I just finished reading The Web of Life by Fritjof Capra. Whoa! This book was something I really got into. Some parts seemed boring and drawn out, mainly because I knew that material, but other parts were so enlightening. Most people won’t really see a reason to read this book. Others will, such as philosophers, linguists, cognitive scientists, biologists, and ecologists. I’d recommend it for politicians and managers too.
The subtitle is “A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems,” which seems so abstract to most people, so let me explain. Classical mathematics and science tends to attempt to reduce complexity into parts and linear equations, and it has worked remarkably well for things that can be reduced. But what happens when you get a whole bunch of variables that interact with each other in ways that aren’t so linear? For examples, think of an ecosystem where there’s a balance of plants, prey, and predators; the brain which operates in a highly parallel and networked system; the body which is interconnected on so many levels that you can’t remove an organ without severely affecting the system; a bacterial cell that demonstrates cognition and reaction to its environment through chemical processing; an ant colony that uses simple rules in which a collective intelligence emerges.
How can mathematicians make sense of things so complex? They don’t, and their thinking is so limited and reductionist, so they fail. There are some attempts through Dynamical Systems Theory, Nonlinear Dynamics, and Chaos Theory, but those attempt to use the old reductionist tools of the past in attempts to simplify things in neat equations so they can make predictions more easily.
Stephen Wolfram wrote “A New Kind of Science” which I bought, and then he later released it for free over the internet. While it’s exhaustive and not really new, it points out the need for understanding complexity in terms of very simple rules that interact with each other to form emergent systems and complexity. By using tools such as cellular automa and simulation, we can actually reduce complexity into simple and interacting rules, not simple equations. To make predictions, simulations are run instead of equations solved.
So how does this help the layman? Is it relevant at all to the ordinary guy or gal? Not really, but it does help provide a new perspective on life and society. We’re all connected in vast networks of relationships on so many levels. Even some stoners are especially fascinated by these connections, but it’s difficult for them to comprehend what’s really going on, so it seems so mystical.
In the section on Ecological Literacy, Fritjof points out why living systems theory would be important for society to learn. The systems that are designed or just put together through societal evolution have enormous impacts on our lives and our communities. The laws and political systems that govern us, the industries that we depend on for jobs and properity … these are systems that affect us in huge ways. People in control and extreme idealists attempt to manipulate these systems to their benefit or according to their beliefs of how society should be shaped. The problem with interconnectedness is that pushing a variable to an extreme (the rich get richer) tends to disrupt not just its local connected points, but it has far reaching effects that can disrupt the whole system. It’s just like introducing DDT and other pollutants in the environment. It didn’t just affect a few poor animals, it affected the entire environment.
If we can learn what what rules (laws) and sub-systems (businesses and organizations) benefit the whole societal system the most, we can make our whole society better rather than having it just benefit the few while the majority suffers (only enough to not cause an uprising).