
The Garden in the Machine
The Emerging Science of Artificial Life
Claus Emmeche(Author)
Princeton University Press
Published on 25. July 1994
Book
Hardback
216 pages
978-0-691-03330-3 (ISBN)
Description
In this wide-ranging survey, Claus Emmeche outlines many of the challenges and controversies involved in the dynamic and curious science of artificial life. He describes the work being done by an international network of biologists, computer scientists and physicists who are using computers to study life as it could be, or as it might evolve under conditions different from those on Earth. Many artificial-life researchers believe that they can create new life in the computer by simulating the processes observed in traditional, biological life-forms. The flight of a flock of birds, for example, can be reproduced faithfully and in all its complexity by a relatively simple computer program that is designed to generate electronic "boids". Are these "boids" then alive? The central problem, Emmeche notes, lies in defining the salient differences between biological life and computer simulations of its processes. His study touches on every aspect of this complex and rapidly developing discipline, including its connections to artificial intelligence, chaos theory, computational theory, and studies of emergence.
Reviews / Votes
"Emmeche's account goes beyond describing (with appropriate awe) the accomplishments of computer biology to raise the crucial question of whether the new metaphor of the machine can be extended ... to the whole of nature." * Times Literary Supplement * "A serious, sensible introduction to an exciting new field. It is not every day that one can see science fiction clash with natural philosophy in such a civilized fashion." * Karl Sigmund, Science * "Can life be synthesized? Emmeche suggests in his fascinating book an approach to this question by means of computer simulation of living processes ... [and] tackles the posed questions with great insight." * Boerje Ekstig, The Quarterly Review of Biology *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New Jersey
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Trade binding
Illustrations
1 halftone 25 figs.
Dimensions
Height: 203 mm
Width: 127 mm
Weight
369 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-691-03330-3 (9780691033303)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
07/2022
1st Edition
Princeton University Press
€30.99
Available for download
Persons
Claus Emmeche, a Danish theoretical biologist, is a Research Fellow at the Center of Cognitive Science, University of Roskilde. He is also Guest Scientist and a reader at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, and is the author of several books on biology.