About the Author
Gregory Chaitin is widely known for his work on metamathematics and for his discovery of the celebrated Omega number, which proved the fundamental unknowability of math. He is the author of many books on mathematics, including Meta Math! The Quest for Omega. This is his first book on biology. Chaitin was for many years at the IBM Watson Research Center in New York. The research described in this book was carried out at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, where Chaitin is now a professor. An Argentine-American, he is an honorary professor at the University of Buenos Aires and has an honorary doctorate from the National University of Cordoba, the oldest university in Argentina.
Table of Contents
ContentsA Parable
Contradictory Quotes?
Problem Solvers and Theorizers, by Gian-Carlo Rota
Preface
1. Introduction: Overview of Proving Darwin
2. Life as Evolving Software: The Evolution of Mutating Software
3. The Human Discovery of Software: Turing and von Neumann as Biologists
4. The Mathematics of Metabiology: Random Walks in Software Space
5. Santa Fe Institute Lecture: A Mathematical Theory of Evolution and Biological Creativity
6. Theological Aspects of Metabiology
7. The Politics of Creativity (Social Darwinism→Social Metabiology)
8. What Can Mathematics Ultimately Accomplish? Metabiology and Beyond
Appendix 1. Von Neumann’s “DNA = Software” Paper
Appendix 2. The Heart of the Proof
Further Reading
Index