Thomas Crowther – författare

Most research on perception has focused on the perceptual experience of three-dimensional, solid, bounded, and coherent material objects - items like tables and tomatoes. But as well as having perceptual experience of such objects, we also experience such aspects of the world as, for instance, rainbows and surfaces, shadows and absences: things that are ephemeral by contrast with material objects. This book presents fifteen new essays on the perceptual experience of such ephemera. The editors' introduction provides a detailed guide to the topic as a whole, setting out the thematic background to this emerging area of research in contemporary philosophy of perception. The volume winds a path through the ephemeral, considering such topics as sounds, smells, transparency, reflection, camouflage, solidity, and ambient vision. A general aim of the volume is to make a case that the broad range of ephemera it catalogues is far from marginal, or insubstantial with respect to their philosophical interest and value. Philosophical attention to perceptul ephemera may well suggest novel routes to arriving at a more developed understanding of perceptual experience at large and its characteristic features.

Learn how an ancient force, dating back to the beginning of time, can be harnessed to solve the world’s biggest problems.In the moments after the big bang, matter started to take shape. Within a few seconds, quarks began combining to form neutrons and protons, which would later form the nuclei of the most basic elements. Minutes passed, then years, then millennia. In this initial emptiness, the underlying processes that would eventually produce our entire world were already underway, a ceaseless dance of evolving matter. And the fundamental steps of that dance, the patterns of interaction that shaped all of the developing matter, are called feedback loops.A feedback loop occurs when the outcome of a process restarts that process, creating a cyclical chain of cause and effect. Feedback loops can either maintain the status quo (a negative feedback loop), or they can create a “snowball effect” (a positive feedback loop) where more begets more. Physical feedback loops literally form our physical reality around us, but psychological feedback loops determine how we build our perspective of reality.  In Nature’s Echo, scientist Tom Crowther provides inspirational examples from restoration projects around the globe that show the spectacular interconnectivity of ecosystems formed through endless feedback loops and share inspiring stories of communities using feedback loops to restore their environments and adapt economically to a changing world.  The feedback loops that generate sustainable ecosystems have the same structure as those that give rise to the stars, planets, and life; economic inequality and privilege; and the way we see the world. Understanding feedback loops can help individuals, companies, and governments engage in the battle against environmental change and envision a new future where we work with the Earth to fight its devastating effects.