Description
Book SynopsisThis accessible and entertaining book explores the fundamental connections between life and information and how they emerged inextricably linked, taking the reader on a journey through all the major evolutionary transitions. It records the entire path of how life''s information has evolved, starting from the growing polymers of prelife leading to the first replicators, through RNA and DNA to neural networks and animal brains, continuing through the major transition of human language and writing, into computer clouds, and finally heading towards an unknown future.All currently known life is based on three classes of molecules: proteins - life''s main structural and functional building blocks; DNA - life''s information molecule; and RNA - a molecule that provides the link between these two. Despite the existence of language and the new means of information recording and processing it enabled, at the current stage of life''s evolution, the information stored in the natural repository of o
Table of ContentsPreface 1: How to clone oneself? 2: Self-organising molecules 3: Informed self-organisation 4: The simplest life 5: Evolving replicators 6: Life on Earth 7: Evolution as a ratchet of information 8: From DNA to language 9: Epilogue - beyond language
