Work Meets Life: Exploring the Integrative Study of Work in Living Systems

The work performed by living systems ranges from photosynthesis toprodigious feats of computation and organization. This multidisciplinary volumeexplores the relationships between work and the study of work across many differentlevels of organization. By addressing how work gets done, and why, from theperspectives of a range of disciplines, including cell and evolutionary

The work performed by living systems ranges from photosynthesis toprodigious feats of computation and organization. This multidisciplinary volumeexplores the relationships between work and the study of work across many differentlevels of organization. By addressing how work gets done, and why, from theperspectives of a range of disciplines, including cell and evolutionary biology, neuroscience, psychology, electrical and computer engineering, and design, thevolume sets out to establish an integrative approach to the study of work.Chaptersintroduce the biological work of producing energy in the cell; establish inherenttradeoffs between energy and information in neural systems; relate principles ofintegrated circuit manufacture to work in biological systems; explore the work ofphotosynthesis; investigate how work shapes organisms' evolutionary niches; considerthe human work of design; describe the effects of job satisfaction anddissatisfaction on work-life balance; and address the effects of environmentalchallenges (stress) on how humans and animals do work. Finally, editors andcontributors draw these studies together and point to futuredevelopments.Contributors Alan Blackwell, Gillian Brown, Christina De La Rocha, Kevin Laland, Simon Laughlin, Robert Levin, Michael Lightner, Steven Maier, JosephRosse, Stacy Saturay