图书简介
This book explores the unity of life. It proposes that the concept of information is the inner essence of what we today call life. The importance of information for our species is obvious. Human beings are highly dependent on information, constantly exchanging with conspecifics. In a less apparent way, we are the product of genetic and epigenetic information which determines our development in a given environment from a fertilized egg to the adult stage. Even less apparent is that information plays a determining role in ecosystems. This observation may include the prebiotic systems in which life emerged. Our claim is that Nature processes information continuously. This means that even beyond living entities, we can see messages and decoding procedures. Nature can be said to send messages to its own future and then to decode them. Nature "talks" to itself! The systematic organization of messages suggests that, in some respects, we should even speak of the "languages" of Nature.
Preface ix Introduction xiii Acknowledgments xxiii Chapter 1 Human and Animal Communication 1 1.1 Language, that amazing thing 1 1.2 The mechanics of language 2 1.3 What is syntax? 10 1.4 Meaning 11 1.5 Beyond meaning 13 1.6 Non-human languages 14 1.7 Types of language 17 1.8 Why give information? 23 1.9 The autonomy of information 28 1.10 Language and information 31 Chapter 2 Genetic Information 33 2.1 A central concept in biology 33 2.2 Epigenetic information 40 2.3 The environment 42 2.4 Information: from replication to reproduction 48 2.5 Mutation and selection 49 2.6 The story of the message: phylogeny and coalescence 52 2.7 The point of view of the reading system 58 2.8 We cannot see the wood for the trees 60 2.9 The tree and the web and some complexities there! 64 2.10 When information and individual can no longer be confused 66 2.11 Conflicts and levels of integration: avatars 71 2.12 Sociobiology, altruism and information 73 2.13 The \"all genetics\" versus epigenetics 75 2.14 What is Life? 77 Chapter 3 Ecosystem and Information 79 3.1 An information-centered perspective of the ecosystem 79 3.2 Reservoirs of ecosystemic information 82 3.3 Biodiversity: an ecosystem made up of individuals 87 3.4 Phylogeny of communities: biology in the arena 90 3.5 The ecosystem: a physical system or a biological system? 92 3.6 An ecosystem made up of matter and energy 96 3.7 Failure of the physical approach 98 3.8 Physics has not said its last word 106 3.9 The great challenges of ecology 110 3.10 Flow and balance of ecosystemic information 117 3.11 Ecosystemic codes 121 3.12 The languages of the ecosystem 129 Chapter 4 Can We Define Information? 133 4.1 Information as surprise 133 4.2 Information measured by complexity 136 4.3 Information as organized complexity 137 4.4 Information as compression 139 4.5 Coding and information reading 142 4.6 Memory 145 Chapter 5 Evolution of Information 149 5.1 In the beginning was structure 149 5.2 The first languages were ecosystemic 151 5.3 The replicators and the conservators 152 5.4 Biological languages 155 5.5 Information selection 156 5.6 Messages and languages 158 5.7 The complexification of codes. 159 5.8 Complexification of languages 161 5.9 The re-creation of life 164 5.10 And what about tomorrow? 166 References 169 Index 179
Trade Policy 买家须知
- 关于产品：
- ● 正版保障：本网站隶属于中国国际图书贸易集团公司，确保所有图书都是100%正版。
- ● 环保纸张：进口图书大多使用的都是环保轻型张，颜色偏黄，重量比较轻。
- ● 毛边版：即书翻页的地方，故意做成了参差不齐的样子，一般为精装版，更具收藏价值。
关于退换货：- 由于预订产品的特殊性，采购订单正式发订后，买方不得无故取消全部或部分产品的订购。
- 由于进口图书的特殊性，发生以下情况的，请直接拒收货物，由快递返回：
- ● 外包装破损/发错货/少发货/图书外观破损/图书配件不全（例如：光盘等）
并请在工作日通过电话400-008-1110联系我们。
- 签收后，如发生以下情况，请在签收后的5个工作日内联系客服办理退换货：
- ● 缺页/错页/错印/脱线
关于发货时间：- 一般情况下：
- ●【现货】 下单后48小时内由北京（库房）发出快递。
- ●【预订】【预售】下单后国外发货，到货时间预计5-8周左右，店铺默认中通快递，如需顺丰快递邮费到付。
- ● 需要开具发票的客户，发货时间可能在上述基础上再延后1-2个工作日（紧急发票需求，请联系010-68433105/3213）；
- ● 如遇其他特殊原因，对发货时间有影响的，我们会第一时间在网站公告，敬请留意。
关于到货时间：- 由于进口图书入境入库后，都是委托第三方快递发货，所以我们只能保证在规定时间内发出，但无法为您保证确切的到货时间。
- ● 主要城市一般2-4天
- ● 偏远地区一般4-7天
关于接听咨询电话的时间：- 010-68433105/3213正常接听咨询电话的时间为：周一至周五上午8：30～下午5：00，周六、日及法定节假日休息，将无法接听来电，敬请谅解。
- 其它时间您也可以通过邮件联系我们：customer@readgo.cn,工作日会优先处理。
关于快递：- ● 已付款订单：主要由中通、宅急送负责派送，订单进度查询请拨打010-68433105/3213。
本书暂无推荐
本书暂无推荐
