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John G. Taylor

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For other people named John Taylor, see John Taylor (disambiguation).

John Gerald Taylor, born 1931, is a British physicist and author.

Biography

Taylor gained a PhD from Christ's College, Cambridge (1950–1956). He has had a wide ranging academic career in mathematical physics and artificial intelligence. He is currently Emeritus Professor and Director of the Centre for Neural Networks at King's College London and Guest Scientist of the Research Centre at the Institute of Medicine in Jülich, Germany. Since 2007, Prof. Taylor has led a unique research program at Commerzbank's Alternative Investment Strategies (COMAS) Group. The program uses artificial intelligence techniques to create portfolios of hedge funds. This is the first program of its kind in the fund of hedge funds industry. His previous positions and interests, while still at Kings College, were in mathematics and physics. He is the author of many popular books.][1] [2]

[3]

John Taylor also trained as an actor and has performed in plays and films, written several science fiction plays as well as directing stage productions in Oxford and Cambridge.

Parapsychology

Taylor after witnessing metal bending by Uri Geller became interested in parapsychology. At first he believed that Geller's feats were genuine aswell as other reported paranormal phenomena. He wrote a book titled Superminds: an enquiry into the paranormal (1975) in which he argued for a physical explanation for the paranormal. He believed the explanation for metal bending, psychokinesis, ESP and other paranormal phenomena may be found in electromagnetism. He was concerned to establish whether there is an electromagnetic basis for the phenomena however after failing to find it, he did not believe that there could be any other physical explanation. Many of his experiments under laboratory conditions were negative which left him skeptical regarding the validity of the reported phenomena. In his book Science and the Supernatural (1980) he declared that all reports of ESP and psychokinesis were either frauds or hallucinations as he came to the conclusion that the paranormal can not be reconciled with modern physics.[4][5]

Published books

He is author of the following books:

  • The Mind: A User's Manual, (2006), ISBN 0470022221.[6]
  • Neural Networks and the Financial Markets Predicting, Combining, and Portfolio Optimisation (2002), ISBN 1852335319
  • The Race for Consciousness (1999), ISBN 0262201151.[7]
  • The Promise of Neural Networks (Perspectives in Neural Computing), (1993), ISBN 3540197737.
  • Science and the Supernatural: An Investigation of Paranormal Phenomena Including Psychic Healing, Clairvoyance, Telepathy, and Precognition by a Distinguished Physicist and Mathematician (1980), ISBN 0851171915
  • Superminds: An Enquiry into the Paranormal (1975), ISBN 0333177010
  • New Worlds in Physics (1974), ISBN 0571102581
  • Black Holes: The End of the Universe? (1973), ISBN 0380003279
  • The New Physics (1972), ISBN 0465050662
  • The Shape of Minds to Come (1971), ISBN 0718107888

Notes

  1. ^ Prof JG Taylor Department of Mathematics King's College London
  2. ^ King's College London Computational Neuroscience Group
  3. ^ Biography of John G. Taylor
  4. ^ David Ray Griffin Parapsychology, philosophy, and spirituality: a postmodern exploration 1997, pp. 31-32
  5. ^ What Price Geller Now? Lawrence McGinty New Scientist 2 Nov 1978
  6. ^ Wiley
  7. ^ Review from Mind:[1].

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