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The present work represents a unique undertaking in scientific publishing to honor Nick Metropolis, who passed away in October, 1999. Nick was the last survivor of the Manhattan Project that began during World War II in Los Alamos and later became the Los Alamos National Laboratory. In this volume, some of the leading scientists and humanists of our time have contributed essays related to their respective disciplines exploring various aspects of future developments in science, technology, and society. Speculations on the future developments of science and society, philosophy, national security, nuclear power, pure and applied mathematics, physics and biology, particle physics, computing, information science, among many others, are included. Contributors include: H. Agnew * R. Ashenhurst * K. Baclawski * G. Baker * N. Balazs * J.A. Freed * R. Hamming * M. Hawrylycz * O. Judd * D. Kleitman * M. Krieger * N. Krikorian * P. Lax * J.D. Louck * T. Puck * M. Raju * R. Richtmyer * J. Schwartz * R. Sokolowski * E. Teller * M. Waterman
List of contents
I. The Future of Nuclear Power.- II. The Nature of Informational Modeling.- III. Long Time, No See Categorization in Information Science.- IV. The Once and Future Role for Approximate Calculations.- V. Possible Future Trends in Relativity.- VI. The Future of Libraries.- VII. The Future of Physics Information Hiding.- VIII. The Monte Carlo Method in Mathematical Finance.- IX. A Future Basis for National Security and International Policy Fresh Water.- X. On the Future of Combinatorics.- XI. Apocalypticism, One-Time Events, and Scientific Rationality.- XII. The Future of Russian Science and Technology Some Personal Impressions.- XIII. The Future of Differential Equations.- XIV. The Future of Quantum Theory of Angular Momentum Discrete Mathematics and Combinatorics.- XV. Cancer and the Future.- XVI. Cancer Treatment with Nuclear Particles.- XVII. On Pure and Applied Mathematics.- XVIII. The 'Legion of Science' Another Way of Exploiting Computer Technology for Scientific Discovery.- XIX. Future Issues in Philosophy.- XX. The Enjoyment of Surprises.- XXI. The Future of Western Civilization.- XXII. Mathematical Sciences and The New Biology.
