| UNC-CH INLS 310(40) Optimal Informative Systems, Spring 2006 | |||||
| Topic | Starting Date | Source | Library Call # for Reserves | Required Reading? | Buy? |
| Introduction | Wed Jan 11 | ||||
| Mon Jan 16 | NO CLASS | ||||
| Optimality | Wed Jan 18 | ||||
| Wed Jan 18 | Dupre, The Latest on the Best, MIT Press, 1987. | QH371.L38 1987 | |||
| Wed Jan 18 | Schoemaker, “The Quest for Optimality,” Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 14, 205-245, 1991. Initially skim the article, the responses, and the author’s response, to identify the key issues; then go back and read the article and responses for details. | yes | |||
| Wed Jan 18 | Orzack and Sober, Adaptationism and Optimality, Cambridge, 2001. | QH546.A285 2001 | |||
| Information and Informtiveness | Wed Jan 25 | ||||
| Wed Jan 25 | Rashevsky "Life, Information Theory, and Topology," (229-235) and Karreman, "Topological Information Content and Chemical Reactions," (279-285). Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics vol 17, 1955. | yes | |||
| Wed Jan 25 | Losee, “Discipline Independent Definition of Information,” http://ils.unc.edu/~losee/book5.pdf | yes | |||
| Optimality and Information, Optimal Information | Mon Jan 30 | ||||
| Evolutionary Development | Wed Feb 1 | ||||
| Evolution | Wed Feb 1 | ||||
| Wed Feb 1 | Dennet, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life, Touchstone, 1995. | ||||
| Wed Feb 1 | Ridley, Genome, Perennial, 1999. | ||||
| Wed Feb 1 | Segerstrale, Defenders of the Truth, Oxford, 2000. pp. 1-196 (Part I) in paperback edition, 2001. | Q175.5.S44 2000 | |||
| Wed Feb 1 | Sterelny, Dawkins Vs. Gould, Totem Books, 2001. | ||||
| Wed Feb 1 | Mayr, What Evolution Is, Basic Books, 2001 (paperback) Chapters 1-10 | QH366.2 .M3933 2001 | yes | yes | |
| Self-Organization | Mon Feb 13 | ||||
| Mon Feb 13 | Kaufman, At Home in the Universe, Oxford, 1995. | ||||
| Mon Feb 13 | Kaufman, Origins of Order, Oxford, 1993. | ||||
| Mon Feb 13 | Sole and Goodwin, Signs of Life: How Complexity Pervades Biology, Basic Books, 2000. | ||||
| Mon Feb 13 | Wesson, Beyond Natural Selection, MIT 1991. Recommended Ch 1-7, Required Ch 8-13. | ||||
| Mon Feb 13 | Camazine, Self-Organization in Biological Systems, Princeton, 2001, Chapters 1-7, 20, 21. | QH313.S477 2001 | yes | maybe | |
| Adaptive Behavior & Evolution of Communication | Mon Feb 20 | ||||
| Mon Feb 20 | Buller, Adapting Minds, MIT Press, 2005. Chapters 1-4, 8 (skim chapters 5-7) | BF701.B85 2005 | yes | maybe | |
| Mon Feb 20 | Bonner, First Signals: The Evolution of Multicellular Development, Princeton, 2000. | ||||
| Mon Feb 20 | Croft, Explaining Language Change, Longman, 2000. | ||||
| Mon Feb 20 | Hauser, Evolution of Communication, MIT Press, 1996. Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 8. | ||||
| Mon Feb 20 | Losee, “Communication Defined as Complementary Informative Processes,” http://ils.unc.edu/~losee/ci/comminfo.pdf | ||||
| Mon Feb 20 | Deacon, The Symbolic Species, Norton, 1997, Ch. 1-3. | ||||
| "Intelligent Design" | Mon Mar 6 | ||||
| Decision Making | Wed Mar 8 | ||||
| Wed Mar 8 | Gardenfors and Sahlin, Decision, Probability, and Utility. Cambridge, 1988. Pages 1-15. | QA279.5 .D43 1988 | yes | no | |
| Wed Mar 8 | Kahneman, Slovic, and Tversky, Judgment Under Uncertainty: Hueristics and Biases. Cambridge, 1982. Pages 1-20. | BF441.J8 1982 | yes | no | |
| Wed Mar 8 | Gilovich, Griffin, and Kahneman, Heuristics and Biases, Cambridge, 2002. | BF447.H48 2002 | |||
| Game Theory | Wed Mar 22 | ||||
| Wed Mar 22 | Barash, The Survival Game, Owl Books, 2004 (paperback edition). Ch 1-2. | HM1111 .B37 2003 | yes | yes | |
| Cooperation | Mon Apr 3 | ||||
| Mon Apr 3 | Barash, Chapters 3-7. | yes | |||
| Wed Apr 5 | Fisher and Ury, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, Penguin, 1991 (paperback, any edition ok) | yes | yes | ||
| Best Practice, Advice, and Consultants | Mon Apr 10 | ||||
| Failure | Wed Apr 12 | ||||
| Wed Apr 12 | Feynman on the "Reliability of the Shuttle." http://www.ranum.com/security/computer_security/editorials/dumb/feynman.html | ||||
| Wed Apr 12 | Dorner, The Logic of Failure, Perseus Books, 1996 Ch. 1-4. | BF448 .D6713 1996 | yes | maybe | |
| Popular Ideas about Success | Mon Apr 17 | Select and read a popular book on how to be successful, correct, best, etc. Examples might be a religious text or a pop business book such as Jack Welch's Winning or Jim Collin's Good to Great, etc. | yes | ||
| Presentations | Wed Apr 19 | ||||
| Conclusion | Wed Apr 26 |