Notes on Complexity

March 27, 2023
Theise, a pathology professor at New York University, debuts with a disjointed meditation on complexity theory, or the study of the “open-ended, evolving, unpredictable, yet adaptive and self-sustaining” behavior of complex systems. He suggests that a defining feature of complex systems is their tendency to produce outcomes that cannot be predicted by accounting for each of its constituent parts, explaining how cells organize themselves based on their interactions with each other. Using a hypothetical ant colony to illustrate the “rules” of complex systems, he posits that a moderate degree of randomness is vital; ants that wander off from the food line discover new sources of food, but if too many ants stray, there’s no system to transport new discoveries back to the anthill. Readers will struggle to keep up as Theise weaves together dizzyingly eclectic reflections on fractals, quantum mechanics, artificial intelligence, and “Jewish and Hindu mysticisms,” delving into spiritual territory that will likely give skeptics pause (he claims that because “there are no real distinctions between ‘our own’ molecules and the molecules of the world around us,” all humans are continuous with the giant single organism that is Earth). Further hampered by abstruse jargon (discussions of “complementarity and holarchy” are likely to baffle), this doesn’t live up to its grand ambitions. Illus.

April 1, 2023
An introduction to a theory that "provides a powerful, yet delicately nuanced understanding of the nature of reality and of our place within it as conscious, living beings." Theise is a professor of pathology at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, expert on adult stem cell plasticity, practicing Zen Buddhist, and pioneering researcher in "complexity theory." During his distinguished career, he has made associations among different kinds of cells that other scientists have missed in their research. In his debut book, the author shifts his associative analytical skills into overdrive, as he seeks--and often finds--similarities between complex systems on all kinds of levels, from the smallest to the largest, organic to inorganic. Theise has given many talks about complexity theory and stem cell research to the general public, which might explain why the text occasionally falls victim to oversimplification. For example, the author asserts that Lynn Margulis and James Lovelock--who conceptualized Earth as "Gaia," a system in which all living and nonliving components collaborate--"proved the critics wrong" and "established the study of Gaia as a robust field of investigation." While some of the research leading to this theory is accepted, even lauded, in the scientific community, many researchers approach it with wariness. Nonetheless, as Theise eloquently notes, it is increasingly inescapable that, on a warming planet in which nonliving elements like carbon are being weaponized by the living, all kinds of worlds, ecosystems, geo-systems, cells, and particles are impacting all kinds of others. The author is enthusiastic and convincing in his demonstrations of the universe's vast interconnectedness, consistently showing us how it is much greater than the sum of its parts. Are we "moment by moment...unique emergent expressions of the universe itself?" Not all will agree, but few will be uninterested. A stimulating read for anyone who has wondered about unexpected similarities between divergent systems.

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