Complexity Explained

by Péter Érdi

This book is, of course about complexity. The title of the book, as you may recognize was motivated (excuse me for using this very mild expression) by Daniel Dennett s Consciousness Explained [130]. Dennett s intention was to explain consciousness as the emergent product of the interaction among c- stituents having physical and neural character. The goal of this book is to explain how various types of complexity emerge due to the interaction among constituents. There are many questions to be answered, how to understand, control, decompose, manage, predict the many-faced complexity. After tea- ing thissubjectforseveralyearsIfeelthatthe time hascome toputthe whole story together. The term complex system is a buzzword, but we certainly don t have a single de?nition for it. There are several predominant features of compl- ity. Complex processes may show unpredictable behavior (which we still try to predict somehow), may lead to uncontrolled explosion (such in case of epilepsy, earthquake eruptions or stock market crashes). One of the char- teristic feature of simple systems is, that there is a single cause which implies a single e?ect. For large class of complex systems it is true that e?ects are fed back to modify causes. Biological cells belong to this class. Furthermore they are open to material, energetic and information ?ow by interaction with their environment, still they are organizationallyclosed units. Another aspect of complexity is the question how collective phenomena emerge by some se- organized mechanisms."

Genres: Mathematics

412 pages, Paperback

First published October 30, 2007

Reviews

[ShawnLeeZX · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book mostly to get a overall development of the discipline of complexity science. The structure of the book is good, though the development may require some level of familiarity of complexity science and solid math background. This is an rare book that actually discusses the broader philosophical implication of complexity now and then.

The thread that connects the book is the dynamic part of complex system. The energy landscape view is not discussed. Almost no discussion on the condensed matters, or related physics complex system, which is an important part of complexity science. This is the part I am mostly interested in details. Might need to get from somewhere else.

The part on the mind is skipped, since much neuroscience is discussed, and I am not plan to get into that level of detail yet. Also the part on game theory is also skipped.

[Craig · Rating 1 out of 5]

I give up. I tried to read this. I really did. But either math has gotten harder since I was in college, or my mind has dulled, or this is just really a badly written book. I was disorganized. It was onconsistently difficult. It had no direction. It was incomprehensible to me.