“The Edge of Chaos” (2017) • Hacker News Board

Re: “The Edge of Chaos” (2017)

#21

Post by PaulDavisThe1st » Sat, Aug 15, 2020, 5:11 PM UTC

leephillips wrote: post #15

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #7

Whoever wrote this doesn't seem to make the connection with Prigogine's work on non-equilibrium thermodynamics, which seem to me to have as much to do with the "edge of chaos" idea(s) as anything from the cellular automata world. The overly quick summary: most convention thermodynamics/chemistry concerns itself with systems that reach equilibrium (various reactions take place, energy is consumed or produced, and a ne…

Can you give a pointer to any of this “work” that hasn’t been debunked by physicists or engineers?

From wikipedia:

"Prigogine is best known for his definition of dissipative structures and their role in thermodynamic systems far from equilibrium, a discovery that won him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1977. In summary, Ilya Prigogine discovered that importation and dissipation of energy into chemical systems could result in the emergence of new structures (hence dissipative structures) due to internal self reorganization."

Plenty of links on that page if you want to get into his research.

Re: “The Edge of Chaos” (2017)

#22

Post by gwf » Sat, Aug 15, 2020, 6:07 PM UTC

qubex wrote: post #20

gwf wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the author of CBofN, I thank you for the plug. But just one little correction: Gary is my first name and William is my middle.

Oh God, I can’t believe I made that mistake... and Oh God, you’re my bloody idol. You’re the reason I chose to study mathematics. You’re the reason I chose to delve into the rather esoteric field of symbolic computation. You’re the reason I delved into the fringe universe of disequilibrium economics!

No worries my dude. I am really happy to read that my book had such a big impact on you (as well as humbled by your praise). It's the little interactions like this that are the true reward for having written a book like CBofN, so I thank you.

Re: “The Edge of Chaos” (2017)

#23

Post by gwf » Sat, Aug 15, 2020, 6:12 PM UTC

LukeB42 wrote: post #19

gwf wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the author of CBofN, I thank you for the plug. But just one little correction: Gary is my first name and William is my middle.

I'm a huge fan of your book. Is there anything you'd add in a revised edition 20 years after publication?

Thanks ... I really appreciate the kind words. MIT Press has repeatedly tried to get me to do a 2nd edition and while it was tempting, I always ultimately decided that it was better to keep doing new things. Although, much to my surprise, a Japanese edition of the book just came out this year so there still seems to be some interest.

But that said, I am working on another book now that is meant to be a more accessible successor to CBofN and something of a computational "theory of everything else". I'm about halfway done, but the it's hard to write with the distraction of living in this bizarre timeline of ours.

Re: “The Edge of Chaos” (2017)

#24

Post by qubex » Sat, Aug 15, 2020, 6:26 PM UTC

gwf wrote: post #23

LukeB42 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a huge fan of your book. Is there anything you'd add in a revised edition 20 years after publication?

Thanks ... I really appreciate the kind words. MIT Press has repeatedly tried to get me to do a 2nd edition and while it was tempting, I always ultimately decided that it was better to keep doing new things. Although, much to my surprise, a Japanese edition of the book just came out this year so there still seems to be some interest. But that said, I am working on another book now that is meant to be a more accessibl…

Can you believe that’s the most exciting news I’ve heard in the past six months?

Re: “The Edge of Chaos” (2017)

#25

Post by gwf » Sat, Aug 15, 2020, 7:09 PM UTC

qubex wrote: post #24

gwf wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks ... I really appreciate the kind words. MIT Press has repeatedly tried to get me to do a 2nd edition and while it was tempting, I always ultimately decided that it was better to keep doing new things. Although, much to my surprise, a Japanese edition of the book just came out this year so there still seems to be some interest. But that said, I am working on another book now that is meant to be a more accessibl…

Can you believe that’s the most exciting news I’ve heard in the past six months?

Yikes! I guess I better finish it now. Although, you should prepare to be bitterly disappointed because the next book will have something to piss off almost everyone (not by design, it's just that simultaneously seeking breadth, depth, and readability will always fall short on at least on dimension).