Information Theory and Evolution

✍ Scribed by John Avery

• Publisher: World Scientific Pub Co Inc
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 233
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

An interdisciplinary discussion of the phenomenon of life, including its origin and evolution (and also human cultural evolution), against the background of thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and information theory. Among the central themes is the seeming contradiction between the second law of thermodynamics and the high degree of order and complexity produced by living systems. This paradox has its resolution in the information content of the Gibbs free energy that enters the biosphere from outside sources, as the author shows. The role of information in human cultural evolution is another focus of the text. One of the final chapters discusses the merging of information technology and biotechnology into a new discipline - bio-information technology.

✦ Table of Contents

Preface......Page 8
Acknowledgements......Page 12
Contents......Page 14
Aristotle......Page 16
The mystery of fossils......Page 17
Condorcet......Page 20
Linnæus......Page 23
Erasmus Darwin......Page 24
Lamarck......Page 25
The debates between Cuvier and Geoffroy St. Hilaire......Page 26
Suggestions for further reading......Page 27
Family background and early life......Page 28
Aboard the Beagle......Page 30
Work in London and Down......Page 35
The Origin of Species......Page 37
The Descent of Man......Page 42
The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals; ethology......Page 44
Suggestions for further reading......Page 47
Classical genetics......Page 50
The structure of DNA......Page 53
Protein structure......Page 55
RNA and ribosomes......Page 56
The genetic code......Page 58
Genetic engineering......Page 62
The Polymerase chain reaction......Page 64
Theories of chemical evolution towards the origin of life......Page 66
Molecular evidence establishing family trees in evolution......Page 73
Symbiosis......Page 77
Suggestions for further reading......Page 84
The second law of thermodynamics......Page 88
Maxwell's demon......Page 90
Statistical mechanics......Page 91
Information theory; Shannon's formula......Page 92
Entropy expressed as missing information......Page 96
The information content of Gibbs free energy......Page 99
What is life?......Page 102
Suggestions for further reading......Page 106
The language of molecular complementarity......Page 110
The flow of information between and within cells......Page 112
Nervous systems......Page 115
Animal languages......Page 119
Suggestions for further reading......Page 122
The coevolution of human language, culture, and intelligence......Page 124
Early forms of writing......Page 131
The invention of paper, ink, and printing......Page 134
The information explosion......Page 137
Suggestions for further reading......Page 142
The first computers......Page 148
Electronic digital computers......Page 151
Cybernetics......Page 152
Microelectronics......Page 153
The history of the Internet and World Wide Web......Page 157
Self-reenforcing information accumulation......Page 158
Suggestions for further reading......Page 160
Self-assembly of supramolecular structures; Nanoscience......Page 166
Molecular switches; bacteriorhodopsin......Page 170
Neural networks, biological and artificial......Page 171
Genetic algorithms......Page 177
Artificial life......Page 179
Suggestions for further reading......Page 190
Tensions created by the rapidity of technological change......Page 198
Can information-driven society achieve stability?......Page 200
Construction versus destruction......Page 202
Suggestions for further reading......Page 203
Appendix A ENTROPY AND INFORMATION......Page 206
Appendix B BIOSEMIOTICS......Page 212
Suggestions for further reading......Page 214
Index......Page 218