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The logic of miracles : making sense of rare, really rare, and impossibly rare events / László Mérő ; translated from the Hungarian by Márton Moldovan ; Translation edited by David Kramer

Author
Mérő, László
Published
New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, [2018]
Physical Description
1 online resource (xii, 275 pages)
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Language Note
Translated from the Hungarian.
Contents
Cover; Half Title; Title; Copyright; Contents; Preface; Acknowledgments; PART ONE: SECULAR MIRACLES; 1 On the Existence of Miracles; 2 The Mild World and the Wild World; 3 The Source of Miracles: Gödel's Idea; PART TWO: THE MILD WORLD; 4 The Power of the Normal Distribution; 5 The Extremities of Mildovia; 6 The Sources of Equilibrium; PART THREE: THE WILD WORLD; 7 The Mathematics of the Unpredictable; 8 Scale-Invariance; 9 The Levels of Wildness; 10 Life in Wildovia; PART FOUR: PREPARING FOR THE INCONCEIVABLE; 11 Adapting to Wildovia; 12 Antifragility; 13 Convertible Knowledge; Epilogue. and NotesBibliography; Index; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; Q; R; S; T; U; V; W; Z.
Summary
We live in a much more turbulent world than we like to think, but the science we use to analyze economic, financial, and statistical events mostly disregards the world's essentially chaotic nature. We need to get used to the idea that wildly improbable events are actually part of the natural order. The renowned Hungarian mathematician and psychologist László Méro explains how the wild and mild worlds (which he names Wildovia and Mildovia) coexist, and that different laws apply to each. Even if we live in an ultimately wild universe, he argues, we're better off pretending that it obeys Mildovian laws. Doing so may amount to a self-fulfilling prophecy and create an island of predictability in a very rough sea. Perched on the ragged border between economics and complexity theory, Méro proposes to extend the reach of science to subjects previously considered outside its grasp: the unpredictable, unrepeatable, highly improbable events we commonly call "miracles."--Provided by publisher
Subject(s)
ISBN
9780300238488 (electronic bk.)
0300238487 (electronic bk.)
9780300224153
030022415X
Bibliography Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
View MARC record | catkey: 43280114