Vasbinder Jan Wouter - Böcker

Schools and universities educate (mostly young) people, to equip them to deal with the future as it unfolds from the present. The question — whether these schools and universities are fit for that purpose — has always been relevant, even in slow-paced times of relative stability, where the future seems predictable as a simple extension of the past.Now that the future is not predictable anymore. Slow-paced times have gone. The relative stability in which universities developed and educated successive generations is gone. The question whether universities are fit for purpose is now more relevant than ever.In this book, ten leading thinkers and eighteen students from different continents, countries and cultures present their views on futures of universities and whether present-day universities are fit for purpose. It is an exploration, meant to inform, inspire and crystallize discussions.

With his work on computer logic, John H Holland became one of the most important founders of modern computer science. People who knew John H Holland were all amazed and deeply influenced by his incredibly imaginative and creative mind. He produced many more ideas than he could follow up in his life time. This selection of his papers in the field of computer logic entails many of his explored and unexplored ideas. Revisiting the explored ideas and exploring the unexplored ones should be of great interest to scientists of all ages, and of great value to the current research not only in computer science but in many other fields as well.Published in collaboration with Institute Para Limes.

This interesting book is a compilation of the lectures and discussions held during a four-day event — Grand Challenges for Science in the 21st Century — organized by Para Limes at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.The elite group of speakers included Nobel laureate Sydney Brenner who called on all scientists to adopt a truth-seeking approach and not be afraid of challenging assumptions. The other panellists were Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal and past President of the Royal Society, the much-cited Terrence Sejnowski from the renowned Salk Institute for Biological Studies, the well-known keynote speaker in economics and complexity sciences Brian Arthur, the former President of the European Research Council Helga Nowotny and the Director of the Parmenides Center for the Conceptual Foundations of Science Eors Szathmary.The lively sessions were moderated by the Danish writer Tor Norretranders. The panel tackled topics from evolution and the origin of the universe to modern technologies and artificial intelligence. The challenges presented during the event are bound to get the reader thinking about what may lie ahead in our future.Published in collaboration with Institute Para Limes.

This interesting book is a compilation of the lectures and discussions held during a four-day event — Grand Challenges for Science in the 21st Century — organized by Para Limes at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.The elite group of speakers included Nobel laureate Sydney Brenner who called on all scientists to adopt a truth-seeking approach and not be afraid of challenging assumptions. The other panellists were Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal and past President of the Royal Society, the much-cited Terrence Sejnowski from the renowned Salk Institute for Biological Studies, the well-known keynote speaker in economics and complexity sciences Brian Arthur, the former President of the European Research Council Helga Nowotny and the Director of the Parmenides Center for the Conceptual Foundations of Science Eors Szathmary.The lively sessions were moderated by the Danish writer Tor Norretranders. The panel tackled topics from evolution and the origin of the universe to modern technologies and artificial intelligence. The challenges presented during the event are bound to get the reader thinking about what may lie ahead in our future.Published in collaboration with Institute Para Limes.

In March 2013, Para Limes organized the conference A Crude look at the Whole. It turned out to be an extraordinary meeting, even more so eleven years later. During the conference the speakers, all giants on their own turf, captured the excitement about what the new field of complexity science could mean for understanding our world and molded it in approaches to extract meaning from these budding insights. Now, eleven years later, the (video's of the) talks create a thrill, that may be similar to what Newton felt when he realized that standing on the shoulders of giants allowed him to see what he saw.In this book we have tried to capture that whole, while at the same time keeping the individual parts in view. We have done so by transcribing and editing the individual presentations, adding a summary to all of them and indicating the relevance of each of the presentations to ongoing and further explorations.