the occasional allusions to the notions of emergent phenomena, and levels of abstraction. Deutsch seemed to saying that these high-level descriptions of the world are in some sense "objectively" true. But it felt like these ideas were never fully fleshed out. Perhaps they can be found in another book?
Despite a few misgivings I would highly recommend this book for an interesting perspective on the universe, knowledge, and us.