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The collapse of chaos : discovering simplicity in a complex world
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The collapse of chaos : discovering simplicity in a complex world

Author: Jack Cohen; Ian Stewart
Publisher: New York : Viking, 1994.
Edition/Format:   Book : EnglishView all editions and formats
Summary:
"The 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  Read more...
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Additional Physical Format: Online version:
Cohen, Jack.
Collapse of chaos.
New York : Viking, 1994
(OCoLC)623362613
Document Type: Book
All Authors / Contributors: Jack Cohen; Ian Stewart
ISBN: 0670849839 9780670849833 0140246754 9780140246759 0140178740 9780140178746
OCLC Number: 29025994
Description: 495 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Contents: 1. Simplicity and Complexity --
2. The Laws of Nature --
3. The Organization of Development --
4. The Possibilities of Evolution --
5. The Origins of Human Understanding --
6. Systems of Interactive Behavior --
7. Complexity and Simplicity --
8. The Nature of Laws --
9. The Development of Organization --
10. The Evolution of Possibilities --
11. The Understanding of Human Origins --
12. The Behavior of Interactive Systems --
13. Complicity and Simplexity.
Responsibility: Jack Cohen & Ian Stewart.

Abstract:

"The 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."--BOOK JACKET.

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