Complexity, Entropy and the Physics of Information

by Wojciech Hubert Zurek

This book has emerged from a meeting held during the week of May 29 to June 2, 1989, at St. John’s College in Santa Fe under the auspices of the Santa Fe Institute. The (approximately 40) official participants as well as equally numerous “groupies” were enticed to Santa Fe by the above “manifesto.” The book―like the “Complexity, Entropy and the Physics of Information” meeting explores not only the connections between quantum and classical physics, information and its transfer, computation, and their significance for the formulation of physical theories, but it also considers the origins and evolution of the information-processing entities, their complexity, and the manner in which they analyze their perceptions to form models of the Universe. As a result, the contributions can be divided into distinct sections only with some difficulty. Indeed, I regard this degree of overlapping as a measure of the success of the meeting. It signifies consensus about the important questions and on the anticipated answers: they presumably lie somewhere in the “border territory,” where information, physics, complexity, quantum, and computation all meet.

Genres: Science, Physics

552 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1989

Reviews

[Sean]

one of the best books which introduces a scientist to the visions and mission statements of science..

what am i doing as a scientist? searching for a string, a connection, between emergence, thunderstorms, and erosion profiles, a string such as the one which connects the flowers of a lei ...

definitely recommended.

[Julian Suarez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating description of Quantum as a information theory consequence