Information, Entropy, Life And The Universe: What We Know And What We Do Not Know

by Arieh Ben-naim

Overview

The aim of this book is to explain in simple language what we know and what we do not know about information and entropy — two of the most frequently discussed topics in recent literature — and whether they are relevant to life and the entire universe.Entropy is commonly interpreted as a measure of disorder. This interpretation has caused a great amount of 'disorder' in the literature. One of the aims of this book is to put some 'order' in this 'disorder'.The book explains with minimum amount of mathematics what information theory is and how it is related to thermodynamic entropy. Then it critically examines the application of these concepts to the question of 'What is life?' and whether or not they can be applied to the entire universe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789814651677
Publisher:	World Scientific Publishing Company, Incorporated
Publication date:	05/18/2015
Pages:	492
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

Table of Contents

Information: The General Concept of Information; Shannon's Measure of Information; The Case of an Experiment with Two Outcomes; Definition of the Bit; The General Case; Some Elementary Properties of the Function H; Application of the Maximum Uncertainty Principle; Application of SMI to the English Language; Conditional Information and Mutual Information; Redundancy; Some Simple Examples of SMI; The Change in SMI for Some Simple Processes; Can SMI Flow, or Be Created or Destroyed?; Is Information Physical?; Evolving Games; Summary of Chapter 1; Entropy: Nonatomistic Formulation of the Second Law; Atomistic Formulation of the Second Law; Informational Derivation of Entropy and the Second Law; The Second Law of Thermodynamics; The Association of the Second Law with the Arrow of Time; Does the Maxwell Demon Defeat Entropy or Is It Defeated by Entropy?; The Change in Entropy for Some Simple Processes; Can Entropy Flow Be Created or Destroyed? ; Entropy as a Measure of Disorder; Summary of Chapter 2; Life: Can Life Be Reduced to Physics and Chemistry?; The "Book of Life"; Application of Information Theory to DNA; Transmitting Information Between Molecules —and Indirect Interactions; Information Storage and Processing in the Brain; What Is Life?; Fifty Years After What Is Life?; Entropy and Life; Is Schrödinger's Cat Alive or Dead?; The Origin and Evolution of Life; Entropy and Evolution; Summary of Chapter 3; The Universe: Entropy Change in a Simple Expansion Process; Two Processes Involving Negative Change In Entropy; Entropy of the Universe?; Information and the Universe; Entropy and Information of Black Holes; Summary of Chapter 4;