edited by Sara Imari Walker, Arizona State University, Paul C.W. Davies, Arizona State University, George F.R. Ellis, University of Cape Town.
.PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC
Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.
New York, NY, USA :
Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.
Cambridge University Press,
Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.
2017.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item
xxii, 494 pages :
Other Physical Details
illustrations ;
Dimensions
24 cm
INTERNAL BIBLIOGRAPHIES/INDEXES NOTE
Text of Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
CONTENTS NOTE
Text of Note
The "hard problem" of life / Sara Imari Walker and Paul C.W. Davies -- Beyond initial conditions and laws of motion : constructor theory of information and life / Chiara Marletto -- (How) did information emerge? / Anne-Marie Grisogono -- On the emerging codes for chemical evolution / Jillian E. Smith-Carpenter, Sha Li, Jay T. Goodwin, Anil K. Mehta, and David G. Lynn -- Digital and analogue information in organisms/ Denis Noble -- From entropy to information : biased typewriters and the origin of life / Christophe Adami and Thomas Labar -- Cryptographic nature / David Krakauer -- Noise and function / Steven Weinstein and Theodore P. Pavlic -- The many faces of state space compression / David Wolpert, Eric Libby, Joshua A. Grochow, and Simon Dedeo -- Causality, information, and biological computation : an algorithmic software approach to life, disease, and the immune system / Hector Zenil, Angelika Schmidt, and Jesper Tegnâer -- Life's information hierarchy / Jessica Flack -- Living through downward causation : from molecules to ecosystems / Keith D. Farnsworth, George F.R. Ellis, and Luc Jaeger -- Automata and animats : from dynamics to cause-effect structures / Larissa Albantakis and Giulio Tononi -- Biological information, causality, and specificity : an intimate relationship / Karola Stotz and Paul E. Griffiths -- Major transitions in political order / Simon Dedeo -- Bits from brains : analyzing distributed computation in neural systems / Michael Wibral, Joseph Lizier, and Viola Priesemann -- Machine learning and the questions it raises / G. Andrew D. Briggs and Dawid Potgieter.
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SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
Recent advances suggest that the concept of information might hold the key to unravelling the mystery of life's nature and origin. Fresh insights from a broad and authoritative range of articulate and respected experts focus on the transition from matter to life, and hence reconcile the deep conceptual schism between the way we describe physical and biological systems. A unique cross-disciplinary perspective, drawing on expertise from philosophy, biology, chemistry, physics, and cognitive and social sciences, provides a new way to look at the deepest questions of our existence. This book addresses the role of information in life, and how it can make a difference to what we know about the world. Students, researchers, and all those interested in what life is and how it began will gain insights into the nature of life and its origins that touch on nearly every domain of science. Presents engaging and authoritative perspectives from experts who are often involved with public engagement in science. Fresh insights provide timely context to recent advances in astrobiology and the search for life beyond Earth. A unique assessment of whether information can make a difference to our understanding of the nature and origins of life. -- Provided by publisher.