The Half-Life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Date

Description

The half-life of facts -- The pace of discovery -- The asymptote of truth -- Moore's law of everything -- The spread of facts -- Hidden knowledge -- Fact phase transitions -- Mount Everest and the discovery of error -- The human side of facts -- At the edge of what we know.;New insights from the science of science Facts change all the time. Smoking has gone from doctor recommended to deadly. We used to think the Earth was the center of the universe and that the brontosaurus was a real dinosaur. In short, what we know about the world is constantly changing. Samuel Arbesman shows us how knowledge in most fields evolves systematically and predictably, and how this evolution unfolds in a fascinating way that can have a powerful impact on our lives. He takes us through a wide variety of fields, including those that change quickly, over the course of a few years, or over the span of centuries. The half-life of facts -- The pace of discovery -- The asymptote of truth -- Moore's law of everything -- The spread of facts -- Hidden knowledge -- Fact phase transitions -- Mount Everest and the discovery of error -- The human side of facts -- At the edge of what we know.