We witness the utterly realistic behavior of a school of virtual fish-computer-generated replicas that have been trained to swim gracefully, hunt for food, and scatter at the approach of a leopard shark. The authors take us inside laboratories where scientists are evolving the genetic molecules that enabled life to emerge on earth and generating universes teeming with virtual creatures in cyber-space. The advances we have already witnessed are spectacular. A new generation of computers that runs on light and exploits the bizarre properties of quantum mechanics promises to deepen our understanding still further. The rise of the electronic computer provided both the key and the catalyst to our exploration of complexity. Complexity is a watchword for a new way of thinking about the behavior of interacting units, whether they are atoms, ants in a colony, or neurons firing in a human brain. In this groundbreaking new book, Peter Coveney and Roger Highfield explore how complexity in mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry, and even the social sciences is transforming not only the way we think about the universe, but also the very assumptions that underlie conventional science. Nature At the cutting edge of the sciences, a dynamic new concept is emerging: complexity. An impeccably researched, amazingly up-to-date, crisply written and well-illustrated survey. Book Synopsis SCIENCE JOURNALISM AT ITS BEST.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |