In these essays Heinz von Foerster discusses some of the fundamental principles that govern how we know the world and how we process the information from which we derive that knowledge. Included are path- breaking articles concerning the principles of computation in neural nets (1967), the definition of self-organizing systems (1960), the nature of cognition (1970), as well as recent expansions on these themes (e.g. "How recursive is communication," 1993). Working with Norbert Wiener, Warren McCullough, and others in the 1960s and 1970s, von Foerster was one of the founders of the science of cybernetics, which has had profound effects both on modern systems theory and on the philosophy of cognition. At the Biological Computer Laboratory at the University of Illinois he produced the first parallel computers and contributed to many other developments in the theory of computation and cognition.

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In the dynamics of mankind one can trace out a path of contemplation about the "world", leading from early speculations to today's natural sciences. The endeavour to understand how nature works has led to the construction, still in progress, of an abstract building of great com plexity. To the uninitiated it may look more like a scurrilous sculpture resting on many legs, among them such peculiar ones as probability, relativity, quantum mechanics .... At times problems with the stabil ity of the building or sculpture arise: known facts that won't fit and can no longer be ignored start to undermine the foundations. Then new footings are thought of, constructed and finally cast. In fact, the undermining and casting is often done in one step. This process has already been repeated many times and will un doubtedly repeat itself again and again. At present, one recognizable footing under construction goes by the name of "chaos theory". Physi cists seem to like the word chaos. When they came to recognize that the air is not just empty space but an obviously indescribable dance of myriads of molecules they called that "chaos". What else would fit? In the course of time the name was simplified to "gas". Thus the word chaos became free to serve for the next upsetting experience. That arose in the context of nonlinear dynamical systems, where peculiar motions were detected, ones seemingly beyond human comprehension.

The existence of coherent excitations in active biological systems has been established in recent years. The present book aims at presenting a survey on the many features that such ex citations can exhibit. This does not mean that a "theory of biology" has been established but it implies that such a theory will make use of such excitations. It is hoped that the present book will help in this direction. April 1988 H. Frohlich Contents Theoretical Physics and Biology H. Frohlich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . Theory of Non-linear Excitations F. Kaiser (With 9 Figures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Structures, Correlations and Electromagnetic Interactions in living Theory and Applications E. Del Giudice, S. Doglia, M. Milani and G. Vitiello. . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Resonant Cellular Effects of Low Intensity Microwaves W. Grundler, U. J entzsch, F. Keilmann and V. Putterlik (With 14 Figures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 . . . . . . . The Influence of Low Intensity Millimetre Waves on Biological Systems F. Kremer, L. Santo, A. Poglitsch, C. Koschnitzke, H. Behrens and L. Genzel (With 17 Figures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Metastable States of Biopolymers J. B. Hasted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Physical Aspects of Plant Photosynthesis F. Drissler (With 25 Figures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Emission of Radiation by Active Cells J. K. Pollock and D. G. Pohl (With 6 Figures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Physiological Signalling Across Cell Membranes and Cooperative Influences of Extremely Low Frequency Electromagnetic Fields W. R. Adey (With 7 Figures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 The Interaction of living Red Blood Cells S. Rowlands (With 2 Figures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 The Genetic Code as Language F. Frohlich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 . . . . . .