Darwin Among the Machines

Description

'Brilliantly fuses the development of evolutionary theory and computing . . . prophetic' Daily Telegraph 'Full of historical anecdotes . . . but this is much more than a history book. George Dyson weaves his threads together for a purpose. Using voices of the past and present, he describes a fresh and sometimes startling viewpoint of the emerging relationship between nature and machines. From vignettes about Olaf Stapledon, George Boole, John von Neumann, and Samuel Butler, a larger story develops in which the twin processes of intelligence and evolution are inseparably intertwined' Danny Hillis, Wired

George Dyson is a historian of technology whose interests have included the development (and redevelopment) of the Aleut kayak (Baidarka, 1986), the evolution of digital computing and telecommunications (Darwin Among the Machines, 1997), and the exploration of space (Project Orion, 2002).

One of the most original and intriguing books of the last two decades -- John Naughton * Guardian * A very deep and important book, beautifully written -- Oliver Sacks A book that can be read as literature, whether or not you have any interest in computers and machine intelligence . . . satisfying, edifying and accessible -- John Gribbin An extraordinarily exciting, intriguing and very idiosyncratic book * Nature *