Microorganisms, viruses and computer programmes encode all the information they need to reproduce and spread themselves. The mechanisms in the living world, in viruses and even in the world of technical systems are amazingly similar. The book shows how great the parallels of these replication systems are and what they are based on.

The excursus also leads into the fascinating world of genetics, to the question of what constitutes life, and to software that replicates itself independently.

Content:

· What is life?

· Basic concepts of molecular genetics

· Viruses and early genetics

· Algorithms and self-replicating computer programs

· What is information?

· Coding of information in technology and biology

· Coevolution of life and technology

The author

Rafael Ball holds a PHD in biology, is a historian of science and a librarian. He is director of the ETH Library Zurich and lecturer in library science and management. He works on questions of information theory, scholarly communication and the effects of digitisation He is the author of numerous relevant publications, editor of information science journals and speaker at meetings and conferences.

The author Rafael Ball holds a PhD in biology, is a historian of science and a librarian. He is director of the ETH-Bibliothek Zurich and lecturer in library science and management at the University of Applied Sciences Graubünden. For many years he has been concerned with questions of information theory, science communication and the effects of digitisation on science and society in the present and the future. He is the author of numerous relevant publications, editor of information science journals and speaker at meetings and conferences.