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Dyson, Freeman : Imagined Worlds: The Jerusalem Harvard Lectures

Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1997

ISBN 0674539087

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 216 pages. Retrospective collection of essays on subject. The definitive transcript of Freeman Dyson's epochal Jerusalem/Harvard Lectures. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only by a University Press. The First Edition is now rare. Presents Freeman Dyson's "Imagined Worlds: The Jerusalem Harvard Lectures". His most visionary book, tempered, as always - and as rarely found in other scientists and technocrats, that is powers-that-be on the basis of their superior technical expertise) - by his profound humanism. "Imagine a world where whole epochs will pass, cultures rise and fall between a telephone call and the reply. Think of the human race multiplying 500-million fold or evolving into new, distinct species. Consider the technology of space colonization, computer-assisted reproduction, the Martian potato. Freeman Dyson marshals his genius as a scientist and a storyteller to take us once more to that ever-closer time to come. Freeman Dyson has been helping us see ourselves and our world from a scientist's point-of-view. He brings this perspective to a speculative future to show us where science and technology may be taking us. Whether looking at Gaia Theory or the future of nuclear weapons, science fiction or the dangers of science worship, Dyson is concerned with ethics, with how we might mitigate the evil consequences of technology and enhance the good. At the heart of it all is the belief that progress in science will bring enormous confusion and misery to Mankind unless it is accompanied by progress in ethics" (Publisher's blurb). "With a rare breadth of literary and historical knowledge, and with a wonderful lucidity of style, Dyson converts science from the intellectual property of specialists into a meaningful concern for everyone with a stake in our cultural future" (Bryce Christensen). The preliminary and self-proclaimed corporate philosophy of Google was "Do No Evil". Whether Google technocrats Larry Page and Sergey Brin have remained true or not to their credo (they have not), there is no question that the latter is adopted entirely from Dyson's ethical/humanistic perspective, not from their Stanford science-cum-technology bias. An absolute "must-have" title for Freeman Dyson collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Freeman Dyson. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. He signed on top of the page, making it even more prominent. This title is a great book. As far as we know, this is the only such signed copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. One of the greatest scientist/thinkers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER FREEMAN DYSON TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0674539087.

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