Three Scientists and Their Gods: Looking for Meaning in an Age of Information by Robert Wright

Three Scientists and Their Gods: Looking for Meaning in an Age of Information Reviews

• 
  Kevin Baird

  I gave it 4 stars, not because I walked away with a vast amount of new knowledge, but because I believe I only grasped about 3/4's of what was said. It's not that writing was poor (it wasn't) it was just that I felt at times my brain was saying, "Whoa, pal, you're getting into some strange territory here that I'm just not comfortable with," causing me to have to re-read things several times and finally just read on under the belief that it's better to keep moving along in hope that you can grasp and retain the broader points. Maybe that's what a really good book is. Maybe that's why you need to go back and read the great one's over and over again to pick out stuff you didn't see, or grasp, previously.
  
  What this book does do is make you think. Not only that, it makes you think about things that you thought you knew or had thought about before, only now you're thinking of them much more deeply and with much more awe. The universe is a computer simulation? Yes I've heard that. The universe is a computer simulation because "something" created it to try to figure out a problem? That "something" can't know for sure what the future holds without witnessing the future itself unfold? My mind went a hundred different directions at once trying to wrap itself around that one.
  
  It's like that through many parts of the book, but the first section on the universe being run by a computer was definitely my favorite.
  
  This is great writing, and great writing deserves to be read. Don't let the date of this book chase you away. It's worthy of a read...multiple readings, in fact.
  
  
• 
  Brett

  A highly readable and fascinating account of the philosophies of three scientists. There are some pretty unorthodox ideas in this book about the nature of the universe, the formation of human culture and identity, and the ways in which we communicate. It had me thinking pretty hard all the way through, and will surely challenge your ideas as well. Wright is a fantastic writer, able to make complex ideas understandable without much jargon, but not to dumb things down.
  
  In addition to extended interviews with the titular three scientists, there are also chapters with titles such as, "What is Information," "What is Meaning," "What is Communication," and "What is Complexity." As you can imagine, these questions prove exceeding difficult to answer. I completely enjoyed this book and look forward to reading Wright's other books, which also sound great.
• 
  George

  This a fascinating and thought provoking profile of three scientists views about the meaning of life. My favourite of the three is Kenneth Boulding - who was an openly religious scientist with quite an uplifting view about the trajectory of humanity.
  
  I'm not religious but many in modern society are adamant that religion and science are at odds. However what this book subtly suggests is that science is often explaining scientifically what some religious doctrines already uncovered long ago.
  
  In an examination of genetic and cultural evolution the author points to how there has been a constant progression towards greater complexity and order - for example in more recent human history as communication technology has improved we've been able to form more closely knit organsiations - i.e. Corporations, nations, trading blocks etc. These are imperfect but the point is that evolution has been moving us towards "unity", or from a religious point of view "brotherly love".
• 
  Cari

  I might not have been smart enough to read this book. lol I enjoyed the parts I got. The author presents three scientists who believe they have the answers to the "whys" of this life. The first proposed that we are in a computer simulation. The second believed in the intelligence of community, and the third was a Quaker economist. These three tell the author of their lives, their thoughts, and their religion. It was an interesting read. I possibly took too long to read it and therefore missed a lot of the continutity the author intended.
• 
  Rhonda Fonicello

  I've had this one on my "TBR" list for a while, and I think about reading it during those periodic attempts to find evidence that life is not devoid of meaning. Finished the book and still don't know what to think, but I think about it often and now have a few more theories thrown in which I will mull over.
• 
  Aditya Mehta

  A super interesting book for people with a taste for scientific things, and connecting them to the real world.
  
  It's about a computer(information) scientist, socio-biologist, and economist thinking about their interpretations of the world, and the meaning of life.
  
  It's a deeply thoughtful book, better to read in parts, with enjoying the journey.
• 
  Memming

  I read this back in early 90s and I still remember a lot of details. I used the arguments from this book to debate with people. If you're interested in computation and physics, I recommend it.
• 
  Hildey

  Difficult read for me.
  Lots of interesting takes on big topics.
• 
  Ushan

  A profile of Edward Fredkin, inventor of the Fredkin gate, a jet fighter pilot and an early computer entrepreneur, Edward Wilson, entomologist and sociobiologist, and Kenneth Boulding, the only one of the three I haven't heard about before, who is some sort of New Age economist and political scientist. Fredkin is an enthusiast of the universe-as-a-cellular-automaton idea (later popularized by Stephen Wolfram), and he organized the translation of Konrad Zuse's Rechnender Raum (Calculating Space) into English. For me, Scott Aaronson's and Cosma Rohilla Shalizi's review of Wolfram's book have everything there is to know about the idea.
• 
  Angela

  Good early work by Robert Wright. You can read his online column on nyt.com these days.
• 
  Puppycat

  Definitely a book to make one think about thinking. Like to give this book to folks to who want to generalize about scientists and religion.