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This highly interdisciplinary book discusses the phenomenon of
life, including its origin and 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. As the author shows, this
paradox has its resolution in the information content of the Gibbs
free energy that enters the biosphere from outside sources. Another
focus of the book is the role of information in human cultural
evolution, which is also discussed with the origin of human
linguistic abilities. One of the final chapters addresses the
merging of information technology and biotechnology into a new
discipline - bioinformation technology.This third edition has been
updated to reflect the latest scientific and technological
advances. Professor Avery makes use of the perspectives of famous
scholars such as Professor Noam Chomsky and Nobel Laureates John
O'Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edward Moser to cast light on the
evolution of human languages. The mechanism of cell
differentiation, and the rapid acceleration of information
technology in the 21st century are also discussed.With various
research disciplines becoming increasingly interrelated today,
Information Theory and Evolution provides nuance to the
conversation between bioinformatics, information technology, and
pertinent social-political issues. This book is a welcome voice in
working on the future challenges that humanity will face as a
result of scientific and technological progress.
This highly interdisciplinary book discusses the phenomenon of
life, including its origin and 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. As the author shows, this
paradox has its resolution in the information content of the Gibbs
free energy that enters the biosphere from outside sources. Another
focus of the book is the role of information in human cultural
evolution, which is also discussed with the origin of human
linguistic abilities. One of the final chapters addresses the
merging of information technology and biotechnology into a new
discipline - bioinformation technology.This third edition has been
updated to reflect the latest scientific and technological
advances. Professor Avery makes use of the perspectives of famous
scholars such as Professor Noam Chomsky and Nobel Laureates John
O'Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edward Moser to cast light on the
evolution of human languages. The mechanism of cell
differentiation, and the rapid acceleration of information
technology in the 21st century are also discussed.With various
research disciplines becoming increasingly interrelated today,
Information Theory and Evolution provides nuance to the
conversation between bioinformatics, information technology, and
pertinent social-political issues. This book is a welcome voice in
working on the future challenges that humanity will face as a
result of scientific and technological progress.
Information Theory and Evolution discusses 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 will show. The role of information in human cultural
evolution is another focus of the book.The first edition of
Information Theory and Evolution made a strong impact on thought in
the field by bringing together results from many disciplines. The
new second edition offers updated results based on reports of
important new research in several areas, including exciting new
studies of the human mitochondrial and Y-chromosomal DNA. Another
extensive discussion featured in the second edition is contained in
a new appendix devoted to the relationship of entropy and Gibbs
free energy to economics. This appendix includes a review of the
ideas of Alfred Lotka, Frederick Soddy, Nicholas Georgiescu-Roegen
and Herman E. Daly, and discusses the relevance of these ideas to
the current economic crisis.The new edition discusses current
research on the origin of life, the distinction between
thermodynamic information and cybernetic information, new DNA
research and human prehistory, developments in current information
technology, and the relationship between entropy and economics.
Hyperspherical harmonics are extremely useful in nuclear physics
and reactive scattering theory. However, their use has been
confined to specialists with very strong backgrounds in
mathematics. This book aims to change the theory of hyperspherical
harmonics from an esoteric field, mastered by specialists, into an
easily-used tool with a place in the working kit of all theoretical
physicists, theoretical chemists and mathematicians. The theory
presented here is accessible without the knowledge of Lie-groups
and representation theory, and can be understood with an ordinary
knowledge of calculus. The book is accompanied by programs and
exercises designed for teaching and practical use.
Modern civilization faces a broad spectrum of daunting problems,
but rational solutions are available for them all. This book
explores the following issues: (1) Threats to the environment and
climate change; (2) a growing population and vanishing resources;
(3) the global food and refugee crisis; (4) intolerable economic
inequality; (5) the threat of nuclear war; (6) the
military-industrial complex; and (7) limits to growth. These
problems are closely interlinked, and their possible solutions are
discussed in this book.
Modern civilization faces a broad spectrum of daunting problems,
but rational solutions are available for them all. This book
explores the following issues: (1) Threats to the environment and
climate change; (2) a growing population and vanishing resources;
(3) the global food and refugee crisis; (4) intolerable economic
inequality; (5) the threat of nuclear war; (6) the
military-industrial complex; and (7) limits to growth. These
problems are closely interlinked, and their possible solutions are
discussed in this book.
The latest advances and discoveries in science have made, and
continue to make, a huge impact on our lives. This book is a
history of the social impact of science and technology from the
beginnings of civilization up to the present. The book explains how
the key inventions: agriculture, writing and printing with movable
type, initiated an explosive growth of knowledge and human power
over the environment. It also shows how the Industrial Revolution
changed the relationship between humans and nature, and initiated a
massive use of fossil fuels. Problems related to nuclear power,
nuclear weapons, genetic engineering, information technology,
exhaustion of non-renewable resources, use of fossil fuels and
climate change are examined in the later chapters of the book.
Finally, the need for ethical maturity to match our scientific
progress is discussed.
In theoretical physics, theoretical chemistry and engineering, one
often wishes to solve partial differential equations subject to a
set of boundary conditions. This gives rise to eigenvalue problems
of which some solutions may be very difficult to find. For example,
the problem of finding eigenfunctions and eigenvalues for the
Hamiltonian of a many-particle system is usually so difficult that
it requires approximate methods, the most common of which is
expansion of the eigenfunctions in terms of basis functions that
obey the boundary conditions of the problem. The computational
effort needed in such problems can be much reduced by making use of
symmetry-adapted basis functions. The conventional method for
generating symmetry-adapted basis sets is through the application
of group theory, but this can be difficult. This book describes an
easier method for generating symmetry-adapted basis sets
automatically with computer techniques. The method has a wide range
of applicability, and can be used to solve difficult eigenvalue
problems in a number of fields. The book is of special interest to
quantum theorists, computer scientists, computational chemists and
applied mathematicians.
This book contains a collection of essays published by the author
in the alternative media during 2015. The essays arfe aimed at
finding solutions to the serious economic, political and
environmental problems which are facing the world today.
The latest advances and discoveries in science have made, and
continue to make, a huge impact on our lives. This book is a
history of the social impact of science and technology from the
beginnings of civilization up to the present. The book explains how
the key inventions: agriculture, writing and printing with movable
type, initiated an explosive growth of knowledge and human power
over the environment. It also shows how the Industrial Revolution
changed the relationship between humans and nature, and initiated a
massive use of fossil fuels. Problems related to nuclear power,
nuclear weapons, genetic engineering, information technology,
exhaustion of non-renewable resources, use of fossil fuels and
climate change are examined in the later chapters of the book.
Finally, the need for ethical maturity to match our scientific
progress is discussed.
Space-age science and stone-age politics make an extraordinarily
dangerous mixture. It seems probable that in the future, the
rapidity of scientificand technological change will produce ethical
dilemmas and social tensions even more acute than those we
experience today. It is likely that the fate of our species (and
the fate of the biosphere) will be made precarious by the
astonishing speed of scientific and technological change unless
this progress is matched by the achievement of far greater ethical
and political maturity than we have yet attained.
It is clear that our present economic system is unsustainable.
Never-ending exponential industrial growth on a finite planet is a
logical absurdity. We are already using resources at a rate which
it would take 1.6 planet earths to replace. We are already
undermining the ecological systems which support all of life. Our
present economic system has led to an unbelievable degree of
economic inequality. To maintain this inequality, both between
nations and within nations, military force is used, and democracy
is replaced by oligarchy. The future of human civilization is
endangered both by the threat of thermonuclear war and by the
threat of catastrophic climate change; and both of the twin threats
are results of our present economic system. This book documents in
detail the serious economic problems of today's world, and it also
proposes sustainable solutions.
This book contains a collection of essays and articles by John
Scales Avery discussing the severe problems and challenges which
the world faces during the 21st century. Human civilization and the
biosphere are threatened by catastrophic climate change. Unless
rapid steps are taken to replace fossil fuels by 100% renewable
energy, we risk passing a tipping point beyond which uncontrollable
feedback loops could produce a 6th extinction event comparable to
those observed in the geological record. Another serious threat to
human civilization and the biosphere is the danger of a
catastrophic thermonuclear war. Over a long period of time there is
an ever-increasing risk that such a war will occur by accident or
miscalculation. Thirdly, there is threat of an extremely serious
and widespread famine, produced by the climate change,
rapidly-growing populations, and the end of the fossil fuel era. We
must urgently address all three challenges.
This book contains a collection of essays and articles by John
Scales Avery discussing the severe problems and challenges which
the world faces during the 21st century. Human civilization and the
biosphere are threatened by catastrophic climate change. Unless
rapid steps are taken to replace fossil fuels by 100% renewable
energy, we risk passing a tipping point beyond which uncontrollable
feedback loops could produce a 6th extinction event comparable to
those observed in the geological record. Another serious threat to
human civilization and the biosphere is the danger of a
catastrophic thermonuclear war. Over a long period of time there is
an ever-increasing risk that such a war will occur by accident or
miscalculation. Thirdly, there is threat of an extremely serious
and widespread famine, produced by the climate change,
rapidly-growing populations, and the end of the fossil fuel era. We
must urgently address all three challenges.
Information Theory and Evolution discusses 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 will show. The role of information in human cultural
evolution is another focus of the book.The first edition of
Information Theory and Evolution made a strong impact on thought in
the field by bringing together results from many disciplines. The
new second edition offers updated results based on reports of
important new research in several areas, including exciting new
studies of the human mitochondrial and Y-chromosomal DNA. Another
extensive discussion featured in the second edition is contained in
a new appendix devoted to the relationship of entropy and Gibbs
free energy to economics. This appendix includes a review of the
ideas of Alfred Lotka, Frederick Soddy, Nicholas Georgiescu-Roegen
and Herman E. Daly, and discusses the relevance of these ideas to
the current economic crisis.The new edition discusses current
research on the origin of life, the distinction between
thermodynamic information and cybernetic information, new DNA
research and human prehistory, developments in current information
technology, and the relationship between entropy and economics.
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