Why Information Grows: The Evolution of Order, from Atoms to Economies
Language: English
Published by Basic Books, 2015
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: World of Books Inc, Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.World of Books Inc
AbeBooks seller since March 23, 2026
Condition: Used - Good
US$ 7.29
Quantity: 3 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Using physics and computer science to examine why some nations prosper while others do not.
Seller Inventory # CIN0465048994G
- Title
- Why Information Grows: The Evolution of Order, from Atoms to Economies
- Author
- Cesar Hidalgo
- Publisher
- Basic Books
- Publication year
- 2015
- Condition
- Good
- Binding
- Hardback
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0465048994
- ISBN 13
- 9780465048991
At first glance, the universe seems hostile to order. Thermodynamics dictates that over time, order--or information--will disappear. Whispers vanish in the wind just like the beauty of swirling cigarette smoke collapses into disorderly clouds. But thermodynamics also has loopholes that promote the growth of information in pockets. Our cities are pockets where information grows, but they are not all the same. For every Silicon Valley, Tokyo, and Paris, there are dozens of places with economies that accomplish little more than pulling rocks off the ground. So, why does the US economy outstrip Brazil's, and Brazil's that of Chad? Why did the technology corridor along Boston's Route 128 languish while Silicon Valley blossomed? In each case, the key is how people, firms, and the networks they form make use of information.
Seen from Hidalgo's vantage, economies become distributed computers, made of networks of people, and the problem of economic development becomes the problem of making these computers more powerful. By uncovering the mechanisms that enable the growth of information in nature and society, Why Information Grows lays bear the origins of physical order and economic growth. Situated at the nexus of information theory, physics, sociology, and economics, this book propounds a new theory of how economies can do, not just more, but more interesting things.
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World of Books Inc
Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.
AbeBooks seller since March 23, 2026
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