Complexity：The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos

InarentedconventinSantaFe,arevolutionhasbeenbrewing.Theactivistsarenotanarchists,butratherNobelLaureatesinphysicsandeconomicssuchasMurrayGell-MannandKennethArrow,andpony-tailedgraduatestudents,mathematicians,andcomputerscientistsdownfromLosAlamos.They'veformedaniconoclasticthinktankcalledtheSantaFeInstitute,andtheirradicalideaistocreateanewsciencecalledcomplexity.Thesemavericksfromacademeshareadeepimpatiencewiththekindoflinear,reductionistthinkingthathasdominatedsciencesincethetimeofNewton.Instead,theyaregatheringnovelideasaboutinterconnectedness,coevolution,chaos,structure,andorder-andthey'reforgingthemintoanentirelynew,unifiedwayofthinkingaboutnature,humansocialbehavior,life,andtheuniverseitself.Theywanttoknowhowaprimordialsoupofsimplemoleculesmanagedtoturnitselfintothefirstlivingcell-andwhattheoriginoflifesomefourbillionyearsagocantellusabouttheprocessoftechnologicalinnovationtoday.Theywanttoknowwhyancientecosystemsoftenremainedstableformillionsofyears,onlytovanishinageologicalinstant-andwhatsucheventshavetodowiththesuddencollapseofSovietcommunisminthelate1980s.Theywanttoknowwhytheeconomycanbehaveinunpredictablewaysthateconomistscan'texplain-andhowtherandomprocessofDarwiniannaturalselectionmanagedtoproducesuchwonderfullyintricatestructuresastheeyeandthekidney.Aboveall,theywanttoknowhowtheuniversemanagestobringforthcomplexstructuressuchasgalaxies,stars,planets,bacteria,plants,animals,andbrains.Therearecommonthreadsinallofthesequeries,andtheseSantaFescientistsseektounderstandthem.Complexityistheirstory:themessy,funny,humanstoryofhowsciencereallyhappens.HereisthetaleofBrianArthur,theBelfast-borneconomistwhostubbornlypushedhistheoriesofeconomicch