ABSTRACT
A dramatic change occurred in human history after the last ice age just over ten thousand years ago. Mankind shifted from hunter/gatherers to the cultivation of plants and domestication of animals (Bronowski, 1973). The last four centuries have witnessed fundamental progress in the management of agriculture (McClelland, 1997; Schlebecker, 1975). Work on a particular machine, the reaper, has been described by Canine (1995). During this latter period rapid advances have been made in the field of science. The twentieth century has been characterized by unprecedented discoveries in physics by a blending of deduction and induction (Born, 1956; Lightman, 2000). Induction leads from specific observations to general laws, while deduction leads from general principles to specific predictions. Our approach in this book is founded on this blend. Ideas at the frontiers of science have been discussed by Bak (1996), Holton (1973), Lindley (2001), Pagels (1988), Penrose (1989), and Polkinghorne (1996).
