Book : Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software (2002)
Categories: Complexity • Natural World
Tags: ant • book • complexity • emergence • johnson
Publisher: Scribner
Author(s): Johnson, Steven
Published: 2002 • ISBN: 0684868768 • 288 pages • Delivery Format: Hard Copy - Paperback
Available from: Amazon (DE) • Amazon (UK) • Amazon (US)
Summary
From the Publisher
This book is about the mystery of why the whole is sometimes smarter than the sum of its parts.
Emergence is what happens when an interconnected system of relatively simple elements self-organizes to form more intelligent, more adaptive higher-level behavior. It’s a bottom-up model; rather than being engineered by a general or a master planner, emergence begins at the ground level. Systems that at first glance seem vastly different—ant colonies, human brains, cities, immune systems—all turn out to follow the rules of emergence. In each of these systems, agents residing on one scale start producing behavior that lies a scale above them: ants create colonies, urbanites create neighborhoods.
In the tradition of Being Digital and The Tipping Point, Steven Johnson, acclaimed as a “cultural critic with a poet’s heart” (The Village Voice), takes readers on an eye-opening intellectual journey from the discovery of emergence to its applications. He introduces us to our everyday surroundings, offering suprising examples of feedback, self-organization, and adaptive learning. How does a lively neighborhood evolve out of a disconnected association of shopkeepers, bartenders, and real estate developers? How does a media event take on a life of its own? How will new software programs create an intelligent World Wide Web?
Drawing upon evolutionary theory, urban studies, neuroscience, and computer games, Emergence is a guidebook to one of the key components of twenty-first-century culture. Until recently, Johnson explains, the disparate philosophers of emergence have worked to interpret the world. But today they are starting to change it. This book is the riveting story of that change and what it means for the future. If you’ve searched for information on the Web, played a recent video game, or accepted a collect call using voice recognition software, you’ve already encountered the new world of artificial emergence. Provocative, engaging, and sophisticated, Emergence puts you on the front lines of a sweeping revolution in science and thought.
Content / Structure
Introduction - Here Comes Everybody
PART ONE
- 1 The Myth of the Ant Queen
PART TWO
- 2 Street Level
- 3 The Pattern Match
- 4 Listening to Feedback
- 5 Control Artist
PART THREE
- 6 The Mind Readers
- 7 See What Happens
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Acknowledgements
- Index
Copyright 2001 by Steven Johnson
Reviews
Elsewhere On The Internet
« Previous Requirements Engineering - A Good Practice Guide The Engineering Design of Systems: Models and Methods Next »
Chosen at random from all the resources listed:
- The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (Second Edition) by Peter M. Senge
- T306_1 Managing Complexity: A Systems Approach by -- Uknown -- -- Uknown --
- Practical Systems Thinking by Alan Waring
- Methodology for Large Scale Systems by Andrew P. Sage
- Managing with Systems Thinking: Making Dynamics Work for You in Business Decision Making by Michael Balle