Thinking in Complexity: The Computational Dynamics of Matter, Mind, and Mankind PDF
Preview Thinking in Complexity: The Computational Dynamics of Matter, Mind, and Mankind
Springer Complexity SpringerComplexityisaninterdisciplinaryprogrampublishingthebestresearchand academic-levelteachingonbothfundamentalandappliedaspectsofcomplexsys- tems–cuttingacrossalltraditionaldisciplinesofthenaturalandlifesciences,en- gineering,economics,medicine,neuroscience,socialandcomputerscience. Complex Systems are systems that comprise many interacting parts with the ability to generate a new quality of macroscopic collective behavior the manifes- tations of which are the spontaneous formation of distinctive temporal, spatial or functional structures. Models of such systems can be successfully mapped onto quite diverse “real-life” situations like the climate, the coherent emission of light from lasers, chemicalreaction-diffusionsystems, biologicalcellular networks, the dynamicsofstockmarketsandoftheinternet,earthquakestatisticsandprediction, freewaytraffic,thehumanbrain,ortheformationofopinionsinsocialsystems,to namejustsomeofthepopularapplications. Althoughtheirscopeandmethodologiesoverlapsomewhat,onecandistinguish thefollowingmainconceptsandtools:self-organization,nonlineardynamics,syn- ergetics, turbulence, dynamicalsystems, catastrophes, instabilities, stochastic pro- cesses, chaos, graphs and networks, cellular automata, adaptive systems, genetic algorithmsandcomputationalintelligence. ThetwomajorbookpublicationplatformsoftheSpringerComplexityprogram arethemonographseries“UnderstandingComplexSystems”focusingonthevari- ousapplicationsofcomplexity,andthe “SpringerSeriesin Synergetics”,whichis devotedtothequantitativetheoreticalandmethodologicalfoundations.Inaddition tothebooksinthesetwocoreseries,theprogramalsoincorporatesindividualtitles rangingfromtextbookstomajorreferenceworks. Editorial and ProgrammeAdvisoryBoard PéterÉrdi CenterforComplexSystemsStudies,KalamazooCollege,USA, andBiophysics,HungarianAcademyofSciences,Budapest,Hungary KarlJ.Friston InstituteofCognitiveNeuroscience,UniversityCollegeLondon,London,UK HermannHaken CenterofSynergetics,UniversityofStuttgart,Stuttgart,Germany JanuszKacprzyk SystemResearch,PolishAcademyofSciences,Warsaw,Poland ScottKelso CenterforComplexSystemsandBrainSciences, FloridaAtlanticUniversity,BocaRaton,USA JürgenKurths NonlinearDynamicsGroup,UniversityofPotsdam, Potsdam,Germany LindaE.Reichl CenterforComplexQuantumSystems,UniversityofTexas,Austin,USA PeterSchuster TheoreticalChemistryandStructuralBiology,UniversityofVienna, Vienna,Austria FrankSchweitzer SystemDesign,ETHZurich,Zurich,Switzerland DidierSornette EntrepreneurialRisk,ETHZurich,Zurich,Switzerland Klaus Mainzer Thinking in Complexity The Computational Dynamics of Matter, Mind, and Mankind Fifth Revisedand Enlarged Edition With223 Figures Including4 ColorFigures 123 ProfessorDr.KlausMainzer LehrstuhlfürPhilosophieundWissenschaftstheorie InstitutfürInterdisziplinäreInformatik UniversitätAugsburg Universitätsstrasse10 86135Augsburg,Germany LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2007925880 ISBN 978-3-540-72227-4 5theditionSpringerBerlinHeidelbergNewYork ISBN 3-540-00239-1 4thedition SpringerBerlinHeidelbergNewYork Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.Allrightsarereserved,whetherthewholeorpartofthematerialisconcerned, specificallytherightsoftranslation,reprinting,reuseofillustrations,recitation,broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilm orinanyotherway,andstorageindatabanks.Duplicationofthispublicationorpartsthereofispermittedonlyunder theprovisionsoftheGermanCopyrightLawofSeptember9,1965,initscurrentversion,andpermissionforusemust alwaysbeobtainedfromSpringer.ViolationsareliableforprosecutionundertheGermanCopyrightLaw. SpringerisapartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia springer.com ©Springer-VerlagBerlinHeidelberg1994,1996,1997,2004,2007 Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,etc.inthispublicationdoesnotimply,evenin theabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexemptfromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsand thereforefreeforgeneraluse. TypesettingandProduction:LE-TEXJelonek,Schmidt&VöcklerGbR,Leipzig,Germany Cover:WMXDesign,Heidelberg SPIN12052615 54/3180/YL-543210 Printedonacid-freepaper DasGanzeistabernurdasdurchseineEntwicklung ∗ sichvollendendeWesen. G.W.F.Hegel:PhänomenologiedesGeistes(1807) ∗ Thewhole,however,ismerelytheessentialnaturereachingits completenessthroughtheprocessofitsowndevelopment. G.W.F.Hegel:ThePhenomenologyofMind(1807) This page intentionally left blank Preface to the Fifth Edition Complexitydeterminesthespiritoftwenty-firstcenturyscience.Theexpansionof the universe, the evolution of life, and the globalization of human economiesand societies all involve phase transitions of complex dynamicalsystems. Complexity researchisdoneinagrowingnumberofdisciplinesinthephysicalandlifesciences, theeconomicandsocialsciences,andthecognitiveandcomputersciences,yielding newresultsandinsights.Thus,thisbookon“ThinkinginComplexity”isinevitably associatedwithalearningprocessandmustbeupdated,althoughthemainprinci- ples of complexity research are highlighted, just as they have been from the very first edition. However, the fifth edition of “Thinkingin Complexity” enlargesand revisesnearlyallofthesectionsoftheformerbook,andincludescompletelynew chaptersontheevolutionofcomputabilityandtheemergingfieldofeconophysics. InChapter2,themethodologicalsectionontimeseriesanalysisnowalsocon- siders fractals and multifractals as geometric criteria for complexity. Further on, powerlawsrevealthehighlevelofcomplexityofallbiologicalsystems. Theyare importantindicationsofthescale-freelawsassociatedwithfractalandmultifractal features,whichareadditionallyanalyzedinChapter3.InChapter4,thetraditional dualismofmindandmatterisovercomebyinvokingtheconceptoftheembodied mind, which was recently introduced in the fields of neurobiologyand neuropsy- chology. The reason is that people learn bodily from experiences with their envi- ronment.Inneuromedicine,the“TheoryofMind”(ToM)explainstheawarenessof one’sownemotionalstatesbyspecializedareasofthebrainasacomplexembodied process.Finally,subjectiveexperiences(qualia)emergethroughthebodilyinterac- tionsofself-consciousorganismswiththeirenvironment,whichcanbemodeledby thenonlineardynamicsofcomplexsystems. Chapter5,ontheevolutionofcomputability,iscompletelynew.Afterhistorical backgroundonLeibnizandanintroductionto thebasicconceptsofcomputability andalgorithmiccomplexity,wediscussdegreesofcomplexityininformationtheory andthetheoryofprobability.Probabilisticattractorsallowthedegreesofcomplexity ofstochasticprocessestobeclassified.Probabilisticstatesaretypicalofthequan- tumworld.Quantumstatesarecodedbyquantuminformation,whichisprocessed byquantumcomputers.Quantumcomputabilityleadstodegreesofquantumcom- plexity.Istheuniverseagiantexpandingquantumcomputerofincreasingcomplex- ity? All of the degreesof complexityof dynamicalsystems can also be simulated by cellular automata. New ideas in and results of organiccomputingare included inChap.6.Thenaturalevolutionoflifeandintelligencehasbecomeanimportant VIII PrefacetotheFifthEdition paradigmforcomputationalmodels.Theyarenolongerrestrictedto thesymbolic knowledgerepresentationassociated with classical artificialintelligence(AI).The embodied life and mind encountered in natural evolution has led to research into embodiedartificial intelligence, which involvesrobotsand machinesthat undergo bodilyexperiencesandlearninginteractionswiththeirchangingenvironments. Chapter 7 on complex systems and the evolution of economies is also com- pletelynew.Aftersomehistoricalremarksoneconomicself-organization,itbegins by introducingsome basic conceptsof nonequilibriumdynamicsof complexeco- nomic systems. Econophysics is a discipline that has arisen relatively recently in whicheconomicandfinancialsystemsareanalyzedwiththemethodsofnonlinear dynamics.Thissituationisreminiscentofthebeginningsofmodernmolecularbiol- ogy,whenphysicistssuchasErwinSchrödinger(inhisrevolutionarybook“What isLife?”)ratherthantraditionalbiologistsmadebreakthroughsinthelifesciences usingmodernmathematicalphysicsmethods.Itmaybethatphysicists,again,will findusefuleconomicandfinancialmodelsbasedonmathematicalmethodsderived fromthetheoriesofcomplexsystemsandnonlineardynamics.Complexandglobal markets exhibit turbulence that appears to be remarkablysimilar to that observed inweatherandclimatedynamics,whichfollowstypicalpowerlawsofprobabilistic distributions. Stochastic processes with probabilistic attractors lead to abrupt and discontinuousevents(the“Noaheffect”)orlong-termtrends(the“Josepheffect”). Time series analysis permitsthe detection of typicalpatterns of fractal and multi- fractalstructuresthatcanbeusedaswarningsignalsforcriticalsituations. Chapter 8 on the evolution of human culture and society has been enlarged throughtheadditionofsectionsonmediaandcommunicationintheageofWorld WideWeb,mobile,andubiquitouscomputing.Theseareexamplesofhighlycom- plexself-organizingnetworks,eachofwhichisverysimilartoakindofsuperbrain. Theflowofdatatrafficcanbecharacterizedbyphasetransitionsandattractors.In ordertoefficientlymanageanincreasingfloodofinformation,weneeduser-friendly methods of information retrieval and personalized information systems. Adaptive (“tailored”) e-learning presents a challenge to the application of communication technologies in modern knowledge societies. The philosophical and ethical mes- sagesofmoderncomplexityresearcharethenhighlightedinChap.9. Finally,IwouldliketothankChristianCaronforinitiatingandsupportingthis new edition. He follows in the good tradition of Springer-Verlag of focusing on “ThinkinginComplexity”asakeytopicforthetwenty-firstcentury. Augsburg,March2007 KlausMainzer Preface to the Fourth Edition Thefirsteditionofthisbook,publishedin1994,beganwiththestatementthatthe newscienceofcomplexitywouldcharacterizethescientificdevelopmentofthe21st century. In the first decade of this century, this prediction has been confirmed by overwhelming new empirical results and theoretical insights the of physical and biologicalsciences,cognitiveandcomputersciences,andsocialandeconomicsci- ences.Complexityandnonlinearityarestillprominentfeaturesintheevolutionof matter,mind,andhumansociety.Thus,thescience ofcomplexitystillaimsatex- planationsforthe emergenceoforderinnatureandmindandinthe economyand societybycommonprinciples. Butanewengineeringviewhasfocusedtheexplorationofcomplexity.Onthe onehand,weneednewcomputationalinstrumentstoanalyzecomplexdataandrec- ognizefuturetrends.Ontheotherhand,theprinciplesofcomplexdynamicsarein- creasinglybecomingtheblueprintsofgene,bio,andcomputertechnology.Lifeand computersciencesaregrowingintoa new kindofcomplexengineering,changing thebasicconditionsofhumanlifeandsociety.Nonlineardynamicsareimplemented innonlinearcomputerchipsofhighspeedandminiaturizedsize,whicharenotonly distributed in our technical equipmentand environment,but also in our body and brain.Robotsareembodied.Nanotechnologywithnewmaterials,aswellasarticial life and artificial intelligence are dramatic challenges to the future of complexity science. In the age of globalization, humankindis growing along with worldwide computationalnetworksofinformationandcommunication.Butwearealsoendan- gered by the nonequilibrium phase transitions of technical, economic, and social dynamics.Allthesenewtopicsareconsideredinsupplementedpartsandchapters ofthisenlargedandrevisedfourthedition. Thus,ThinkinginComplexityhasthenewsubtitleTheComputationalDynam- icsofMatter,Mind,andMankind.We canactuallydefineprecisedegreesofalgo- rithmicanddynamiccomplexity.Basic theoremsofcomputationaldynamicshave been provenrecently.But, becauseof chaosandrandomness,understandingcom- putationaldynamicsdoesnotmeanpredictinganddeterminingthefutureinallits details. While we can gain experiencewith nonlineardynamicsthroughcomputer experiments,computer experimentscannot replace reality. As life is complexand random,we havetoliveitin ordertoexperienceit.Froma philosophicalpointof view,thisbookoutlinesnewstandardsofepistemologyandethicalbehavior,which thecomplexproblemsofnature,mind,economy,andsocietydemand.
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