Information is precious. It reduces our uncertainty in making decisions.
Knowledge about the outcome of an uncertain event gives the possessor an
advantage. It changes the course of lives, nations, and history itself.
Information is the food of Maxwell's demon. His power comes from know-
ing which particles are hot and which particles are cold. His existence
was paradoxical to classical physics and only the realization that
information too was a source of power led to his taming. Information has
recently become a commodity, traded and sold like or- ange juice or hog
bellies. Colleges give degrees in information science and information
management. Technology of the computer age has provided access to
information in overwhelming quantity. Information has become something
worth studying in its own right. The purpose of this volume is to
introduce key developments and results in the area of generalized
information theory, a theory that deals with uncertainty-based
information within mathematical frameworks that are broader than
classical set theory and probability theory. The volume is organized as
follows.