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Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software

Scribner

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Average customer rating: 3.5 stars

A fascinating must read- will really get your brain buzzing!

I love this book! Who would have thought that slime mold, ants, cities, software, our immune systems, and other complex systems have so much in common- the author does a great job of clearly building the connections. I do wish there was a bit more depth in various areas that the book dives into, not possible with the breadth of topics covered, but the end of the book does bring it all together in a meaningful way. The last couple of chapters are my favorite because the author is really able to synthesize the concepts that he introduces earlier in the book:

"One kind of decentralized intelligence (the human brain) grasps a new way to apply the lessons of another decentralized intelligence (the ants), which then serves as a platform (the network) for the transmission of another kind (the virutual cities), which we enjoy while sitting safely in our apartments in the neighborhoods of the planet's largest man-made self-organizing system (the real city). It is emergence all the way down the chain."

This book really is worth reading- it not only gets the brain buzzing, but it also brings the fuzzy world of emergence and chaos theory into the practical and tangible world. It highlights so many seemingly disparate concepts and patterns in a way that makes sense- I've found many of these systems fascinating in many of the same ways and it's great to have this author really validate and expand my thinking.

Barely About Emergence

The first part of the book is an adequate introduction to the concept of emergence, while the rest reads like a drawn out futurist essay. Immensely shallow. Should not have been published. Should not have been read (by me, at least).

I hope you like slime mold

First, I hope you like ants and slime mold. That is how the book starts. The surprise is that this is a good start. You always here books as described as thought provoking, it has become quite a cliché, but this book IS thought provoking. As I read this book, I would find myself thinking the next day of some of its implications.

The only criticism I could make of this book is that the author spends too much time on some topics. He seemed to dwell on the SIMS far too long. It also ended more with a whimper than a bang. Yeah the Internet is going to be really neat and we are going to be able watch Sponge Bob Square Pants whenever we want. Hurrah.

I guess what is so disappointing about the end of the book is that the rest of it is so good. What are self-organizing systems? How can we apply these principles to the Internet or just data in general? You should read this book.

Patterns In Imagination

Written during the height of the late Tech Bubble, it often seems to have more faith, in a secular way of course, in the imagined promises of technology in general and software in particular. The similes are compelling, and the parallels are intriguing, but there's always some nagging question on what it all means. None of the short-term predictions have come to pass, and the long-term predictions are more in the way of philosophical musings of the author. And, the almost child-like respect for computer simulations is questionable, particularly when presented without any supporting arguments or explanations. Not a book on technology as such, or anything really concrete or otherwise directly useful. Some of the points bring to mind the clashes between the Copenhagen and Gottingen schools when quantum mechanics was being conjured up. A good read for speculative background on artificial intelligence.

Not enough emergence

I was prepared to like this book since it deals Emergence, a subject I'm interested in. Some parts of this book are relevant, such as stories about ants, slime molds, Starlogo, the Sims, the Gearhead toys, while other parts seem to be included to philosophize about how various aspects of life have some hints of Emergence (or is it evolution?), such as cities (on and on), computers, the world wide web, chimpanzees, and much more. I thought about a third of the book was interesting enough to read intently, and I used speed reading (or page skipping) to go through the rest of the book. In short, some interesting Emergence, but not enough. This is a fine book to get from the library or to buy used.