Information Theory, Evolution, and The Origin of Life [Hardcover]

Hubert P. Yockey (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521802938 | ISBN-13: 978-0521802932 | Publication Date: April 18, 2005

Information Theory, Evolution and the Origin of Life presents a timely introduction to the use of information theory and coding theory in molecular biology. The genetical information system, because it is linear and digital, resembles the algorithmic language of computers. George Gamow pointed out that the application of Shannon's information theory breaks genetics and molecular biology out of the descriptive mode into the quantitative mode and Dr Yockey develops this theme, discussing how information theory and coding theory can be applied to molecular biology. He discusses how these tools for measuring the information in the sequences of the genome and the proteome are essential for our complete understanding of the nature and origin of life. The author writes for the computer competent reader who is interested in evolution and the origins of life.

Editorial Reviews

Review

."..written in a very lucid style. The roles of physics, chemistry and mathematics in biology are discussed again and again and the similarity between theoretical physics and theoretical molecular biology is always brought out. It is emphasised that molecular biology applications of information and coding theories should either explain the known experimental data or should suggest further experiments for verification of theoretical results obtained." J.N. Kapur, Mathematical Reviews --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Book Description

Information Theory, Evolution and the Origin of Life presents a timely introduction to the use of information theory and coding theory in molecular biology. The genetical information system, because it is linear and digital, resembles the algorithmic language of computers. George Gamow pointed out that the application of Shannon's information theory breaks genetics and molecular biology out of the descriptive mode into the quantitative mode and Dr Yockey develops this theme, discussing how information theory and coding theory can be applied to molecular biology. He discusses how these tools for measuring the information in the sequences of the genome and the proteome are essential for our complete understanding of the nature and origin of life. The author writes for the computer competent reader who is interested in evolution and the origins of life.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (April 18, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521802938
• ISBN-13: 978-0521802932
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,847,142 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Information Theory as a Foundation of Biology, March 22, 2006

By 

Mr. Gerard Battail (France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Information Theory, Evolution, and The Origin of Life (Hardcover)

The previous book of Hubert P. Yockey, 'Information theory and molecular biology', published in 1992, was unfortunately out of print for many years. Publication of 'Information theory, evolution, and the origin of life' makes available much of its material. The scope of the new book has moreover been broadened to encompass the hot topics mentioned in the title.

The academic world is divided into narrow compartments, each having its own methods, language, habits and gurus. Communication between them is made difficult by the lack of a common language so they most often ignore each other. When a concept from one of them eventually penetrates another one, it often assumes a superficial form which leads to misunderstandings. Although this may sometimes be better than plain ignorance, it results in rooting prejudices wrongly believed to hold true in other disciplines, and they live long for lack of proper internal criticism. Yockey is at the antipodes of this parochial system. His life-long efforts have been intended to convince biologists that information theory, a discipline originating in communication engineering, is the proper tool for dealing with molecular biology, hence should be at the heart of biology as a whole. He possesses to a high degree the needed didactic talents, as well as an extreme rigor in vocabulary and reasoning. Not only Yockey transcends disciplinary barriers, but also the famous divide between the 'two cultures'. His extremely broad scholarship is not purely scientific, but also historical, philosophical and literary. All chapters of the book bear in epigraph quotations from poets as well as from scientists or philosophers of all times, always wonderfully relevant to the subject matter. Similarly, many excellent quotations pepper the text. Yockey obviously does not think that scientific rigor demands dullness. On the contrary, the book is written in a witty and often caustic style. It abounds with historical anecdotes and comments, often intended to rehabilitate forgotten authors of major concepts or discoveries and to denounce usurped fames (one may disagree with some abrupt judgements).

As an engineer, I am convinced that information theory is the proper tool for dealing with molecular biology. Indeed, genomes communicate the genetic message as sequences of symbols (that these symbols are molecules does not mean they are relevant to chemistry only), and information theory is precisely the science of communication by means of symbol sequences. As a mathematical science, its results consist of theorems which can be thought of as predetermined forms which need 'only' to be filled with biological matter. But Shannon, the founding father of information theory, warned us that this task is far from trivial: 'Seldom do more than a few of nature's secrets give way at one time. [...] A thorough understanding of the mathematical foundations and its communication application is surely a prerequisite to other applications. I personally believe that many of the concepts of information theory will prove useful in these other fields [i.e., social sciences] but the establishing of such applications is not a trivial matter of translating words to a new domain, but rather the slow tedious process of hypothesis and experimental verification.' (from 'The Bandwagon', 1956, in 'Claude Elwood Shannon collected papers', edited by N.J.A. Sloane and A.D. Wyner, IEEE Press, 1993, page 462). Although Shannon made these comments about social sciences, I think that they perfectly apply to biology. Yockey's efforts are precisely aimed at letting biologists understand how relevant and potentially rewarding to their discipline is information theory.

Besides it presents compelling arguments in favor of the use of information theory in biology, the book also considers biological evolution and the origin of life. Since the genome is the medium which transmits the hereditary information through time, information theory is relevant to evolution just as it is to genetics. The book also critically reviews the many scientific and philosophical hypotheses about the origin of life, and shows that none of the alleged scenarios is likely to properly describe the events that actually occurred. The origin of life may well remain unknowable. Similarly, the mathematicians know since Gödel that propositions may be undecidable so, within a given system of axioms, it may be impossible to prove true results. The algorithmic information theory explains why it is so in a surprisingly simple manner: it results from the necessarily finite amount of available information. That the origin of life may remain a mystery forever is the bad news of the book. The good news is that information theory enables dealing with life phenomena by 'measuring, counting and weighting together with reasonings from postulates or axioms', a sentence which is quoted from Socrates at the very beginning of the book. Using information theory, biology can thus reach the status of a quantitative science. Biologists did not yet realize their luck, however. The book bears in epigraph a quotation from Niccolo Machiavelli who very lucidly states how difficult and dangerous it is to '[...] initiate a new order of things. For the reformer has ennemies in all those who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order'. Yockey's extraordinary book leaves by no means its reader lukewarm and is in itself a big step towards the new order. Although it is mainly intended to biologists, this book can be fruitful to the general reader who is interested in evolution and the origin of life. There are somewhat technical developments, in either information theory or molecular biology, but they are few and can be skipped. An appendix dealing with information theory, a glossary and an index are provided to help the reader.

Gerard Battail

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very scientific book by a very clear-thinking scientist., August 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Information Theory and Molecular Biology (Hardcover)

Dr. Yockey is an extremely clear thinker, and has apparently been thinking about the connections between genetics and the mathematics of information theory for some time (1956 at least). This book, probably a difficult read for the layman, is nevertheless written in an entertaining and unbiased style. Although he slyly sneaks in references to the Bible ("...through a glass darkly...", "...stones that must be rejected by the builder...", etc.), he illuminates with equanimity both creationist and evolutionist theories with the cold light of mathematics. Ultimately, he concludes that life did not happen by chance, although he admits that he has no scenario to explain its origin. He speaks as a pure scientist and should be greatly respected for this.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Explaining Evolution in Terms of Digital Information Flow, January 10, 2006

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Information Theory, Evolution, and The Origin of Life (Hardcover)

This book has the very ambitious task of introducing the general reader to the current thinking regarding evolution, the origin of life on Earth, and the question of life on Mars, Europa and elsewhere in the universe.

Dr. Yockey shows that DNA is the genetic information system that compares in almost every aspect with digital data manipulation. DNA represents a code, a program if you will in computer terms that directs life. It also provides for the replication of life, and its evolution into changing forms over time.

The book is aimed at the non-specialist. It is not a text, but a kind of narrative history of significant developments in biology at a fundamental level. There is some mathematics in the book, but it is not a requirement that this be totally understood. The math serves as a proof of the statements he is making.

The book includes a chapter 'Does evolution need an intelligent designer?' This has caused some 'intelligent designers' to use Dr. Yockey's work in support of their argument.

Dr. Yockey concludes however, that there are some things that we just don't know and that: 'The fact that there are many things unavailable to human knowledge and reasoning, even in mathematics, does not mean that there must be an Intelligent Designer.'

This is a very enjoyable book to read. It is well written and clearly shows an intelligent approach to the problem.