Chapter 3 Preface: A holistic view

Complexity, adaptability, tumult on the edge of chaos, these recurring themes shine brightly, setting off a scientific revolution across disciplines. This is a book about complexity science. So far, because this science is so new and too broad, no one knows how to define it, and no one knows where its boundaries really are.But, that's the point.If the current definition of the field is unclear, it is because complexity science seeks to explore problems that defy all traditional disciplinary categories.For example: ．Why did the Soviet Union's 40-year hegemony in Eastern Europe collapse within a few months in 1989?And why did the Soviet regime itself fail to escape the doom of disintegration two years later?Why did communism collapse so quickly?Of course, two men were involved in all this, Gorbachev and Yeltsin, but even they themselves seemed swept away by events beyond their control.Is there some kind of global dynamic beyond the individual at work?

．On a Monday in October 1987, why did the Wall Street stock market suddenly crash by 500 points?Much of the blame is directed at computerized trading systems, but the stock market has had computers for years.Is there any reason why the stock market crashed on that particular Monday? ．According to fossil records, ancient species and ecosystems can usually maintain a stable state for millions of years, why did the entire dynasty change in an instant in a certain geological era?Also, asteroid strikes may have been the cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs, but there haven't been that many asteroid strikes in the past; what else ever happened?

．Why is it that in a country like Pakistan, where contraceptive methods are widely available and convenient, and villagers are well aware of the effects of overpopulation and economic stagnation, rural families still have seven children?Why do they keep continuing this destructive behavior? ．How did the primitive form of amino acids and other simple molecules transform into the first living cells four billion years ago?Molecules can't just bump into each other randomly; a favorite point of creationists to point out is that the chances of such a coincidence happening are extremely small.So, is the creation of life really a miracle?Or is there something else going on in the original amino acid that we don't understand?

Things Darwin Didn't Know ．Why did individual cells begin to coalesce 600 million years ago to produce multicellular organisms such as algae, jellyfish, insects, and later humans?Why do humans go to such lengths to organize families, tribes, communities, nations and all forms of society?If evolution (or free market capitalism) simply means survival of the fittest, then why, besides ruthless competition, other relationships such as love, friendship, etc., arise between people?In a world where good people always suffer, why is there such a thing as trust or cooperation?Also, why does the spirit of trust and cooperation not only exist, but also flourish?

．How does Darwin's theory of natural selection explain such intricate structures as eyes or kidneys?Are the incredibly ingenious structures in living organisms just accidental accidents of evolution?Or, have many things happened in the past four billion years that Darwin didn't know about?What is life?Is life nothing more than a particularly complex product of organic chemistry?Or something more subtle? ．How do we explain something like a computer virus?Are computer viruses just annoying lifelike objects?Or is it basically really alive too? ．What is mind?How can a three-pound mass of ordinary matter like a brain give rise to ineffable qualities like feelings, thoughts, purpose, and consciousness?

．Perhaps the most fundamental question is, why is there life instead of nothing?The universe began in chaos after the Big Bang, and since then, as described by the second law of thermodynamics, disorder, division, corruption, etc. tend to brutally dominate the entire universe, however, the universe still manages to produce various levels The structure of: galaxies, stars, planets, bacteria, plants, animals and the brain.How?Could it be that while the universe is moving irresistibly toward disorder, there is an equally powerful force pulling it toward order, structure, and organization?If that's the case, how do two distinct processes go hand in hand?

surpass oneself At first glance, the only thing these questions have in common is the same answer: no one knows.Some issues don't even seem like scientific issues.But, on further thought, similarities emerge one after another.For example, each question refers to a complex system, that is, many independent objects interacting with each other in many different ways.Think of the trillions of proteins, oils, and nucleic acids that chemically interact with each other that make up a living cell, or the billions of interconnected nerve cells that make up a brain, or the millions of interdependent, human society personal it!

More importantly, in each case, the rich interactions enabled the whole system to undergo a process of spontaneous self-organization.Therefore, material needs make human beings unconsciously form an economic system through countless individual buying and selling behaviors, in which no one deliberately plans or is responsible for the overall results.The growing embryo's genes assemble themselves in one way into liver cells and another way into muscle cells.After the birds adapt to the behavior of their neighbors, they unconsciously gather into flocks.Through evolution, organisms continuously adapt to each other, thus forming a coordinated ecosystem.Atoms also combine chemically to form molecular structures.

In each case, objects seeking mutual adaptation and self-conciliation somehow transcend themselves, acquiring group characteristics, such as lives, thoughts, and intentions, which they individually may never possess. What's more, these complex, self-organizing systems are adaptive, rather than merely reactive to events like rolling stones in an earthquake.They will actively turn the situation to their advantage.Thus, the human mind is constantly combining and reorganizing billions of neural connections in order to learn from experience.Species evolve to live better in changing environments; so do industries and businesses.And the market is constantly responding to changing tastes and lifestyles, technological developments, fluctuations in raw material prices and many other factors that may affect the market.

Finally, each molecule in these complex, self-organizing, adaptable systems has an dynamism that distinguishes them from complex, but static objects such as computer chips or snowflakes; Stronger, more disorderly, and more active. But at the same time, their special vitality just echoes the strange and unpredictable spiral movement of the so-called chaos (chaos, please refer to the book Chaos published by Tianxia Culture).Over the past two decades, chaos theory has shaken the fundamental foundations of science, allowing us to understand that simple dynamical principles can produce unusually complex behavior; examples include the infinitely delicate beauty of a fractal and the turmoil of a river's ripples.However, chaos alone cannot explain the structure, coherence and self-organizing cohesion of complex systems.

Vitality on the Edge of Chaos Virtually all complex systems have the ability to achieve some particular balance of order and chaos.At this point of equilibrium we call the edge of chaos, the constituent molecules of the system are never really locked in one place, but never disintegrate and merge into chaos.On the edge of chaos, life has just enough stability to sustain vitality, and just enough creativity to live up to the name of life.On the edge of chaos, new ideas and innovative genetic forms are always attacking the status quo, and even the most guarded old forces will eventually collapse.On the brink of chaos, the centuries-long slavery and apartheid in the United States suddenly raised a white flag to the civil rights movement in the 1960s and 1970s; Crashed amidst political turmoil.Also on the edge of chaos, the gradual evolution of species over countless generations has also suddenly appeared on a large scale. The Edge of Chaos is a battle zone in constant flux between stasis and chaos.At the edge of chaos, complex systems are autonomous, adaptive, and dynamic. The recurring themes of complexity, adaptability, and turmoil on the brink of chaos shine brightly, and a growing number of scientists believe there's more to them than just their similarities.The nerve center that started this movement is a think tank called the Santa Fe Institute (Santa Fe Institute), located in New Mexico, USA.The Santa Fe Institute was founded in the mid-1980s. It was originally located in a rented monastery house in the Santa Fe Art District on Canyon Road. The place where the seminars were held used to be a small church. The scientists gathered here include heroes from all walks of life, from graduate students with ponytails to the masters of physics Gellman (Murray Gell︱Mann, 1929︱) and Anderson (Philip Anderson. 1923︱), the economics of Arrow (Kenneth Arrow, 1921︱) and other Nobel Prize masters.Their common view is: everything has its consistency, and the theoretical framework of complex science will be able to explain the various changes of nature and human beings in the same way.They believe that they have acquired the mathematical tools to create this theoretical framework through accumulated knowledge over the past two decades in neural systems, ecology, artificial intelligence, and chaos theory.They also believe that by applying these ideas, they will be able to understand the spontaneous and self-organizing dynamism of the world in unprecedented ways, with enormous implications for economic, business, and even political behavior.They believe that the theory being formulated by the Santa Fe Institute is the first rigorous alternative to the linear, reductionist thinking that has dominated science since Newton, and that it can adequately explain the problems of today's world .To quote George Cowan, founder of the Santa Fe Institute: They believe they are creating new science for the twenty-first century. Here is their story.