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From one of today's most innovative thinkers comes the first
book to carefully explore emergence -- a surprisingly simple notion (the whole
is more than the sum of its parts) with enormous implications for science, business,
and the arts. In this fascinating work, John Holland, a leader in the study of
complexity at the Santa Fe Institute, dramatically shows that a theory of emergence
can predict many complex behaviors, and has much to teach us about life, the mind,
and organizations. In Emergence, Holland demonstrates
that a small number of rules or laws can generate systems of surprising complexity.
Board games provide an ancient and direct example: Chess is defined by fewer than
two dozen rules, but the myriad patterns that result lead to perpetual novelty
and emergence. It took centuries of study to recognize certain patterns of play,
such as the control of pawn formations. But once recognized, these patterns greatly
enhance the possibility of winning the game. The discovery of similar patterns
in other facets of our world opens the way to a deeper understanding of the complexity
of life, answering such questions as: How does a fertilized egg program the development
of a trillion-cell organism? How can we build human organizations that respond
rapidly to change through innovation? Throughout the
book, Holland compares different systems and models that exhibit emergence in
the quest for common rules or laws. These range from the tiny seed "that
encloses specifications that produce structures as complicated and distinctive
as the giant redwood and the common daisy," to the checkers-playing computer
that learned to beat its creator consistently, to the ant colonies that build
bridges over chasms and navigate leaf-boats on streams, to the emotive creations
of the poet. All are manifestations of emergence. Taking
the reader on a marvellous scientific adventure, John Holland illuminates humankind's
efforts to comprehend life and consciousness. Emergence is science at the
cutting edge -- a visionary book with important ramifications for every aspect
of human intellectual endeavor. John H. Holland is
Professor of Psychology and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is a MacArthur Fellow, a Fellow of
the World Economic Forum, and is known worldwide as the "father of genetic
algorithms." He is author of the ground-breaking book Hidden
Order: How Adaptation Builds Complexity. |
