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The science of complexity accounts for that inscrutable mix
of chaos and order that governs our natural world. Complexity explains how networks
emerge and function, how species organize into ecosystems, how stars form into
galaxies, and how just a few sequences of DNA can account for so many different
life forms. Recently, the idea of complexity has taken the worlds of business
and politics by storm. The concept is used to account for phenomena as varied
as the behavior of the stock market, the response of voting populations, and the
effects of risk management. Even Disney has used complexity theory to manage crowd
control at its theme parks. Given the startling development
of new information technologies, we now live in a moment of unprecedented complexity,
an era in which change occurs faster than our ability to comprehend it. With The
Moment of Complexity, Mark C. Taylor offers a timely map for this unfamiliar
terrain opening up in our midst, unfolding an original philosophy through a remarkable
synthesis of science and culture. According to Taylor, complexity is not just
a breakthrough scientific concept, but the defining quality of the post-Cold War
era. The flux of digital currents swirling around us, he argues, has created a
new network culture with its own distinctive logic and dynamic. Drawing
on resources from information theory and evolutionary biology, Taylor explains
the operation of complex adaptive systems in social and cultural processes and
captures a whole new zeitgeist in the making. To appreciate the significance of
our emerging network culture, he claims, we need not only understand contemporary
scientific and technological transformations, but also to explore the subtle influences
of art, architecture, philosophy, religion, and higher education. The Moment
of Complexity, then, is a remarkable work of cultural analysis on a scale
rarely seen today. To follow its trajectory is to learn how we arrived at this
critical moment in our culture, and to know where we might head in the twenty-first
century. Mark C. Taylor is the Cluett Professor of
Humanities at Williams College. He is cofounder of the Global Education Network
and the author of numerous works, including About Religion: Economics of Faith
in Virtual Culture, The Picture in Question: Mark Tansey and the Ends of
Representation, and Hiding, all published by the University of Chicago
Press. |
