Includes bibliographical references.

1. The "Casserole" constitution: the South African constitution and International Law / Penelope Andrews -- 2. Laws of history and laws in history / Patrick Geary -- 3. The nature of laws and principles in science / David Gross 4. Are there ultimate physical laws or are they like the skin of an onion / Lars Brink -- 5. The CERN model, a collective machinery to test laws against nature / Michel Spiro and Maurizio Bona -- 6. The argument against quantum computers, the quantum laws of nature, and Google's supremacy claims / Gil Kalai -- 7. Laws and norms as social institutions / Partha Dasgupta -- 8. Complexity in energy and a low carbon transition / Martin Freer -- 9. PHYART@UoB: physics meet art at the University of Birmingham / William J. Chaplin -- 10. Laws about laws / Alastair Wilson -- 11. Dynamic cities and Rigid laws? reflections on the role of law(s) in creating livable cities / Hanjo Hamann, Ulrich Heisserer, Nkatha Kabira, Isable Kusche, Irina Kuznetsova, Petra Liedl, Tom Kushe and Carla Aparecida Arena Ventura -- 12. ICA 3 Singapore and Birmingham: administrators' perspective, supporting and delivering a vision / Leong Chuan Kwek and Sue Gilligan..

"Laws: are they a human invention or are they independent and indifferent to our existence? Are they there to be discovered, dictated, and enforced? Are they absolute and rigid, or do they evolve? Are they applicable in some cases and irrelevant in others? A group of multidisciplinary fellows and world-leading mentors from all habitable continents met at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and the IAS University of Birmingham, UK, to share and challenge their opinions on the subject. The results of their deliberations are to be found in the chapters of this book. The existence, dynamics, and flexibility of laws are analyzed in the arts, economy, engineering, history, philosophy, and science. The role of law in real-life applications such as the historic transformations of laws in South Africa, the construction of dynamic cities within the law, potential insurmountable obstacles to building quantum computers, as well as charting the best route to low or even zero carbon emissions are addressed by the fellows and mentors. The meetings were held within the framework of the Inter-Continental-Academia of the University-Based Institutes of Advanced Studies. The concept is also described in this book." -- Back cover.