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It Could Be Otherwise
Science in the Age of Uncertainty
Contributors
Formats and Prices
- On Sale
- Aug 4, 2026
- Page Count
- 288 pages
- Publisher
- Basic Books
- ISBN-13
- 9781541606739
Price
$30.00Price
$40.00 CADFormat
Format:
- Hardcover $30.00 $40.00 CAD
- ebook $18.99 $24.99 CAD
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The search for certainty is embedded deep in the mythos of science. Science is expected to provide definitive answers based on immutable and universal laws.
In It Could Be Otherwise, however, biologist Stuart Firestein challenges this idea, extending the reach of science beyond merely discerning what must be to encompassing what may yet be possible. The classic view of science, Firestein argues, reduces the world to bland predictability and us to our fates. Instead, modern discoveries of deep uncertainty, even unknowability, in evolution, complexity, physics, and all sciences, show that our actions are not strictly governed—and that science is an agent of freedom.
In our contemporary age, suspicion of science and its certainties runs deep. It Could Be Otherwise argues that science isn’t about deciphering what the universe has already determined—instead, science offers possibilities. It invites us not to be prisoners of destiny but navigators of our own futures.
