TY - CHAP T1 - The World as Evolving Information T2 - Unifying Themes in Complex Systems Y1 - 2012 A1 - Carlos Gershenson ED - Minai, Ali ED - Braha, Dan ED - Yaneer {Bar-Yam} AB - This paper discusses the benefits of describing the world as information, especially in the study of the evolution of life and cognition. Traditional studies encounter problems because it is difficult to describe life and cognition in terms of matter and energy, since their laws are valid only at the physical scale. However, if matter and energy, as well as life and cognition, are described in terms of information, evolution can be described consistently as information becoming more complex. The paper presents five tentative laws of information, valid at multiple scales, which are generalizations of Darwinian, cybernetic, thermodynamic, and complexity principles. These are further used to discuss the notions of life and cognition and their evolution. JF - Unifying Themes in Complex Systems PB - Springer CY - Berlin Heidelberg VL - VII UR - http://arxiv.org/abs/0704.0304 ER -