Read more
Using game theory and examples of actual games people play, Nobel laureate Manfred Eigen and Ruthild Winkler show how the elements of chance and rules underlie all that happens in the universe, from genetic behavior through economic growth to the composition of music.
To illustrate their argument, the authors turn to classic games--backgammon, bridge, and chess--and relate them to physical, biological, and social applications of probability theory and number theory. Further, they have invented, and present here, more than a dozen playable games derived from scientific models for equilibrium, selection, growth, and even the composition of RNA.
List of contents
| Translators' Note | |
| Acknowledgments | |
| Foreword | |
| Foreword to the English Edition | |
| 1 | The Taming of Chance | 1 |
| 1 | The Origin of Play | 3 |
| 2 | Games People Play | 6 |
| 3 | Microcosm - Macrocosm | 19 |
| 4 | Statistical Bead Games | 30 |
| 5 | Darwin and Molecules | 49 |
| 2 | Games in Time and Space | 67 |
| 6 | Structure, Pattern, Shape | 69 |
| 7 | Symmetry | 103 |
| 8 | Metamorphoses of Order | 131 |
| 3 | The Limits of the Game - The Limits of Humanity | 173 |
| 9 | The Parable of the Physicists | 175 |
| 10 | Of Self-Reproducing Automata and Thinking Machines | 178 |
| 11 | "From One Make Ten..." | 199 |
| 12 | Limited Space and Resources | 216 |
| 13 | From Ecosystem to Industrial Society | 236 |
| 4 | In the Realm of Ideas | 249 |
| 14 | Popper's Three Worlds | 251 |
| 15 | From Symbol to Language | 259 |
| 16 | Memory and Complex Reality | 283 |
| 17 | The Art of Asking the Right Question | 298 |
| 18 | Playing with Beauty | 306 |
| List of References | 331 |
| Index | 339 |
About the author
Manfred Eigen & Ruthild Winkler
Translated by Robert Kimber and Rita Kimber
Summary
Using game theory and examples of actual games people play, Nobel laureate Manfred Eigen and Ruthild Winkler show how the elements of chance and rules underlie all that happens in the universe, from genetic behavior through economic growth to the composition of music.
To illustrate their argument, the authors turn to classic games--backgammon, bridge, and chess--and relate them to physical, biological, and social applications of probability theory and number theory. Further, they have invented, and present here, more than a dozen playable games derived from scientific models for equilibrium, selection, growth, and even the composition of RNA.
Additional text
"Remarkable, fascinating, and very profound."
