* James M. Buchanan Center for Political Economy, George Mason University, MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax, VA 22030; [email protected]. Cowen is a professor of economics and the general director of the Mercatus Center and the Buchanan Center. He is the author of In Praise of Commercial Culture (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998), What Price Fame? (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000), ...

Nature conservation work has come a long way in just over a century. In the 19th century, species were grouped into useful and harmful ones. Protection, which was beginning to be enshrined in laws and international treaties, was only extended to the useful species. Nuisances such as lions and bears were unflinchingly earmarked for destruction. Since the foundation of the International Union for...

I consider the many ways in which evolved information-Wows are restricted and metabolic resources protected and hidden – the thesis of living phenomena as evolutionary cryptosystems. I present the information theory of secrecy systems and discuss mechanisms acquired by evolved lineages that encrypt sensitive heritable information with random keys. I propose that complexity science be considered...