The Nature of Order really addresses this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nature_of_Order
The Puzzle of How Large-Scale Order Emerges in Complex Systems
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Re: The Puzzle of How Large-Scale Order Emerges in Complex Systems
#12The author of the article, Philip Ball, wrote an excellent book on order almost 20 years ago: Critical Mass https://philipball.co.uk/critical-mass-how-one-thing-leads-t...
He also wrote many other interesting books but "Critical Mass" really reviews a lot concerning emerging phenomena in complex systems from the point of view of a condensed matter physicist.
Re: The Puzzle of How Large-Scale Order Emerges in Complex Systems
#13Many great recommendations in the comments here about on emergent order in complex systems -- does anyone have recommendations for reading about how such systems de-organize?
One theory is, they eventually invent nukes and go at it.
Re: The Puzzle of How Large-Scale Order Emerges in Complex Systems
#14Many great recommendations in the comments here about on emergent order in complex systems -- does anyone have recommendations for reading about how such systems de-organize?
The Second Law of Thermodynamics
Re: The Puzzle of How Large-Scale Order Emerges in Complex Systems
#15When do interesting new non-obvious theorems/patterns appear as interesting assumptions are added in math?
That might be a related problem, or the more general version of the problem.
Re: The Puzzle of How Large-Scale Order Emerges in Complex Systems
#16This has been a topic of interest for me for almost a decade so far. See also: non-linear dynamics, dynamical systems The study of Complexity in the US Sciences is fairly recent, with the notable kickoff of the Santa Fe Institute [1]. They have all the resources there, from classes to scientific conferences. A few book recommendations I've picked up over the years: - Lewin, Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaos [2] (…
I never understood why so many hate "New Kind of Science"... Just ordered it and will form my own opinion.
Re: The Puzzle of How Large-Scale Order Emerges in Complex Systems
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://www.amazon.com/Sync-Order-Emerges-Universe-Nature/dp... is also a good read on it. Perhaps not as technical as the above but has some interesting history on the discovery of these interesting mathematical truths.
This is the book I'm currently reading. I guess that's not so interesting a comment, but it's an old and pretty niche book so I'm surprised to see it mentioned on HN today. Anyway I agree Strogatz does a good job. He's both telling a good story and he also explains more of the mathematical ideas than a lot of books for popular audiences. He also has a podcast that's worth checking out.
I read it around when it came out and still remember it well - it's a good book! And Strogatz is excellent among popular mathematics writers.
Re: The Puzzle of How Large-Scale Order Emerges in Complex Systems
#18If you want to read more about how this works, I'd recommend Stuart Kauffman's "The origins of order". Be warned, it's not light reading, it's basically his PhD student's and his research, written up as a book, it is engaging though, and he leads you gently through the concepts - you do have to master one chapter before getting to the next though. Having said that, it does show how chaos and order interact with each…
For anyone curious, this boundary is referred to as the edge of chaos.
Re: The Puzzle of How Large-Scale Order Emerges in Complex Systems
#19 Crutchfield introduced a conceptual device called the epsilon (ε) machine. This device can exist in some finite set of states and can predict its own future state on the basis of its current one. It’s a bit like an elevator, said Rosas; an input to the machine, like pressing a button, will cause the machine to transition to a different state (floor) in a deterministic way that depends on its past history—namely, its current floor, whether it’s going up or down, and which other buttons were pressed already.
Re: The Puzzle of How Large-Scale Order Emerges in Complex Systems
#20Emergent behaviors are something it seems none of the tech-bros attempting to re-invent things from first principles ever account for in their plans. You can't just reason out complex systems because emergent things cannot be predicted that way.
The reason your carefully reasoned worldview isn't correct/doesn't match with reality is because of emergent behaviors.