Contents -- Preface -- 1. PIONEERS OF EVOLUTIONARY THOUGHT -- Aristotle -- Averroes -- The mystery of fossils -- Condorcet -- Linnaeus -- Erasmus Darwin -- Lamarck -- The debates between Cuvier and Geoffroy St. Hilaire -- Suggestions for further reading -- 2. CHARLES DARWIN'S LIFE AND WORK -- Family background and early life -- Aboard the Beagle -- Work in London and Down -- The Origin of Species -- The Descent of Man -- The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals ethology -- Suggestions for further reading -- 3. MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION -- Classical genetics -- The structure of DNA -- Protein structure -- RNA and ribosomes -- The genetic code -- Genetic engineering -- The Polymerase Chain Reaction -- Theories of chemical evolution towards the origin of life -- Molecular evidence establishing family trees in evolution -- Symbiosis -- Suggestions for further reading -- 4. STATISTICAL MECHANICS AND INFORMATION -- The second law of thermodynamics -- Maxwell's demon -- Statistical mechanics -- Information theory Shannon's formula -- Entropy expressed as missing information -- Cybernetic information compared with thermodynamic information -- The information content of Gibbs free energy -- What is life? -- Suggestions for further reading -- 5. INFORMATION FLOW IN BIOLOGY -- Cybernetic (or semiotic) information codes and languages -- The language of molecular complementarity -- The flow of information between and within cells -- Nervous systems -- Animal languages -- Suggestions for further reading -- 6. CULTURAL EVOLUTION AND INFORMATION -- The coevolution of human language, culture, and intelligence -- Y-chromosomal DNA and mitochondrial DNA -- Mitochondrial Eve and Y-Chromosomal Adam -- Exodus: Out of Africa -- Acceleration of human cultural evolution -- Early forms of writing -- The invention of paper, ink, and printing.

The information explosion -- Information-driven human cultural evolution as part of biological evolution -- Suggestions for further reading -- 7. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY -- The first computers -- Electronic digital computers -- Cybernetics -- Microelectronics -- The history of the Internet and World Wide Web -- Self-reinforcing information accumulation -- Suggestions for further reading -- 8. BIO-INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY -- The merging of information technology and biotechnology -- Self-assembly of supramolecular structures Nanoscience -- Molecular switches -- bacteriorhodopsin -- Neural networks, biological and artificial -- Genetic algorithms -- Artificial life -- Suggestions for further reading -- 9. LOOKING TOWARDS THE FUTURE -- Tensions created by the rapidity of technological change -- Can information-driven society achieve stability? -- Respect for natural evolution -- Construction versus destruction -- Suggestions for further reading -- Appendix A ENTROPY AND INFORMATION -- Appendix B BIOSEMIOTICS -- Suggestions for further reading -- Appendix C ENTROPY AND ECONOMICS -- Human society as a superorganism, with the global economy as its digestive system -- Frederick Soddy -- Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen -- Limits to Growth A steady-state economy -- Biological carrying capacity and economics -- Population and food supply -- Social values and levels of consumption -- The responsibility of governments -- References -- Index.