Books about Complex Systems, not Necessarily Brains

Although there are still many who just do not get it, minds are produced by complex mechanical devices. If we are ever going to understand how brains make minds, we are going to have to utilize a whole new set of tools from the new science of complex systems. We need more physicists like Murray Gell-Mann who are ready to confront the realities of complexity; go here for some examples.

Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter. Minds as a result of complex systems.

The Origins of Order by Stuart Kauffman, also At Home in the Universe(less technical). What if there is more to life than natural selection?

Complexity; The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos by M. Mitchell Waldrop. Super introduction to Stu Kauffman and the whole Santa Fe Institute crowd! See a review by Jim Voris.

Frontiers of Complexity: The Search for Order in a Chaotic World by P. Coveney and R. Highfield. My comments.

Fire in the Mind by George Johnson. My comments.


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John William Schmidt