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The first aim of the scientific endeavour
is to try to understand this diverse world, how it functions,
and the laws that regulate its dynamic. A second, but no
less important aim, is to find some unity in this diversity.
In carrying out this analysis, the scientist
defines the "system" that is the subject of study,
which normally is a part of the world itself composed of
subsystems or units, in some case identical in other cases
different, interacting among themselves. A system may be,
for example, an atom, a cell, a brain, a group of human
beings, a galaxy, or a cluster of galaxies. A system may
be "open" or "closed" depending on whether
or not it exchanges matter, energy, or momentum with its
surroundings.
The systems with which science deals differ
in complexity. Regardless of how we define complexity, what
we observe in the universe is a continuous process of change
by which new systems with different forms of order or organization
appear at the expense of a previous one; systems evolve
inexorably toward new levels of order or organization (and
thus complexity). But all these highly ordered or organized
systems appear to be immersed in a sea of equally disordered
or disorganized systems such as a crystal surrounded by
molecules of air.
The emergence of life on Earth poses several
challenges. Can the origin and development of living systems
be explained in terms of the physical laws? Was the emergence
of the kind of organization associated with life an inevitable
event? What kind of chemical precursors were needed for
the emergence of life? Does life exist in other parts of
the universe?
Living systems are extremely complex and
far from equilibrium but in a steady dynamical state. Although
the problem of organization and change in complex systems
is far from being settled, the chapters and notes in this
volume provide new insight and one hopes it may contribute
an integrated approach to the subject.
Marcelo Alonso is Executive Director
at Florida Institute of Technology, Research and Engineering,
Inc., in Melbourne, Fla.
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