The Collapse of Chaos: Discovering Simplicity in a Complex WorldThe Collapse of Chaos is the first post-chaos, post-complexity book, a groundbreaking inquiry into how simplicity in nature is generated from chaos and complexity. Rather than asking science's traditional question of how to break the world down into its simplest components, Jack Cohen and Ian Stewart ask something much more interesting: why does simplicity exist at all? Their story combines chaos and complexity and - surprisingly - derives simplicity from the interaction of the two. The Collapse of Chaos is composed of two parts. The first half is a witty primer, a guided tour of the islands of Truth that have been mapped out by conventional science. This section provides a streamlined and accessible introduction to the central areas of modern science, including cosmology, quantum mechanics, the arrow of time, biological development, evolution, and consciousness. The unorthodox and adventurous second half dives into the Oceans of Ignorance that surround what is known. Educated by the first half to appreciate the subtler issues in the second, the reader is introduced to a novel and even heretical world where unconventional possibilities are explored through conversations with characters such as the Victorian computer scientist Augusta Ada Lovelace and - for the more outlandish scenarios - the alien inhabitants of the planet Zarathustra. |
Contents
PREFACE | 1 |
SIMPLICITY AND COMPLEXITY | 6 |
THE LAWS OF NATURE | 30 |
Copyright | |
14 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
The Collapse of Chaos: Discovering Simplicity in a Complex World Ian Stewart,Jack Cohen No preview available - 2000 |
The Collapse of Chaos: Discovering Simplicity in a Complex World Jack Cohen,Ian Stewart No preview available - 1995 |
The Collapse of Chaos: Discovering Simplicity in a Complex World Jack Cohen,Ian Stewart No preview available - 2000 |
Common terms and phrases
animals anthropic principle atoms attractor AUGUSTA ADA behavior biological bits blueprint brain buckminsterfullerene Burgess shale CAPTAIN ARTHUR carbon chaos chapter characters chemical chemistry collapse of chaos complexity complicated context creature space developmental dinosaur DNA code DNA sequence DNA space dynamical systems ecology effect electrons emergent evolution evolutionary evolved example explain funnels Gaia genes genetic happen human hydrogen idea inside interaction kind living look Mandelbrot Mandelbrot set mathematical molecules motion mutations natural selection NEEPLPHUT nerve cells neuron Newton's laws orbit organisms oxygen particles particular patterns physics Planck's constant plants possible predators principle problem produce proteins quantum mechanics question random reductionism reductionist replication rules Schrödinger's cat scientists sense simple simplexity simplicities species STANLEY story structure survive Theory of Everything there's things tiny tion tree ture understand universe wave function Zarathustran