Research Catalog

Title

At home in the universe : the search for laws of self-organization and complexity / Stuart Kauffman.

Author

Kauffman, Stuart A.

Publication

New York : Oxford University Press, 1995.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

viii, 321 p. : ill.; 25 cm.

Summary

A major scientific revolution has begun, a new paradigm that rivals Darwin's theory in importance. At its heart is the discovery of the order that lies deep within the most complex of systems, from the origin of life, to the workings of giant corporations, to the rise and fall of giant civilizations. And more than anyone else, this revolution is the work of one man, Stuart Kauffman, a MacArthur Fellow and visionary pioneer of the new science of complexity. Now, in At Home in the Universe, Kauffman brilliantly weaves together the excitement of intellectual discovery and a fertile mix of insights to give the general reader a fascinating look at this new evidence - and at the forces for order that lie at the edge of chaos. What we are now only discovering, Kauffman says, is that the range of spontaneous order is enormously greater than we had supposed and, in fact, self-organization is a great undiscovered principle of nature. He contends that complexity itself triggers self-organization - what Kauffman calls "order for free" - and that if enough different sized molecules pass a certain threshold of complexity, they begin to self-organize into a new entity: a living cell. In turn, Kauffman extends this new paradigm to economic and cultural systems, showing that all may evolve according to similar general laws. An exciting exploration into the nature of life, At Home in the Universe provides stunning insights into a new scientific revolution. -- from back cover.

Subject

• Life > Origin
• Self-organizing systems
• Molecular evolution
• Evolution > Philosophy
• Evolution, Molecular
• Life Origins

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [305]-306) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

At home in the universe -- Origins of life -- We the expected -- Order for free -- Mystery of ontogeny -- Noah's vessel -- Promised land -- High-country adventures -- Organisms and artifacts -- Hour upon the stage -- In search of excellence -- Emerging global civilization.

ISBN

• 0195095995 (acid-free paper)
• 0195111303 (pbk.)

LCCN

^^^94025268^//r98

OCLC

• 31646998
• SCSB-10232472

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library