At Home in the Universe: The Search for the Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity

by StuartKauffman (Author)

• New

  Illustrated
  1996

  $29.96

  A major scientific revolution had begun, a new paradigm that rivals Darwin's theory in importance. At its heart is the discovery of the order that lies deep within most complex of systems, from the origin of life, to the workings of giant corporations, to the rise and fall of great civilisations. And more than anyone else, this revolution is the work of one man, Stuart Kauffman, visionary pioneer of the new science of complexity, Now, in At Home in the Universe, Kauffmanbrilliantly weaves together the excitement of intellectual discovery and a fertile mix of insights to give the general reader a fascinating look at this new science - and at the forces for order that lie at the edge of chaos.

• Used

  Paperback
  1996

  $4.64

  Complexity theory is one of the most controversial areas of current scientific research. Developing out of chaos theory, complexity suggests that there are hidden tendencies in nature to select ordered states, even when statistically they are vastly outnumbered by chaotic possibilities: that there is a deep natural impulse towards order, counteracting the degenerative tendencies of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Like chaos, complexity is a multidisciplinary area of research and those involved include physicists, economists and biologists. This is a study of complexity.