Abraham, Ralph, 137, 152
AI. See Artificial intelligence (AI)
AIDS, 279, 283-84
Alchemy, 81, 152
Alcoholism, 55, 173
Algebra, 114, 126, 142, 145
Albegra, 143
Analytic thinking, 29-30 Analytical Machines, 126 Anatomy, 23 Animal Ecology, 33 Animals, 33, 80, 178-79, 243, 288 cybernetics and, 63 evolution of, 245-56 Gaia theory and, 104, 106, 216 Anthropocentric values, 7, 11 Aristotle/Aristotelian, 18, 19, 21, 157 organismic biology and, 27 See also Entelechy
Artificial intelligence (AI), 66, 67, 276— 78
Ashby, Ross, 44, 65, 83, 85 Astronomy, 120, 152 Atomistic emphasis, 17 Attractors, xviii, 131-35, 200-7. See also Strange attractors
Australopithecus afarensis, 226, 257, 293 Autopoiesis, xviii, 95-99, 158, 160-68 chemical systems of, 207-9 cognition and, 267, 268, 305 community and, 298 computer program for, 194-207 Gaia theory and, 213-16 Jantsch and, 111 mental process and, 307 social systems and, 209-13 structural coupling and. See Structural coupling See also Santiago theory; Self-making
Bacon, Francis, 19
Baker transformation, 124-25, 133, 140 “Bandwagon effect,” 63 Bateson, Gregory, 18, 53-56, 62, 160, 219
Maturana and, 273-74. See also Santiago theory, Bateson and Mendel and, 224 mental process and, 173-74 Bateson, William, 224 Beer, Stafford, 76 Behavior, 58, 268, 269, 287-89
336
INDEX
language and, 290-91, 293-94 relationships and, 298 Belousov-Zhabotinskii reaction, 88 Benard, Henri, 86-88 Benard cells, 87-88, 161 Bernard, Claude, 24, 43 Bertalanffy, Ludwig von, 42-50, 51,
177
goal of, 79
Bifurcation points, 136-37, 171-72, 189-92, 235
indeterminacy and, 182-83 structural coupling and, 221 Bigelow, Julian, 58 Biochemistry, 24, 27, 284 Biological Principles, 27 Biology, 11, 80-81, 160 cybernetics and, 66 Gaia theory and, 107 Lamarck and, 222 management and, 76 molecular, xvii, 77-78, 81, 190, 191, 204, 228
organismic. See Organismic biology Romanticism and, 23 substance vs. form and, 18-29 systems thinking and, 17-18, 77 Biosphere, 33, 103, 179, 216 Biosphere, 33 Blake, William, 21
Bogdanov, Alexander, 43-46, 79, 157 Boltzmann, Ludwig, 186-89 Boole, George, 200 Boolean networks, 200. See also Network, binary “Bootstrap philosophy,” 39, 99 Brenner, Sidney, xvii-xviii Broad, C. D., 28-29 Brown, Lester, 4 Buddhism, 7, 294, 295 Business, 3, 297, 299 Butterfly effect, 134-35
Calculus, 116-20, 152 Cannon, Walter, 24, 43, 59 Capitalism, 8
Carbon dioxide (C0 2 ), 104-6, 178, 237— 38, 240
Carnot, Sadi, 47-48 “Cartesian anxiety,” 295 Cartesian coordinates, 114-15, 129-31 complex numbers and, 144 Cartesian mechanism, 19-20, 22, 98 cybernetics and, 52, 55, 65, 67-68 networds and, 40. See also Network organismic biology vs., 26, 31 process thinking vs., 42, 172 quantum physics vs., 31 Romanticism vs., 21 Santiago theory and, 175 systems thinking vs., 29, 37, 41 Catalytic cycles, 92-94, 100, 105, 171 evolution and, 217, 227, 235 Catastrophes, 137, 232-33 Cell assemblies, 292-93 Cells, 23, 24-25, 80-81 autopoiesis and, 162-68, 171 See also Evolution; Life Cellular automata, 194-96, 200 Chance variation, 223-24 Chaos, 126, 127-28
baker transformation and, 126, 133 irreversibility and, 184-85, 186 “molecular,” 92 order from, 190, 203-7 Chaos theory, 17, 113, 123, 152 butterfly effect in, 134-35 dissipative structures and, 183 fractals and, 137, 139, 140 quantity vs. quality and, 135-37 Chaotic attractors, xviii, 202-3 “Checks and balances,” 62 “Chemical soup,” 235 Chemistry, 11, 20, 23-24, 190-91 autopoiesis and, 207-9 biology and, 25 catalytic cycles and, 92 Gaia theory and, 104, 106 irreversibility and, 184-85, 192 Chew, Geoffrey, 39, 99 Christian mystics/theology, 7, 19 Clausius, Rudolph, 185-86 Clements, Frederic, 33 Clocks, chemical, 93, 161, 194 Clockworks, xviii, 56, 67, 68 Closed systems, 47-48, 65, 78, 167
337
dissipative structures and, 168-69 community and, 299 Coevolution, 227, 243, 249, 301 Cognition, 52, 55, 65, 96-97, 264-85 autopoiesis and, 161 “bringing forth of a world” and,
264- 85, 290, 291, 305 community and, 296 computer model of, 66-68, 70, 71,
265- 66, 274-78 connectivity and, 266, 268 immune system and, 278-81. See also
Immune system management and, 76 nervous system and, 281, 282-85. See also Nervous system process and, 160, 172-76, 265-66 See also Mind; Santiago theory Color perception, 95, 96 Communication, 287-90, 307-8. See also Cognition
Community, 33-34, 82-83, 297-304 Complex numbers, 142-45 Complex plane, 145, 147 Complex systems, 199, 202, 204, 303 Complexity (mathematics of), xviii, 28- 29, 111, 112-53, 158. See also Nonequilibrium; Nonlinearity Computer, 79
autopoiesis and, 194-207 chaotic systems and, 128-29 digital, 53, 55-56 fractals and, 140-41 human brain/mind and, 55, 66-68,
71, 265-66, 274-78 impact on society of, 69-71 Julia set and, 145-46 Mandelbrot sets and, 150 and mathematics of complexity, 113 as unique machine, 67 See also “Daisyworld”
Computer Power and Human Reason, 68 Consciousness, 286-96, 308. See also Cognition
Consciousness in Philosophy and Cognitive Neuroscience, 175 Contextual thinking/knowledge, 37, 42, 70
Convergence, 232 Copernicus, 19 Cosmology, 7 Cost-benefit analysis, 76 Coutinho, Antonio, 280 Creativity, 221, 222, 227-30, 232 cybernetics and, 85 symbiosis and, 243 Critique of Judgment, 21-22 Cult of Information, The, 70 Culture, 1-15, 263, 269, 294 Cuvier, Georges, 23, 27 “Cybernetic machines,” 58 Cybernetics, 44, 45, 51-71, 79, 80, 82 Gaia theory and, 104 management, 76
mental representation and, 265-66, 274
pattern and, 157 process thinking and, 42-43 self-organization and, 83. See also Self-organization structure vs. organization in, 98 systems thinking and, 46, 50, 75 Cybernetics, 61
Cyclical processes, 6, 299, 301. See also Catalytic cycles; Hypercycles
“Daisyworld,” 107-10, 195 Dalton, John, 80 Darwin, Charles, 48, 223 Darwinism, 92, 222-26 neo-, 224-26, 228 social, 232
Deep ecology, 6-12, 157, 185, 296 Dell, Paul, 273, 305 Der Teil und das Ganze, 31 Descartes, Rene, 5, 13, 19-20, 114, 115, 152, 176
clockworks and, 67. See also Clockworks
complex numbers and, 143 foundations metaphor and, 38 See also Cartesian coordinates; Cartesian mechanism Descent of Man, 223 Design for a Brain, 65 Development, 159, 220-21, 232
338
INDEX
cognition and, 268 cybernetics and, 85 dissipative structures and, 172 mechanistic view and, 25 morphogenetic fields and, 26-27 substance vs. form and, 18 Differential equations, 115-20, 196, 202 Discourse of Method, 38 Dissipative structures, xviii, 86-89, 91, 168-72, 177-93 cognition and, 176, 267 community and, 298 evolution and, 227, 235-36 living vs. nonliving, 161, 169 mental process and, 307 synthesis of theories on, 111, 160 whirlpool example of, 169-72 DNA, 77, 78, 163-67, 204, 228-42 binary networks and, 204 information and, 272-73 Domination, 8-9, 10, 301 Douady, Adrien, 147 Dreyfus, Hubert, 277-78 Dreyfus, Stuart, 277-78 Driesch, Hans, 26
Dynamical systems theory, xviii, 112— 13, 123, 126, 137, 181, 199 quantity vs. quality in, 136
Earth, 215-16
compared with other planets, 101-2, 216-17
as living being, 22, 216. See also Gaia theory
Earth Household, 32-33 Ecocentric values, 11 Ecological awareness, 7, 8, 192 Ecological view, xviii, 5, 6-8, 17 Ecology, 32-35, 297-304 deep, 6-12, 157, 185, 296 economics vs., 298-304 feminism and, 8, 9 management and, 76 network and, 10, 35. See also Network
process thinking and, 42-43 psychology and, 12 recycling and, 177, 299, 304
schools of, 8-9
sustainability and, 4, 298-304 systems thinking and, 18, 36. See also Systems thinking Economics, 6, 299, 300-4 Ecosystems, 28, 33, 34, 178-79 autopoiesis and, 209, 210, 213, 214 binary networks and, 202 community and, 296-304 cybernetics and, 63 “Daisyworld” as one, 108-10 flow diagrams of, 177 as networks, 35. See also Network new understanding of, 3, 35 process thinking and, 43 Education, 3, 70, 297 Ehrenfels, Christian von, 31 Eigen, Manfred, 85, 92-99, 105, 227 Einstein, Albert, 39, 90, 120, 127-28 Eisler, Riane, 8 Elements, fundamental, 80 Elton, Charles, 33 Embryology, 24 “Emergent properties,” 29, 37 Emotion, 267, 269, 275, 284, 293 Endocrine system, 176, 282-85 Energy, 101, 102, 111, 164-68, 236 community and, 299-300 ecosystems and, 35, 43, 177-79 entropy and, 185-86 mental process and, 306 Planck and, 127 time and, 184
See also Open system; Symbiosis Engineering, 29, 75, 77 computers and, 70
cybernetics and, 51, 52, 53, 58, 61, 75 Entelechy, 18, 26 Entropy, 47-48, 101, 181
dissipative structures and, 185-86 order and, 186-87, 190 probability and, 188-89 Environment, 3-4, 8, 24, 33, 167-68 bifurcation points and, 191 cognition and, 267, 269-70 flexibility of, 302-4 Gaia theory and, 106, 216 internal vs. external, 24
339
structural coupling and, 218-20 systems thinking and, 37, 42 See also Web (of life)
Enzymes, 92-93, 163-67, 238 Epistemology, 40, 270, 273 Equilibrium (“far from”), 85, 86, 90- 92, 102, 111, 172
dissipative structures and, 189, 192 hypercycles and, 94 See also Nonequilibrium ETH. See Swiss Polytechnical University (ETH)
Ethics, 11-12 Euler, Leonhard, 120, 143 Evolution, 23, 49, 222-63 autopoiesis and, 227 bifurcation points and, 136-37 binary networks and, 205, 227 community and, 34 cybernetics and, 85 “Daisyworld” and, 108-10 development and, 220-21 dissipative structures and, 172, 185, 227
Gaia theory and, 106, 215-16, 242 hypercycles and, 92, 95 language and, 293-94 management and, 76 Newtonian mechanics vs., 47-48 substance vs. form and, 18 universe and, 216-18
Family therapy, 55 Feedback, 56-64, 78, 82-83, 85, 111 community and, 299 “Daisyworld” and, 109-10 dissipative structures and, 89 Gaia theory and, 104, 107 hypercycles and, 92 mathematics of complexity and, 123— 24
pattern and, 157 “runaway,” 89
See also Catalytic cycles; Cybernetics; Iteration
Fleischaker, Gail, 208, 214
Fliessgleichgewich t, 177
Female (subsumed under male), 6
Feminism, 8, 9 Flores, Fernando, 275, 277 “Flowing balance,” 48 Foerster, Heinz von, 64, 84, 95, 100, 173
Food cycles, 34, 178-79 Food webs, 34, 82, 177, 179, 213 Form, 21, 23
Gestalt psychology and, 31-32 matter/substance vs., 18-29, 80 relationships and, 173 See also Pattern Forrester, Jay, 76 Fox, Warwick, 12
Fractal Geometry of Nature, The, 137 Fractals, xviii, 113, 137-42, 152 Julia sets and, 147, 151 Freud, Sigmund, 293 Function (vs. organization), 27, 114 Fundamentals of Ecology, 43 Fungi, 247, 248, 253
Gaia theory, 22-23, 33, 100-10 autopoiesis and, 213-16 Darwinism and, 227 food webs and, 179 Galilei, Galileo, 19, 113-16 Games, 53, 71, 195-96 Gas laws, 121—22
Gauss, Karl Freidrich, 143-45, 152 General System Theory, 45 General systems theory, 43-50, 51, 79 Genetics, xvii, 77-78, 164-68, 229-42 binary networks and, 202, 204-7 neo-Darwinism and, 224-26 “Geological force,” 33 Geology, 106, 233 Geometry, 113-14, 126. See also Fractals
“Germ theory of disease,” 24 Gestalt psychology, 17, 31-32, 36, 52 Glansdorff, Paul, 89, 94 Global problems/environment, 3, 11 God (and Gaia theory), 107 Goethe, J. W. von, 21, 27, 33, 157 Golgi, Camillo, 164 Goodwin, Brian, 191 Graham, Robert, 91
340
INDEX
Haeckel, Ernst, 33
Haken, Hermann, 85, 89-92, 94, 100
Hamilton, William, 120
Handbuch der Physi\, 91
Harding, Stephan, 215
Harrison, Ross, 27
Harvey, William, 20
Health care, 3
Heat convection, 86—88
Hegel, Georg, 62
Heisenberg, Werner, 30, 31, 38-39, 40 Henderson, Lawrence, 27 Heraclitus, 43 Heredity, 23
Hierarchies, 10, 28, 35, 308 Hinduism, 291-92, 294 History, 152, 191, 193 Hitchcock, Dian, 101 Holistic view, 5, 6-7, 17, 55 Gestalt psychology and, 32 mechanism vs., 18-29, 47 Homeostasis, 43, 58-59, 78, 205 Homo erectus, 259-60 Homo sapiens, 260, 262 Homohabilis, 259, 262 Human body
endocrine system and, 282-85 human mind and, 68, 264, 281, 283.
See also Cognition; Mind immune system and, 281. See also Immune system as machine, 6
nervous system and, 281. See also Neuroscience; Nervous system Human brain, 54, 65
computer and, 55, 66-68, 71, 265-66 fractals and, 150-51 human body and, 68, 283 mind vs., 174-75, 278. See also Cognition; Mind networks and, 82 Humanities, 53 Humans, 226, 257-63, 293-96 community and, 297-304 deep ecology and, 7 dissipative structures and, 193 Gaia theory and, 216 self-awareness of, 286-96, 308
Humboldt, Alexander von, 23, 33 Hutton, James, 22-23 Hypercycles, 92-95, 235
Immune system, 176, 202, 268, 278-85 Imperialism, 8 Indeterminacy, 192
“Information” (definition of), 272, 306 Information theory, 64-65 “Invisible hand,” 62 Irreversibility, 183-85, 186, 192 Islamic philosophers, 114 Iteration, 123-26, 140, 145-46, 183
Jantsch, Erich, 111 Julia, Gaston, 145, 148 Julia sets, 145-48, 151
Kant, Immanuel, 21-22, 27 Kauffman, Stuart, xviii, 199-207, 226, 227
Khayyam, Omar, 152 Koch curve, 140 Koestler, Arthur, 26 Kohler, Wolfgang, 31-32 Kuhn, Thomas, 5
La Mettrie, Julien de, 20 Lagrange, Joseph, 120 Laing, R. D., 19, 55 Lamarck, Jean Baptiste, 222-23 Language, 287-92, 293-94, 308. See also Cognition
Laplace, Pierre, 120, 126, 183-84 Laser theory, 89-92, 94, 100 Lavoisier, Antoine, 20 Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, 116-19, 143, 152
Lenin, Vladimir, 46 Life, 3-4, 52, 101, 102 ages of, 233, 234
building blocks of, xvii, 30, 38, 77 cognition and, 97, 160, 172-76, 265— 67, 273, 286
creativity of. See Creativity dissipative structures and, 85-89, 160.
See also Dissipative structures Gaia theory and, 103-7, 215-16
as “geological force,” 33 mechanistic view of. See Mechanism/ mechanistic view in minimal form, 207-9 molecular biology and, 77 new understanding of, xviii-xix, 3,
35, 78, 81, 157-76 origin of, 92, 233-36 on other planets, 101-2, 216-17 process of, 159-60, 161, 265. See also Santiago theory
systemic view of, 4. See also Systems thinking
theories of, synthesis of, xviii-xix,
111, 157—76. See also Worldview unfolding of, 221, 222-63 universe and, 216-17 value of nonhuman, 11 web of. See Web (of life)
See also Autopoiesis; Living organisms; Living systems;
Nature; Organization Life sciences, 12-13, 29, 77, 185 Lilienfeld, Robert, 78, 79 Linear equations, 115, 122, 123, 181 Living organisms, 101, 235 classification of, 247, 256 environment and, 167-68. See also Environment
Living systems, xix, 3, 7, 158
autopoiesis and, 95-99, 162-68, 210.
See also Autopoiesis binary networks and, 202. See also Network, binary catalytic cycles and, 94. See also Catalytic cycles community and, 297-304 feedback and, 59, 64. See also Cybernetics; Feedback hierarchy of, 28. See also Hierarchies key criteria of, 159-61, 172, 267 mathematics to describe, 79. See also Mathematics
and mechanism vs. teleology, 107 models for, 79. See also Selforganization
as networks, 35, 209. See also Network
341
nonliving vs., 160-61, 169, 215, 219, 306
pattern and, 82-83, 158. See also Pattern
process and, 159-60, 161 structure vs. organization in, 98, 99.
See also Organization; Structure substance vs. form and, 81 three kinds of, 34 universe and, 217 values vs. thinking and, 9-10 See also Life; Systems thinking Loeb, Jacques, 24 Lorenz, Edward, 134-35 Lorenz attractor, 134—35 Lovell, Bernard, 217 Lovelock, James, 33, 85, 100-10, 214—
15. See also “Daisyworld”; Gaia theory LSD, 150
Luhmann, Niklas, 212 Luisi, Pier Luigi, 207-8
Machines, 6
clockwork, 67. See also Clockworks organisms compared with, 56. See also Cybernetics steam engine, 58, 61 Macy, Joanna, 12
Macy Conferences, 53-54, 62, 64, 173 Man a Machine, 20 Management, 75, 76-77 Mandelbrot, Benoit, xviii, 137—42, 145— 51
Mandelbrot set, 142, 147-51 Mander, Jerry, 69 Mapping, 124-26
Margulis, Lynn, xviii, 33, 85, 103-7,
164, 214-16
evolution and, 225, 227-49, 256, 263 quoted, on “independence,” 295—96 Maruyama, Magoroh, 63-64 Marx, Karl/Marxists, 8, 46, 62 Mathematicians, 152 generalist, 126 Indian, 114, 143
Mathematics, 79, 111, 126, 151-53 cellular automata and, 195-96
342
INDEX
of classical science, 113-15 complex numbers and, 142, 145 of complexity. See Complexity (mathematics of)
cybernetics and, 51, 52, 53-54, 66.
See also Cybernetics Descartes and, 114, 152 general systems theory and, 47 Mandelbrot and, 151 Neumann and, 53-54 Poincare and, 126-28, 136 Prigogine and, 49 self-organization and, 85, 111 systems analysis and, 76 tektology and, 45 visual, 126-27, 137, 158 Wiener and, 53, 54 See also Fractals
Matter/substance, 101, 102, 111, 158 community and, 299 ecosystems and, 35, 43 form vs., 18-29, 80 mind vs., 20, 176 synthesis of theories on, 176 Maturana, Humberto, xviii, 85, 95-99, 100, 158, 160, 194-220, 227, 267 Bateson and, 273-74 cell biology and, 162, 168 communication and, 287-92, 308 mind and, 173, 174-75 See also Santiago theory Maxwell, James Clerk, 58, 121-22, 186, 188
McCulloch, Warren, 52, 55, 83, 95, 195 Mead, Margaret, 53, 56, 62 Mechanism/mechanistic view, 5, 17 Cartesian. See Cartesian coordinates;
Cartesian mechanism computers and, 70 cybernetics and, 52, 69 education and, 70 Gaia theory and, 107 Gestalt psychology vs., 32 holism vs., 18-29, 47. See also Holistic view
molecular biology and, 77-78 organismic biology vs., 27, 28 systems thinking vs., 37
vitalism vs., 25
See also Newtonian mechanics Mechanistic Conception of Life, 24 Medicine, 24, 152 Mendel, Gregor, 224 Mental illness, 173 Mental process, 173-74, 305-8 Mental representation, 265-74, 286, 290, 307, 308
Mental states, 292-93 Metabolism, 43, 159, 164-67, 216. See also Catalytic cycles Metaphysics, 13
Microbiology, 23-24, 106, 215, 225, 227-32
Microcosmos, 232
Microorganisms, 104, 215-16, 228, 239, 246, 247
ages of life and, 233 Microscope, 23 Mind, 51-71, 308
Bateson and, 55. See also Mental process
brain vs., 174-75, 278. See also Cognition; Human brain matter vs., 20, 176 synthesis of theories on, 176 Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity,
174, 305
Mitochondria, 230, 242-44 Molecular biology, xvii, 77-78, 81, 190, 191, 204, 228 Monrod, Jacques, 225 Morphogenetic fields, 26-27 “Morphology,” 21, 23 “Mutual causality,” 64
Naess, Arne, 7, 12 NASA space program, 100-3 Native American traditions, 7 Natural selection, 94, 204, 222-26, 232 Nature, 192-93, 296
classical science and, 113 exploitation of women and, 9 fractals and, 137-42 Heisenberg’s quote on, 40 hierarchies of, 28. See also Hierarchies
343
identification with, 12 mind and, 173-74 Newtonian mechanics and, 121 values and, 11-12
web of, 40-41. See also Web (of life) Needham, Joseph, 27-28 Neo-Darwinism, 222-26, 228 Nervous system, 82, 83, 96-97
cognition and, 176, 269-70, 275, 282— 85
communication and, 287 Network, xviii, 7, 10, 33-34, 112 autopoietic. See Autopoeisis binary, 83, 195, 199-207, 227 cognition and, 268, 269 community and, 297-304 complexity of, 303. See also Complexity (mathematics of) foundations metaphor replaced by,
39
hierarchies of nature and, 28, 35 immune, 279. See also Immune system
neural. See Neural networks; Neuroscience
pattern and, 82-83, 158, 162. See also Pattern
psychosomatic, 282-85 scientific objectivity and, 40 systems thinking and, 38. See also Systems thinking
See also Self-organization; Web (of life)
Neural networks, 202, 266 Neurobiology, 265-66 Neurology, 65, 66 Neuroscience, 95, 278, 281-85 consciousness and, 293 cybernetics and, 51, 52, 53, 68 mind vs. brain and, 175, 273 psychosomatic network and, 284 Newell, Allen, 66
Newton, Isaac, 5, 19, 20, 116-20, 152 Blake (William) and, 21 Newtonian mechanics, 120-22, 127, 188 evolution vs., 47-48 Gaia theory and, 107 time and, 183-84
“Noise,” 84, 133, 191 Nonequilibrium, 87, 92, 100, 180-83.
See also Equilibrium (“far from”) “Nonlinear dynamics,” xviii, 112 Nonlinear equations, 85, 111, 115, 191, 192
butterfly effect and, 134-35 chaos and, 128-29 linear vs., 115, 122, 123 “numerically” solving, 128 phase portrait and, 136-37 Nonlinearity, 86, 89, 100, 122-26, ISO- 83
community and, 299 mental process and, 306, 307 See also Complexity (mathematics of); Equilibrium (“far from”); Laser theory
Nucleated cells, 242-45, 246, 301
Odum, Eugene, 43, 178 On the Origin of Species, 223 Ontology, 273, 274 Open systems, 43, 45-49, 65, 78, 177 cell biology and, 167-68 community and, 299 dissipative structures and, 89, 168-69, 180
Earth as one, 102 self-organization and, 85 “Order from noise,” 84 Order out of Chaos, 193 Order/disorder, 180, 185-92, 199, 203-7 Organ systems, 202 Organic form, 21 “Organicism,” 24—29 Organismic biology, 24-31, 36, 157 cybernetics and, 51, 52 tektology and, 45 Organismic emphasis, 17 Organisms, 3, 22, 209—11 cells vs., 23
machines compared with, 56. See also Cybernetics
as networks, 34—35. See also Network
See also Environment; Living organisms
344
INDEX
Organization, 82-83, 95, 100 cognition and, 273 cybernetics and, 52, 64. See also Cybernetics function vs., 27 nervous system and, 96 pattern of, 65, 157-59, 301. See also Pattern
self-. See Self-organization structure vs., 98, 99 systems thinking and, 30 tektology and, 43-44 See also Organismic biology “Organized complexity,” 28-29 Overpopulation, 4 Oxygen crisis, 239-42
Paradigm shift, 4, 5-13, 31, 185 Parmenides, 80 Part and the Whole, The, 31 Pasteur, Louis, 23-24, 42 Patten, Bernard, 35 Pattern, 51-55, 64, 79-83, 111 autopoiesis and, 160-68 cellular automata and, 196 computer simulations and, 199 and mathematics of complexity, 113 network and, 162. See also Network pattern within, 145-53, 209 process and, 160, 161, 172 structure and, 157-59, 160, 161, 220 topology and, 126, 127 See also Cybernetics; Organization Perception, 3-4, 95, 96, 267-68, 293 of differences, 305-6, 307 Perry, Ted, xi Pert, Candace, 282, 283 Phase portrait, 136
Phase space, 129-31, 136, 139, 171, 201 Philosophy, 3, 5, 7, 112, 152 classical science and, 113, 114 form vs. substance and, 80 Indian, 291
mathematics of complexity and, 119 pattern and, 81 tektology and, 46
Western. See Western society/culture See also Epistemology
Photosynthesis, 165, 167, 178, 228, 237 community and, 299 oxygen crisis and, 239-42 Physics, 5, 11, 12-13, 80, 152 biology and, 25 Gaia theory and, 106 laser theory and, 89, 91, 92 life sciences and, 12-13, 185 networks and, 39. See also Network nineteenth-century, 23 quantum. See Quantum physics systems thinking and, 41-42 Physics and Philosophy, 38 Pitts, Walter, 83, 195 Planck, Max, 127
Plants, 33, 80, 102, 178-79, 243-44 cell biology of, 162-66 cybernetics and, 63 evolution of, 245-56 Gaia theory and, 104, 106, 213, 216 Plato, 18, 113
Poincare, Jules Henri, 126-28, 136, 158 Politics, 3, 4
Populations (as networks), 209 Postman, Neil, 69, 70 Power, values and, 10 Prigogine, Ilya, xviii, 45, 49, 85, 100, 137, 221
chemical clocks and, 93, 161, 194 energy and, 179 hypercycles and, 94 Jantsch and, 111
quoted, on “stillness and motion,” 180
See also Dissipative structures Probability, 188-89 Process, 42-43, 159-60
autopoiesis and, 168, 195, 267 structure and, 160, 161, 172-76, 278 See also Santiago theory Psychiatrists, 55 Psychology, 11, 12
Gestalt, 17, 31-32, 36, 52 Psychosomatic network, 282-85 Pythagoreans, 18, 81, 157
Qualitative analysis, 136, 139 Quality (vs. quantity), 158
345
Quantum physics, 5, 18, 30-31, 128 laser and, 92 Neumann and, 53 systems thinking and, 36, 37
Racism, 8
RAND Corporation, 76 Random mutation, 223, 224-30 Recycling, 177, 299, 304 Reductionist view, 17, 24, 25, 81 "Redundancy,” 84 Relationships, 158-59, 298-99 autopoiesis and, 168 and mathematics of complexity, 113, 114
topology and, 126, 127 Relativity theory, 128 Religion/mythology, 244-45, 291, 294 Earth Mother in, 22 See also specific ones; Spiritual(ity) Reproduction, 221, 245 Rise of Systems Today, The, 78 RNA, 166-67, 229 '
Rocks, Gaia theory and, 106, 215 Romanticism/Romantics, 21-23, 81 Rosenblueth, Arturo, 58 Roszak, Theodore, 12, 70 Rubaiyat, 152 Russell, Bertrand, 307
Sagan, Carl, 106
Sagan, Donon, 215, 229, 232, 238, 239, 249, 263
St. Gallen model, 76 Santiago theory, 174-75, 264-74, 280 Bateson and, 305-8 consciousness and, 286, 291, 295 Schizophrenia, 55 Schrodinger, Erwin, xvii Science, 3-5, 13, 19, 112, 152 Chinese, 28 classical, 113-15 cybernetics and, 53 networks and, 38-39. See also Network pattern and, 81 Romanticism and, 22 systems thinking and, 36, 38-39, 41
values and, 11
Western. See Western society/culture Scientific objectivity, 40 Seattle, Chief, xi, 34 Sell-awareness, 286-96, 308 “Sell-fulfilling prophecy,” 63 Self-making, 194-221 Self-organization, xviii, 25-26, 71, 75- 111
autopoiesis and, 95, 168 binary networks and, 203 cybernetics and, 52, 83 dissipative structures and, 191, 192 evolution and, 235 “molecular,” 92 pattern and, 83, 158 simulation of, 194-207 synthesis on, 111
Self-Organizing Universe, The, 111 Self-regulation, 56-59, 83, 102-3, 108-9 See also Feedback; Network Self-replication, 235 Self-similarity, 137, 140, 142 Shannon, Claude, 52, 64-65, 84 Shaw, Christopher, 137 Sheldrake, Rupert, 26—27 Simon, Herbert, 66 Smale, Stephen, 136-37 Smith, Adam, 62 Snowflake curve, 140 Social Darwinists, 232 Social ecology, 8, 9 Social scientists, 51, 56, 62, 64 Social systems, 3-4, 28, 209-13, 303 business organizations as, 76 feedback and, 61, 62 hierarchy vs. network in, 10 Society, 4, 209-11, 296 cybernetics and, 69-71 Western. See Western society/culture Sonea, Sorin, 229-30 Spiritual(ity), 7, 8, 12, 70, 296 Stability/instability, 169-72, 180, 181, 190-92
Stapp, Henry, 31 Statistical mechanics, 122, 186 Stengers, Isabelle, 179, 193 Stewart, Ian, 121, 123, 127
346
INDEX
Strange attractors, 127, 131-34 fractals and, 137, 139, 140 Structural coupling, 218-20, 221, 227 communication and, 287-89 mental process and, 306 Santiago theory and, 268, 269 self-awareness and, 295 Structural determinism, 220-21 Structure, 157-59, 177-80, 196, 306 cognition and, 267, 268-69 dissipative. See Dissipative structures history and, 191 organization vs., 98, 99 pattern vs., 220
process and, 160, 161, 172, 176, 278 Suess, Eduard, 33 Superorganisms, 33 Sustainability, 4, 298-304 Swiss Polytechnical University (ETH), 207-9
“Switching rule,” 83, 201, 203, 205 Symbiogenesis, 244-45, 247 Symbiosis, 34, 164, 230-33, 242-44, 247 Symbolic logic, 152 Synergetics, 91 “System” (as term), 27, 46 Systemic management, 75, 76-77 Systemic models, 79 Systemic view, xix, 4. See also Systems thinking Systems
closed. See Closed systems living vs. nonliving, 160-61, 169, 215, 219, 306
open. See Open systems pattern and, 158 three kinds of, 44 Systems analysis, 75, 76 “Systems dynamics,” 76, 112 Systems engineering, 75. See also Engineering
Systems theories, 36-50, 79 Systems thinking, 15-71, 75-77 autopoiesis and, 98 community and, 298 critique of, 78-79 evolution and, 226-27 and mathematics of complexity, 113
meaning of term, 27, 46 quantity vs. quality in, 135 self-organization and, 71, 75-77, 83
Takhtadzhian, A. L., 46 Tansley, A. G., 33 Technological growth, 6 Technology, 6, 11, 69-71 Tektology, 43-46 Teleology, 45 Teleology, 107 Thales, 80 Theology, 152
Thermodynamics, 47-49, 122, 129, 181 Gaia theory and, 104 nonlinear, 88-89, 182-83 order vs. disorder in, 185, 187-89 time and, 184, 186 “Think tanks,” 76 Thom, Rene, 45, 137 Time, 183-85, 186 Topology, 126-27, 136-37, 158 Tree of Knowledge, The, 210
Ueda, Yoshisuke, 132 Ueda attractor, 132-33, 135 Uexkiill, Jakob von, 33 Ulrich, Hans, 76
Understanding Computers and Cognition, 275
Universe, 216-18 Uribe, Ricardo, 196
Values, 9-10, 11
Varela, Francisco, xviii, 85, 97-99, 158, 160, 207-19, 227 cell biology and, 162, 168 communication and, 289, 290 consciousness and, 292-93, 295 immunology and, 278, 280, 281 quoted, on genome, 204 See also Santiago theory Variables, 114-15, 145, 302-3 “Variety pool,” 85 Vernadsky, Vladimir, 33 Vienna Circle, 46 Vinci, Leonardo da, 190 Virchow, Rudolf, 23
INDEX
347
Vitalism, 24-27, 32, 97, 107 Von Neumann, John, 52, 53-54, 55, 66, 195
Waste, 101, 178, 184, 299 oxygen crisis and, 241 recycling of, 177 Watt, James, 58
Web (of life), 7, 28, 34, 40-41, 209 bacterial, 236-39, 241 ecology and, 297-304 Gaia theory and, 215 nonequilibrium and, 190 Weimar culture, 32 Weiss, Paul, 29 Weizenbaum, Joseph, 68 Wertheimer, Max, 31-32 Western society/culture, 6, 18-19, 38, 158, 176 '
systems thinking and, 29
values of, 9-10 What Is Life?, xvii
Whitehead, Alfred North, 43, 307-8 Wiener, Norbert, 44, 45, 51-65, 69 Winograd, Terry, 275, 276, 277 Wisdom of the Body, The, 59 Women, 9, 10 Woodger, Joseph, 27, 28 Worldview, 4, 5—8
anthropocentric vs. ecocentric, 11 holistic vs. ecological, 6-7. See also Ecological view; Holistic view mechanistic. See Mechanism/ mechanistic view
paradigm shift in, 4, 5-13, 31, 185 systemic, xix, 4. See also Systems thinking
Worldwatch Institute, 4 Zeno, paradox of, 119-20
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Fritjof Capra received his Ph.E). in theoretical physics from the University of Vienna and has done research in high-energy physics at several European and American universities. Capra has written and lectured extensively about the philosophical implications of modern science and is the author of The Tao of Physics, The Turning Point, and Uncommon Wisdom. Currently Director of the Center for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley, California, he lives in Berkeley with his wife and daughter.
-i;.r /•• Ws?
lists
mi':" ^
3%$m fti
..•...,„ *JL
■:■■: Tfu-?n', ■;..;i'' -... ■ ; -■
t' : "-. ■ ■’. : ■ v --'A ' ;
Asy cyV «i.;* ';■ rw'i'-f'rA -: s ;
y ... 1 / :': 'J )' . ' y ■ ' , 'Vi'*'”*/'*' * a'V; V * 4 /- V* - ,'' J 3
. f...i - A, - ■ ■ A, .-.>&■..'• A
| S |
Hgancsjjg
.+* 'WwAM:m
1 hbHI n|
SSSfilipifiSflA
a ' -*/v:
XiV■ jrfwfcHtf l«r v * ' V'^.*-.'V^*;;-h4*4/- -'
V /v
<_ ^v .V -*. 1
.^ "V
—a. i/ Vv.
IRK ISmIm
/-;•v..-.?.. v ..,'--* 1 ••^a V^--v - •• V*.
~f j , r
- $ ppkg I &k fern
’ t l h- J ^
iB i i u 11
msm HHUBi
. . ,' ' >• "v ••. *•'*•'; ;.
V: /yy
i. :•
. * f f ,! ;
A* ■ A*aVaa'a y- '-;,V:.V.v-'- ; . -s- v .„-;.'. V ■ •■.
*
Iflll
■C ’4*’ *
mm.
'!/ ; f * *'V , ?k; I ’V
:v>v >:l;-
igsfth
-v;
^4
w
■ l^p
> *}fV;-* . ; 'y^vf"A>W's.,V;->?
*^v • irtS^V
-4 -
,'W'-*K' ^ 'ivv;
/
r.ijf-’>••*'--'> ^ V\V V' v -
■V-'\ r ’*v‘t:i-v yV-'” '.v--
liP
ii
4v/-" ■
;#iy
vvi V‘
i»|
V: V ‘* V
MB
■ • «• , i-'-VlJs.-Tr-.^S-Nw' .-: * ??•.-'.
;•--.-«*••'v-s-;/ <v-n'^v/v *-* 'V>-. *■«•,:. 4 r.jsv-j- .vf J* { *
Is.' *
’■ "A * ; V.p ' .-
v.- : ''>' .■■• '■■ ■ •: ■■-■• ■•',■>. : ■ r M «S 9 «g
■ ■-. '..■■■ '■' .- --.. :Kf r y V v . *.■ yV-
4 C :
:»r^i3
Mi
sK'^v/S
I®
'■*;;.-apTj.^.-.tf .*«£.. i,-
V: ■;;■ ;■■
W
n
wf®:
f w', •,;; 4 • •^'j.;.:;
;vii-vvv
Ml
'vS-.^V- ikj§
v* ; ^/
?,:■ -■ ' : P -.-: 1 *4 -.«*,i;;•->••*V’i - i 2 ?% 5 ®p - ,i -- *
*
' -vfe;,, ■ AVrSL'f:?
isMl
dHPi S ft
M i - ■'> " ,
i '
>vv>^
' .i
•y i r m<
W^ : f;
mm
W9$
s m
vj'V'^fcV'- " *-' / *
- _ , -.> » y*, -
% *■ l*
J V’ '**
, V-. •*'•;jv;-iA'jj^-. - ,*iV. :V. - - *■*•.' V,-J ■: ■*■■:■ ■.;:•'■• ■ .-fv. -•■ ■'
• '' 4;^ ;
S3S
xi-SL vL'.m, 1 :■m^’r-.
fMfl!
■ *:fV
,
'Lfm'imU'L.
m
L-'-ri-J.m
ippi
iiStt
■ ; ,,^x r - • ->y :.v 7- . ,».;v .
• -..v;,-'■.Wii-sS^o!*/,| n ■ V ?*'-;•• ^ .V- ,•
. •' 5 s'*. ». ~ * -*
• ’;'* % v y ; .VV7
WM
: ^^ ? «.V'i;vVJfe;W 422 £ t .-
;V : ;»Vi 5 V *7
I; * ‘tsf<
1S#S:
vr^ii'S
;v-’. v44._ ..
.
s:Mi
• %
MMi
l
v l V?: i ’'"V'*‘-4;'- v .^V>i ^* *
M 1;: IP44
:»)V I
Htvc 1
yp 1 «* • ; '
^ r ,i £.- £. w t >■; ' l ■ - ^ ^
y ' ' ■
i V'
’■ A .:.
v'-vy yii/'v 1 -' s ’.' *4 > ;t-y yy y .j.y,-& 7'- f: 4
M-m
'
• •' -. --•' ’. • - : v . • • ■::* -•. • : ii
5 *• u „ * .
*.^v IBrlt
»!
v.Vv.- V ,
sVs:
sii®'
%* •■■ t |
.VW;
P*‘'VV.'a4 : V : ‘V
V-
'1 ' vl 4 / aj *
S® ■' > i wSfIS
Sli
ia|
■ «y.>-••* j if c; '.v.v ,“;* : *yv.-
. • '.'.*-' '*•'- ‘'& 'iSmpy V*.";V .*?; : J.$& V v.- "■ VvX •
.
immBM: tMil i
ecosystems. Capra's surprising findings stand in stark contrast to accepted paradigms of mechanism and Darwinism, and provide an extraordinary new foundation for ecological policies that will allow us to build and sustain communities without diminishing the opportunities for future generations.
Based on ten years of research and discussions with leading scientists around the world, The Web of Life presents exciting new perspectives on the nature of life and avenues for interdisciplinary thinking.
Fritjof Capra received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of Vienna and has written and lectured extensively about the philosophical implications of modern science. He is the author of The Tao of Physics , The Turning Point , and Uncommon Wisdom and coauthor of Belonging to the Universe , winner of the American Book Award in 1992. Currently the Director of the Center for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley, California, he lives in Berkeley with his wife and daughter.
Jacket Illustration by Jasmine Kaposi Jacket-Design by Jasmine Kaposi and Mario J. Pulice
Printed in the U.S.A.
1096
Chris Duffey
M olecular biologists have discovered the fundamental building blocks of life, but this has not helped them understand the vital integrative actions of living organisms. Recently a new language for understanding the complex systems of life has emerged. Different scientists call it by different names—"dynamical systems theory," "the theory of complexity," "nonlinear dynamics," "network dynamics," etc. Chaotic attractors, fractals, dissipative structures, self-organization, and autopoietic networks are some of its key concepts. This approach to understanding life is pursued by outstanding researchers around the world, and several of their discov- eries, published in technical papers and books, have been hailed as revolutionary.
However, to date nobody has proposed an overall synthesis that integrates the new discoveries into a single context and thus allows lay readers to understand them in a coherent way. This is the challenge and the promise of The Web of Life.