But the sensitive way in which systems respond to those basic laws,
combined with feedback, can explain why, for example, just one vehicle braking
on a motorway can cause a traffic jam; how a tiny genetic mutation or
environmental change may make a species develop in a wholly different way.In this brilliantly enlightening book John Gribbin, the man who made
quantum theory clear with In Search of Schrodinger's Cat shows that complexity
is simple, and explains how life has emerged from simple systems. Deep
Simplicity is the first book to synthesize all the various ideas about chaos
and complexity - from the butterfly effect to the intriguing concept of Gaia.
It reveals that at the root of even what seems to be the most random behaviour
there are actually simple laws of cause and effect - essentially the same ones
discovered by Newton 300 years ago. But the sensitive way in which systems
respond to those basic laws, combined with feedback, can explain why, for
example, just one vehicle braking on a motorway can cause a traffic jam; how a
tiny genetic mutation or environmental change may makea species develop in a
wholly different way; or why wild weather fluctuations can result from a slight
change in atmospheric pressure. It can even explain people, the most complex
systems of all, showing how we evolved from the most widely available raw
materials in the Universe.
