Evolution of Information Processing Systems

An interdisciplinary team of scientists is presenting a new§paradigm: all existing structures on earth are the§consequence of information processing. Since these§structures have been evolved over the last five billion§years, information processing and its systems have an§evolution.This is under consideration in the book. Starting§with a basic paper which summarizes the essential hypotheses§about the evolution of informaion processing systems,§sixteen international scientists have tried to verify or§falsify these hypothesises. This has been done at the§physical, the chemical, the genetic, the neural, the social,§the societal and the socio-technical level. Thus, the reader§gets an insight into the recent status of research on the§evolution of information processing systems. The papers are§the result of an interdisciplinary project in which§scientists of the classical disciplines have been invited to§collaborate. Their inputs have been intensively discussed in§a workshop. The book is the output of the workshop. The§first goal of the bookis to give the reader an insight into§basic principles about the evolution of information§processing systems. This, however, leads directly to a very§old and essential question: who is controlling the world,§"matter" or an "immaterial intelligence"? Several authors of§the papers are arguing that there is a basic concept of§information processing in nature. This is the crucial§process, which, however, needs a material basis. The reader§has a chance to understand this paradigm as an approach§which is valid for all levels of inorganic, organic and§societal structures. This provocative concept is open to§debate.