John E. Mayfield

From an early age John E Mayfield was fascinated with science of all kinds. This broad interest led to a BA in physics, a PhD in biophysics, and an academic career in the area of molecular biology. In the late 1990s he was introduced to evolutionary computer algorithms and became fascinated by the relationships between biological evolution and computer based evolution and more generally in the linkages between computation and biological process. The Engine of Complexity, Evolution as Computation is based on his consequent studies. The book shows how biological evolution is a special case of a more general computational notion of evolution, and how that general view of evolution explains not only how life is possible but also how human technology and most or all complex outcomes of human society are possible. It is his first book.