اطلاعات، آنتروپی و پیشرفت: یک پارادایم تکاملی جدید

The goals of this book are to give the readers a global perspective and a willingness of their own specialities as well as those of others as being part of that unity. The concepts that justify this perspective are, at least in some fields, very precise and therefore most precisely stated in the language of mathematics. Ayres does not hesitate to use mathematical statements where they best express the ideas. Yet the book is a book of words and concepts, not a book of equations and mathematical formalism. It is, in fact, a good read for someone uneasy with equations who nevertheless wants a sense of amateur's mastery over the book's unifying themes. Title Page Table of Contents Foreword by R. Stephen Berry Preface Introduction: Evolution as Accumulation of Useful Information Chapter 1: Concepts, Definitions, and Analogies Chapter 2: Information and Thermodynamics Chapter 3: Physical Evolution: From the Universe to the Earth Chapter 4: Geological and Biochemical Evolution Chapter 5: Biological Evolution Chapter 6: Evolution in Human Social Systems Chapter 7: Evolution in Economic Systems Chapter 8: The Economy as a Self-Organizing Information-Processing System Chapter 9: Information Added by Materials Processing Chapter 10: Morphological Information Chapter 11: Labor as an Information Process Chapter 12: Evolution, Economics, and Environmental Imperatives Afterword by Allen V. Kneese Index Those in economics, especially thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, cybernetics, information theory, resource use, and evolutionary economic behavior. This book presents an innovative and challenging look at evolution on several scales, from the earth and its geology and chemistry to living organisms to social and economic systems. Applying the principles of thermodynamics and the concepts of information gathering and self- organization, the author characterizes the direction of evolution in each case as an accumulation of "distinguishability" information--a type of universal knowledge. Market: Those in economics, especially thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, cybernetics, information theory, resource use, and evolutionary economic behavior.