book announcement

[mico@ludens.elte.hu]

***********************  BOOK ANOUNCEMENT  **************************

Klaus Haefner (ed.): Evolution of information processing systems.
                An interdisciplinary approach for a new understanding
                of nature and society


     Berlin ; New York : Springer-Verlag, c1992.
     Phys. Description: x, 357 p. : 46 Figures. ; 25 cm.
     Includes bibliographical references (pp. 347-357).

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Features contributions of:
 

Vili Csanyi    Sidney Fox          Hermann Haken  George Kampis 
Jenny Kien     Wolfgang Klement    Ervin Laszlo   Greg Nicolis
John Nicolis   Theodor Oeser       Mika Pantzar   Michael Requardt
Anton Semenov
  
This book is based on an invited conference, held in Bremen, Germany,
October 8-10 1990. At the conference, issues related to Haefner's Basic
Paper were discussed. The Basic Paper is reproduced in the first part
of the book.                                                            
              

This paper claims that the same information theoretic principles
can govern computers, life, and minds, and further, that they are valid
for atomic systems and societal systems too. As a counterweight, the
other papers of the volume offer, by and large, a critical attitude or
at least significant refinements to this thesis. These papers, many of
which were written by leading experts, offer new views on information
based on ideas of computer science, synergetics, self-organization,
neural networks, and self-
modification.

M. Vargyas     egcs301 at hueco.uni-wien.ac.at