HUMANITIES, SCIENCE, SCIMAT

The humanities (and social science) are the disciplines that study human, which are essential in helping us to understand ourselves and others and the world around us. Since science is the study of everything in the universe and human is a material system consisting of the same atoms that make up other nonhuman systems, humanities are part of science. Thus, understanding correctly what science is about will be helpful in making progress in the humanities. To patch up the gap between the 'two cultures' derived from these two branches of knowledge, the best way is to recognize their common root in science and work through humanities-science synthesis, as advocated by Scimat, the new multidiscipline proposed by the author in 2007. Furthermore, raising the scientific level of the humanities, which include decision making, will help to make the world better.

Humanities, Science, Scimat details these issues, consisting of three parts. Part I is about Scimat and the new humanities (history, philosophy, art). Part II is on the origin and nature of science, new insights on the life and works of selected scientists, some thoughts on science communication/popularization, and case examples of science innovation — all from the Scimat perspective. While Parts I and II are short essays with no references (with rare exceptions), Part III are longer articles with full references that supplement Parts I and II. Each essay/article starts with a color picture. They are all easy to read — nothing technical.

In short, this book contains the basic knowledge about the humanities and science that everyone should know. The aimed readership is anyone, from high school students and laypeople to the professors, who are interested in what the humanities and science are about, and how we can work together to achieve a better humanity.

Contents:

• Scimat and Humanities:
  • Human: A Brief History
  • Academic Disciplines
  • Scimat
  • On Humanities
  • History
  • Philosophy
  • Art
• Science and Scientist:
  • Science Basics
  • Scientific Confusion
  • On Science
  • Scientist
  • Popsci Book
  • Personal
• Articles:
  • History of Histophysics
  • How Nature Self-organized: Active Walks in Complex Systems
  • Histophysics: How to Model History and Predict the Future
  • The Scimat Story
  • The Two Cultures and The Real World
  • First Non-government Visiting Scholars from China to USA
  • A Science-and-art Interstellar Message
  • This Pale Blue Dot
  • Why the World Is So Complex
  • Science and Religion: Does God Exist?

Readership: All researchers and students, from the humanities to the natural sciences.

Key Features:

• First of its kind in offering an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural coverage of the humanities and "science", and their relationship, from the perspective of scimat — a novel discipline