Complexity
The behavior of ball bearings as they self assemble under an electric field They seem alive, reaching for each other to form emergent structures. In fact, it’s how the molecules in living cells work, just on a larger scale.
Compare to this single brain cell searching for connections:
It doesn’t pay to make grand conclusions based on similar appearances, but this shows the patterns driving all of our living cells and probably something elemental about the nature of evolution itself.
This graphic tracks the evolving, cross-pollinating disciplines of Complexity science, also called complex systems science. They are an essential and transformational course correction against the scientific tradition of oversimplifying virtually everything in order to avoid overstating ANYTHING. In fairness, you have to have a lot of information about a lot of different things before you can apply the lessons of complex systems.
“There’s no love in a carbon atom, No hurricane in a water molecule, No financial collapse in a dollar bill.”
– Peter Dodds
Below is a brilliantly straightforward exploration of many of these concepts
