The Infinite Staircase: What the Universe Tells Us About Life, Ethics, and Mortality

by Geoffrey Moore

Overview

NAUTILUS BOOK AWARD GOLD MEDALIST — BODY, MIND, SPIRIT PRACTICES

“Combining an extraordinary range of scholarship with an accessible and entertaining writing style, The Infinite Staircase . . . provides a coherent and unified platform for a full human life.” —Midwest Book Review

In this bold new book, high-tech’s best-known strategist makes a seminal contribution to the search for meaning in a secular era.

Two questions fundamental to human existence have always been the metaphysical “where do I fit in the grand scheme of things?” and the ethical “how should I behave?” Religion is no longer a source of answers for many people, and nothing has replaced it.

Moore uses his signature framework-based approach to answer these questions, taking us on an intellectual roller coaster ride through physics, chemistry, biology, the social sciences and the humanities. Along the way, he builds a metaphorical ladder that leads from the big bang to the need for ethical action in our daily lives.

Combining an extraordinary range of scholarship with an accessible and entertaining writing style, The Infinite Staircase:
What the Universe Tells Us About Life, Ethics, and Mortality provides a coherent and unified platform for a full human life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781950665983
Publisher:	BenBella Books, Inc.
Publication date:	08/10/2021
Pages:	232
Sales rank:	387,903
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Geoffrey Moore is an author, speaker, and high-tech business advisor best known for his seminal book, Crossing the Chasm, first published in 1990, still in print, having sold over a million copies, translated into over a dozen languages, and still being required reading in most business schools. Since then he has published six other bestselling business books and advised leading high-tech enterprises including Salesforce, Microsoft, Intel, Adobe, Autodesk, Box, Airbnb, and Splunk.

Moore has a bachelors degree in American literature from Stanford University and a PhD in English literature from the University of Washington, where his dissertation was on strategies for living in Spenser’s The Faerie Queene. Subsequently, he taught literature, conceptual models, and writing for four years at Olivet College before returning to the Bay Area to take up a career in business.

Table of Contents

Contents
Preface
Part One: Metaphysics
Chapter 1: The Purpose of Metaphysics
The Infinite Staircase
Chapter 2: The Metaphysics of Entropy
What Is Entropy?
Stair 1: Physics: Entropy and the Aftermath of the Big Bang
Stair 2: Chemistry: The Emergence of Emergence
Stair 3: Biology: “. . . Then a Miracle Occurs”
Chapter 3: The Metaphysics of Darwinism
What Is Darwinism?
Stair 4: Desire: The Darwinian Mean
Stair 5: Consciousness: A Darwinian Theory of Forms
Stair 6: Values: A Darwinian Social Contract
Stair 7: Culture: The Transformation of Evolution: From Genes to Memes
Chapter 4: The Metaphysics of Memes
What Are Memes?
Stair 8: Language: The Fabric and Fabricator of Memes
Stair 9: Narrative: Inventing Strategies for Living
Stair 10: Analytics: Testing and Refining Strategies for Living
Stair 11: Theory: One Meme to Rule Them All
Chapter 5: Being: A Bridge to Ethics
Part Two: Ethics
Chapter 6: Making the Turn
Chapter 7: Understanding Goodness
Chapter 8: Honoring the Ego
Chapter 9: Doing Good
Chapter 10: Being Mortal
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Index
 

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Geoffrey Moore has crossed the chasm from marketing to metaphysics. The result is breathtaking.”
—Guy Kawasaki

“For many years I’ve had the benefit of sage advice from Geoffrey Moore, one of the world’s most influential business strategists. In this profound, remarkable work he explores the meaning of human existence and opens our minds to a new paradigm for understanding our place in the universe and a set of strategies for living an ethical life.”
—Marc Benioff, chair and CEO of Salesforce

“At IDEO we apply design thinking to our client’s toughest challenges. In The Infinite Staircase, Geoffrey Moore has used his own design thinking skills to take on the challenge of embracing a science-based understanding of how life emerged on Earth and finding within it the foundations for leading an ethical life. It is a tour de force in its own right and a book for our times.”
—Tim Brown, chair of IDEO and author of Change by Design

“Who are we? The answer to this question, the central question of the humanities, has prompted many different answers. None of the better-known answers to that question, as Geoffrey demonstrates, are wrong; each is merely incomplete, a piece of the puzzle . . . This is a daring book, to be sure—a dare that Geoffrey has answered with his trademark concision and clarity. And like all daring acts, it produces a thrill—one for which I always will be grateful.”
—Harry Beckwith, New York Times bestselling author of Selling the Invisible

“Geoffrey Moore’s The Infinite Staircase is an elegant exploration of grand questions that will change how you see the world. To the mix of physics, business, and history found in Loonshots, Moore has added biology, chemistry, linguistics, and ethics—a spectacular combination.”
—Safi Bahcall, international bestselling author of Loonshots

“Combining an extraordinary range of scholarship with an accessible and entertaining writing style, The Infinite Staircase: What the Universe Tells Us About Life, Ethics, and Mortality provides a coherent and unified platform for a full human life.”
—Midwest Book Review