Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order And Chaos - Softcover

Waldrop, M.Mitchell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0670850454 ISBN 13: 9780670850457

Publisher: Viking, 1993

Synopsis

In a rented convent in Santa Fe, a revolution has been brewing. The activists are not anarchists, but rather Nobel Laureates in physics and economics such as Murray Gell-Mann and Kenneth Arrow, and pony-tailed graduates, mathematicians and computer scientists from Los Alamos. They share a deep impatience with the kind of linear, reductionist thinking that has dominated science since the time of Newton. Instead they are gathering novel ideas about interconnectedness, co-evolution, chaos, structure and order - and forging them into an entirely new, unified way of thinking about nature, human social behaviour, life, and the universe itself. Their iconoclastic think tank, the Santa Fe Institute, is creating a new science called "complexity". They want to know how a primordial soup of simple molecules managed to turn itself into the first living cell, and what the origin of life some four billion years ago can tell us about the process of technological innovation today. They want to know why ancient ecosystems often remained stable for millions of years, only to vanish in a geological instant, and what these might have to do with the sudden collapse of Soviet communism. Above all, they want to know how the universe manages to produce complex structures like galaxies, stars, planets, bacteria, plants, animals and brains. There are common threads in all these queries, and the Santa Fe scientists seek to understand them.

About this title

Review

Heinz Pagels

physicist

"The Washington Post"

If you liked "Chaos," you'll love "Complexity." Waldrop creates the most exciting intellectual adventure story of the year.

Douglas R. Hofstadter

author of "Go tel, Esther, Bach"

One comes away from "Complexity" both intellectually excited by ideas and emotionally involved with the people struggling to formulate them. This is a deep tale of science in the making.

"The New York Times Book Review"

Lucidly shows physicists, biologists, computer scientists and economists swapping metaphors and reveling in the sense that epochal discoveries are just around the corner....[Waldrop] has a special talent for relaying the exhilaration of moments of intellectual insight.

"The Washington Post"

If you liked "Chaos, " you'll love "Complexity." Waldrop creates the most exciting intellectual adventure story of the year.

Heinz Pagels

physicist

I am convinced that the nations and people who master the new sciences of complexity will become the economic, cultural, and political superpowers of the next century.

Douglas R. Hofstadter

author of "Gotel, Esther, Bach"

One comes away from "Complexity" both intellectually excited by ideas and emotionally involved with the people struggling to formulate them. This is a deep tale of science in the making.

"The Washington Post"If you liked "Chaos," you'll love "Complexity." Waldrop creates the most exciting intellectual adventure story of the year.

Heinz PagelsphysicistI am convinced that the nations and people who master the new sciences of complexity will become the economic, cultural, and political superpowers of the next century.

Douglas R. Hofstadterauthor of "Gotel, Esther, Bach"One comes away from "Complexity" both intellectually excited by ideas and emotionally involved with the people struggling to formulate them. This is a deep tale of science in the making.

Synopsis

In a rented convent in Santa Fe, a revolution has been brewing. The activists are not anarchists, but rather Nobel Laureates in physics and economics such as Murray Gell-Mann and Kenneth Arrow, and pony-tailed graduates, mathematicians and computer scientists from Los Alamos. They share a deep impatience with the kind of linear, reductionist thinking that has dominated science since the time of Newton. Instead they are gathering novel ideas about interconnectedness, co-evolution, chaos, structure and order - and forging them into an entirely new, unified way of thinking about nature, human social behaviour, life, and the universe itself. Their iconoclastic think tank, the Santa Fe Institute, is creating a new science called "complexity". They want to know how a primordial soup of simple molecules managed to turn itself into the first living cell, and what the origin of life some four billion years ago can tell us about the process of technological innovation today. They want to know why ancient ecosystems often remained stable for millions of years, only to vanish in a geological instant, and what these might have to do with the sudden collapse of Soviet communism.

Edition details

• Publisher: Viking
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0670850454
• ISBN 13: 9780670850457
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384