From Publishers Weekly
Writing primarily for readers with backgrounds in science, Levy focuses on the conceptual edge that artificial-life research defines. Photos.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The effort to create artificial life is occurring primarily within computer science, although it brings together physicists, microbiologists, mathematicians, ethologists, and others in addition to computer scientists. The computer's ability to simulate system development is being generalized to study evolution and reproduction. Neural networks, while also used for applications other than artificial life simulation, are the primary form considered. As in his earlier book on computer hackers ( Hackers , LJ 11/1/84), Levy paints vivid images of the people involved in this work and puts a lot of effort into explanation of technical details, but this book is not easy reading. (None of the notes or figures were seen.) For larger specialized science collections. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 3/15/92.
- Hilary D. Burton, Lawrence Livermore National Lab, Livermore, Cal.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte provient de la Hardcover édition.
- Hilary D. Burton, Lawrence Livermore National Lab, Livermore, Cal.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte provient de la Hardcover édition.
From Kirkus Reviews
Levy again reports from the front lines of technology in this exploration of the history and future of the creation of artificial life--as impressive and illuminating a work as his memorable Hackers (1984). Colonies of light on a computer screen compete, learn, reproduce, and die; ``viruses'' committed to self-preservation adapt to new environments, search computer systems for food, replicate themselves, and destroy; tiny ``bugs'' swarm out of a vacuum cleaner to suck up dirt beneath sofas and carpets, then return to deposit the dirt at home base; a mechanical cockroach sees an object in its path, adjusts its legs to crawl over it, and continues in its explorations. The question of which of these creatures, if any, are alive has stimulated a storm of controversy concerning the definition, underlying structure, and necessary characteristics of life itself--primary concerns in the creation of ``alternative life forms,'' an endeavor that has also led to insights into the workings of flocks of birds; the mechanisms behind the evolutionary process; the origin of life; and more. As Levy methodically traces the development of ``A-life'' studies from John von Neumann's interest during the 1940's in the similarities between computers and nature to today's soul-searching by researchers into the spirituality, civil rights, and destructive power of future artificial life forms, he also highlights the other lure of such research: the eventual production of robotic servants; cheap planetary pioneers; more efficient, virtually immortal bodies for our human descendants; and even, some scientists believe, a successor species to our own. Ringing with echoes of Faust, Frankenstein, and the history of the atom bomb, the field of A-life research is fertile ground for Levy's articulate, probing journalism. This thought-provoking inquiry may be the most comprehensive yet on the subject. (Eight pages of color illustrations; 20 b&w drawings and charts--not seen.) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--Ce texte provient de la
Hardcover
édition.
Review
"We used to think we knew what life is [but] not any more. 'Artificial life' has become a strange and exciting frontier of modern science...and Steven Levy makes an ideal tour guide." -- James Gleick.
author of Chaos and Genius
author of Chaos and Genius
Product Description
This enthralling book alerts us to nothing less than the existence of new varieties of life. Some of these species can move and eat, see, reproduce, and die. Some behave like birds or ants. One such life form may turn out to be our best weapon in the war against AIDS.
What these species have in common is that they exist inside computers, their DNA is digital, and they have come into being not through God's agency but through the efforts of a generation of scientists who seek to create life in silico.
But even as it introduces us to these brilliant heretics and unravels the intricacies of their work. Artificial Life examines its subject's dizzying philosophical implications: Is a self-replicating computer program any less alive than a flu virus? Are carbon-and-water-based entities merely part of the continuum of living things? And is it possible that one day "a-life" will look back at human beings and dismiss us as an evolutionary way station -- or, worse still, a dead end?
What these species have in common is that they exist inside computers, their DNA is digital, and they have come into being not through God's agency but through the efforts of a generation of scientists who seek to create life in silico.
But even as it introduces us to these brilliant heretics and unravels the intricacies of their work. Artificial Life examines its subject's dizzying philosophical implications: Is a self-replicating computer program any less alive than a flu virus? Are carbon-and-water-based entities merely part of the continuum of living things? And is it possible that one day "a-life" will look back at human beings and dismiss us as an evolutionary way station -- or, worse still, a dead end?
Ingram
Even as molecular biologists attempt to reproduce life in vitro, another group of scientists is creating life--or something very close to it--in silico, using computers to produce "organisms" that can move, see, feed, reproduce, and die. Photos.
From the Back Cover
"We used to think we knew what life is [but] not any more. 'Artificial life' has become a strange and exciting frontier of modern science...and Steven Levy makes an ideal tour guide." -- James Gleick.
author of Chaos and Genius
