Coren R.L. Evolutionary Trajectory: The Growth of Information in the History and Future of Earth

Amsterdam: Gordon and Breach, 1998. — 220 p. — ISBN13: 978-9056996017.Expanding the concept and extent of evolution beyond what is usually accepted or expected, Coren's empirically based Evolutionary Trajectory is the result of an innovative application of a cybernetic model of change and growth to the study of evolution. Bringing together a cybernetic analysis of changing systems, the study of organic evolution, thermodynamics, paleontology, and information theory the author argues that evolution is a single process - beginning with the Big Bang, continuing with organic change on earth and the growth of civilizations, and extending through to the technological accomplishments of mankind. This process is revealed through a study of the rate of evolutionary change on earth, how that change is measured and interpreted, the cyclic nature of its occurrence, and its continuity not only up to the present moment, but well into the future. After positing that the next major, evolutionary step is only 140 years away, the author discusses the forms it may take.