Waubonsee Community College

Two's company, three is complexity, a simple guide to the science of all sciences, Neil F. Johnson

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 215-227) and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Two's company, three is complexity

bibliography

77013185

Neil F. Johnson

"What do traffic jams, stock market crashes, and wars have in common? They are all explained using complexity, an unsolved puzzle that many researchers believe is the key to predicting - and ultimately solving - everything from terrorist attacks and pandemic viruses right down to rush hour traffic congestion." "In Two's Company, Three is Complexity, international expert Neil Johnson provides a readable account of this fledgling field of science. Arming readers with the tools necessary to analyze a wealth of real-world examples from overcrowded bars through to modern warfare and terrorism, Johnson reveals that despite embodying some of the most fundamental problems facing scientists today, Complexity science promises to make sense of no less than the very heart of the Universe."--BOOK JACKET

a simple guide to the science of all sciences

Preface -- Part 1: What exactly is complexity science? -- 1. Two's company, three is complexity -- A definition, of sorts -- Complexity in action -- Why is my own life so complex? -- The key components of complexity -- Complexity: the science of all sciences -- 2. Disorder rules, OK? -- Another day at the office -- If things can get worse, they probably will -- We need feedback -- Life is just a pocket of order -- Our universe's bleak future -- Air, air, everywhere -- we hope -- Our biased world -- 3. Chaos and all that jazz -- Dealing with office dynamics -- Systematic interns, and careless ones -- Don't worry, it's just chaos -- If I remember correctly, I am living on the edge -- There's magic, and then there's everything else -- What happens when I'm not looking? -- 4. Mob mentality -- I'm a person, not a particle -- Thank God it's Friday -- Knowing what it means to win -- To bar, or not to bar? -- Crowds and anti-crowds -- Another frustrating experience -- Evolution management: engineering the future -- 5. Getting connected -- Knowing me, knowing you -- Small worlds, large worlds, and in-between worlds -- The importance of networking -- How things grow: is it really all in the genes? -- Looking at money on trees -- Globalization: fairness vs. efficiency -- The story so far -- Part 2: What can complexity science do for me? -- 6. Forecasting financial markets -- What goes up must come down, but when? -- The problem with finance theory as it stands -- or walks -- A complex walk along Wall Street -- Going frm the bar to the market -- Look out, we're going to crash -- Predicting the future -- News, rumors, and terrorism -- 7. Tackling traffic networks and climbing the corporate ladder -- Going back to our routes -- Time is money -- Creative congestion charging -- Different shape, same function -- Should I stay at my own level? -- 8. Looking for Mr./Ms. Right -- The perfect pair -- Virtual dating -- Radioactive relationships -- Here comes your super-date -- A more sophisticated dating scene -- Wolves, dogs, and sheep -- 9. Coping with conflict: next-generation wars and global terrorism -- War and complexity -- The law of war -- The universal pattern underlying modern wars and terrorism -- A complex systems model of modern warfare -- The timing of attacks -- 10. Catching a cold, avoiding a super-flu and curing cancer -- Natural-born killers -- From communities to classes -- Kids, colds, and contagion -- Cancer: how to starve a tumor? -- Showdown: superbugs vs. the immune system -- 11. The mother of all complexities: our nanoscale quantum world -- Einstein's spookiness -- Three is a crowd, but so is two -- The secret nanoscale life of plants, bacteria, and brains -- Quantum gaming -- Many wrongs can make a right -- 12. To infinity and beyond -- The inadequate infinity of physicists -- The future is bright, the future is complex -- Appendix: Further information -- A. complexity, complex systems, and centers of study -- B. Downloadable research papers