Signs of Life: How Complexity Pervades Biology

Rating:
Summary: Excellent: Complexity and Emergence in Life
Review: Excellent really brilliant.

It is a delight to travel into the Complexity of Life at the hands of Sole and Goodwin. Here it is: Life's chaos, order and disorder, fractals, nonlinearity and definetively... Emergence and Complexity.

The Richness, diversity and baroque of life is everywhere in this brilliant work... from evolution and extintion, brain dynamics, ant societies...to Genetic Networks, Cell diferentiation and Development, Physiology and Life on the edge of Catastrophe.

The Richness of Complexity in living systems in this work is a pleasure to be read...

...a waterfall of best drops of science... cristalline waters of knowledge! It's a fusion of Kaufmann's "At home in the Universe", Goodwin's "How the leopard changed it 's spots", Waldrops and Gleick's "Complexity" and "Chaos" and Hollands "Hidden order". Best compliments to the autors.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent: Complexity and Emergence in Life
Review: Excellent really brilliant.

It is a delight to travel into the Complexity of Life at the hands of Sole and Goodwin. Here it is: Life's chaos, order and disorder, fractals, nonlinearity and definetively... Emergence and Complexity.

The Richness, diversity and baroque of life is everywhere in this brilliant work... from evolution and extintion, brain dynamics, ant societies...to Genetic Networks, Cell diferentiation and Development, Physiology and Life on the edge of Catastrophe.

The Richness of Complexity in living systems in this work is a pleasure to be read...

...a waterfall of best drops of science... cristalline waters of knowledge! It's a fusion of Kaufmann's "At home in the Universe", Goodwin's "How the leopard changed it 's spots", Waldrops and Gleick's "Complexity" and "Chaos" and Hollands "Hidden order". Best compliments to the autors.

Rating:
Summary: Order for free
Review: If you've ever been in a traffic jam, chances are, you've also engaged in a coordinated, complicated activity with other drivers - without even knowing about it. They are called traffic density waves. How can that be? How can you engage in large-scale behavior and not know it? It happens because of emergent behavior that results from simple algorithms in our driving. It happens to you, just like it happens to ants, bees, and termites. These simple rules result in unexpected, large-scale order. It's what Sole and Goodwin would call "order for free."

Sole and Goodwin begin with one of the best introductory summaries that I've seen of simple chaotic behavior in nonlinear systems. The interesting thing about these systems is the way in which complicated behavior results from repetition and feedback using simple rules.

Later descriptions of biological systems carry this theme forward, and constitute some of the most interesting reading in this book. For example, in the chapter on "Ants, Brains, and Chaos," the authors describe a model that simulates the raiding patterns of army ants. Observing these insects from a distance, one might be inclined to wonder at the appearance of a higher purposeful component to the movement of colony. With simulations, however, the authors have argued convincingly that the basic patterns seen in the foraging of army ants result from relatively simple algorithms built into the individual insects. These simple algorithms, at the individual level, result in large-scale behavior that has no obvious causal connection to the algorithms that are their cause.

A similar chapter on the human brain helps us see that our own intelligence is most likely the amazing consequence of emergent behavior resulting from the interconnections and interactions of an unimaginable number of connected neurons in our brains. As such, it begins to make sense that what we call "ourselves" is really an emergent property of cells that is as unrelated to individual members as the marauding patterns of army ants is to the simple algorithms operating on the level of individual insects.

Yet another fascinating example from the insect world is that of mound-building termites and nest-building wasps like those that infest my barn each year. Again, with computer simulations, the authors illustrate that beautiful wasp-like nests can be created using automata with simple algorithms that belie the complexity of the structures that emerge from groups operating under simple rules.

After reading page after page of examples, one begins to get the sense that self organization is a rule of nature. It seems to be everywhere - almost to the degree that we might marvel when it does not appear. This, I believe, is one of the underlying messages in "Signs of Life:" That the order and complexity we perceive is actually the result of simpler algorithms operating in (mostly nonlinear) systems with feedback. That there is a broad range of emergent properties that can, and often do, result from such systems. The authors also argue against the idea that all this complexity is directly encoded in the DNA of organisms. Instead, the organism must encode only the simpler rules of engagement (rules like: 1. smell a pheromone? 2. Dropt the dung) and that the complexity results as "order for fee" through the naturally occurring emergent property of nonlinear systems.

Later chapters describe life as being an emergent property on the edge of chaos. There is lots of interesting information here, relating to evolutionary biology and describing how "the edge of chaos" facilitates evolution, and can result in wildly unpredictable outcomes. This part of the book also has worrisome implications for public policy. For example, here in Oregon, the Federal administration recently decided that too much analysis was going into wildlife management. So they decided to cut through the red tape, ignore biologists, and limit water flows in the Lower Klamath drainage basin.

Sole and Goodwin would argue that complex biological systems are very complex, and that their response to sudden changes in conditions can result in wildly unpredictable outcomes. We saw that here in Oregon, recently, as tens of thousands of fish died. Biologists attribute this disaster to parasites that live naturally in the water at all times. However, the lowered flows, and higher temperatures, in the river stressed the fish and pushed them closer together. The weakened fish were subsequently more prone to infection, and the closer proximity facilitated dispersal of the disease. The population reached a subsequent threshold where an epidemic ensued, killing a significant fraction of the fish, and putting people's lives in turmoil who depended on the fish for their livelihoods.

This example illustrates the problems and dangers inherent in managing wildlife populations. Though bearcats may yearn for simple solutions, these systems are, in fact, complex. Simplistic thinking and/or the inability to engage in sophisticated modeling and prediction can result in disasters. This is as true for the Klamath River basin as it is for Earth's climate and the likely effects of widespread pollution from gases that trap heat near the earth, and raise the global temperature.

This is not an easy book to read. It has many equations, and much of the mathematics is non-trivial and involves concepts from nonlinear systems that many readers may not be familiar with. Other terminology in the book is equally aimed at people who already have some exposure to the science at hand. I hope that does not dissuade you. Often, the mathematical details can be skipped (though you will miss some of the most interesting stuff that way). And a dictionary can help you with unfamiliar terminology. Just be aware that this book will demand more of your intellectual capacity than the typical science book that's been written for the arm-chair scientists. But I think it's worth it. I certainly enjoyed it.

Rating:
Summary: A Basic Text on Biological Complexity
Review: Sole and Goodwin bring together a host of biological phenomena that can be explained only through nonlinear dynamics, self-organization and complexity theory. Starting with the work of Kaneko and Ko, which shows that genetically identical E. coli cells placed on identical nutrient media nevertheless grow at different rates, they demonstrate that biological systems are exquisitely sensitive to initial conditions and to unpredictable internal fluctuations. This results from the interactional nature of all biological processes. The activity of a whole organism or system of organisms cannot be predicted by summing the isolated activities of its component parts.

Complexity theory explains the discontinuities of form and behavior that characterize biological systems. The illustration of these ideas in "Signs of Life" ranges all the way from cell differentiation in slime molds and higher organisms to the interactional nature of metabolic processes, the self-organizing properties of the central nervous system, the organizations created by social insects, ecosystems in general, and the economic and cultural activities of human beings on the largest scale. Evolution is shown to be the product of interactional phenomena involving many species at least as much as the competition of individual organisms with members of their own species.

The fractal nature of complexity, resulting from the iteration of simple but universal rules, is illustrated in boxed mathematical descriptions of the phenomena being discussed. What emerges from all this is a picture of the biosphere creating a huge array of diverse organisms and organizations of organisms in a manner that remains orderly and intelligible from the viewpoint of complexity theory.

The writing is both clear and lively. "Signs of Life" illustrates the fruitfulness of the vision of a complex universe developed in recent years at the Santa Fe Institute, where Sole and Goodwin and many of the scientists whose work they describe have worked.

Rating:
Summary: How all the explanatory parts don't explain the whole
Review: This book is filled with chapter after chapter of 'gee-whiz' factoids and equations about some interesting attempts to make some scientific sense out of the nature of biological systems. All the appropriate buzzwords: 'complexity', 'emergence', 'chaos', 'neural nets', 'fractals', and so on are amply represented. As a compilation or overview of the research efforts into these various areas, this book succeeds reasonably well. For this, it gets three stars.

They explain to us in the Preface, "The consistent theme that runs throughout...is the understanding of biological processes in terms of complex dynamics from which emerge characteristic patterns of order. The objective is to show how scientists are thinking in this area and what tools are available for understanding the creative process."

But, there is no concluding chapter, no summarization, no binding coherence beyond some vague sense of it all being somehow complex stuff, from ant colonies to brains to stock markets. All the different chapters convey their different messages and that is that. It all sounds important, highly scientific, cutting-edge, and intriguing. Gee, isn't it all amazing?

When it is all said and done, however, there is very little about biological systems that is actually explained by all these sexy topics.

An unintentional byproduct of this overview - what is most glaringly apparent when the dust settles and the mind clears - is the feebleness of all these efforts in making much of a dent in understanding life to any serious degree. And I think if there is one lesson to be taken away from this book, it ought to be that. For that feebleness makes a deep statement about the cogency of the application of the types of modalities presented to the problem of life, and about the notion of 'emergence' in general as being a computational problem.

Rating:
Summary: Lots of figures and photos, very visual!
Review: This book is very good because it shows you a very broad spectrum of phenomena in which emergence takes place (genetics, the brain, the ants, rainforests, virus, economics, etc.). Emergence happens when a system of simple and numerous parts does something you couldn't have predicted from a description of the parts. It's full of very well chosen examples of emergence in complex systems. If you don't understand what the science of complexity *really* is about, buy it! You certainly will understand after you read it, I can assure you.

I've always hated books in which there's only text and more text. I need drawings, diagrams, things that SHOW you something and make well explained ideas even better! This book is perfect in that. Also, if you don't like mathematics, they are exclusively inside gray boxes, and you just look at them if you want, the explanation is good enough. And by the way, the boxes are just great!

Rating:
Summary: An intriguing view on relationships between math and science
Review: This discussion of how complexity pervades biology presents an intriguing view on relationships between math and science. All fields of biology from molecular genetics to animal behavior are touched upon, with chapters explaining complexity theory models and how they apply. The topic sounds challenging but is actually fairly easy to understand in Ricard Sole and Brian Goodwin's Signs Of Life.

Rating:
Summary: Advanced introduction to complex systems
Review: This is a very interesting book. Athough there is some available literature on the recent advances in complex systems, it is often too general for the readers interested in having a good picture of how the area is developed and what type of (really) new advances are taking place. I think that this book, together with some literature on chaos (particularly Ian Stewart's book "Does God Play Dice?") and self-organization (I would strongly recomend Coveney's book "The Arrow of Time") provides a very useful guide to some of the most interesting findings, particularly within biological sciences. Although the most recent breakthroughs in complex networks are not there (not surprisingly) and the range of topics is certainly broad, I think the authors did a pretty good job in presenting a well-defined picture of the importance of emergence and phase transitions in genetics, ecology, evolution and brain dynamics (to cite just a few). You might agree with their views or not, but I think their enthusiam is contagious and makes you seriouly consider these ideas. The boxes, even if not allways self-contained (more references in the final list would have been helpful) trigger further interest in knowing more about the underlying maths and physics. Given the limitations imposed by a popular science book, I think they did a good job. This book should be a must-read for everyone interested in complex systems but also to those who feel that the analytic (so called reductionist) view of reality needs to be complemented with a wider perspective. I am myself molecular biologist, and in spite of the success of my own field over the last decades, I think it's time for some fresh air. Both approaches are needed and this book can give you a first glimpse of why the two approaches are required. I enjoyed reading it and loved the final paragraph.

Rating:
Summary: Good material but poorly written
Review: This is undoubtedly a very interesting book, but unfortunately it is part of a modern tendency from certain authors to show "look how clever I am", without really explainig things properly. The authors present a lot of exciting and interesting material, but leave the reader in a frustrating situation of shallow explanations too often. Some of the inserted Boxes are particularly frustrating, as equations and conclusions seem to appear from nowhere. Some paragraphs have been written too hastily and would have required more explanations. In summary a good and stimulating book which can wet the appetite of many readers, but if you are looking for serious reference in the area you have to look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent source of information...
Review: This is what overviews of scientific fields of research should be like. The book begins in a gentle manner with an introduction into non-linearity, chaos and complexity. Many somewhat detailed technical steps are shown in text boxes and there are many illustrations to try to convey the information to a casual reader.

In fact, this book bridges the gap between general overviews (something like Gleick's "Chaos") and much more scholarly presentations ("Complexity : Metaphors, Models, and Reality"). I suspect some non-technical readers won't make it very far but that is more likely due to the fact that they spend too much time on things they don't understand. Many important aspects of complex adaptive systems in biology are reviewed using many different examples. Both theoretical and real-life examples are typically used to help make the point.

It is evident that the authors not only really understand the subject, they are also passionate and have excellent writing skills. Kauffmann is cited frequently but I suspect that most who have read "Investigations" will likely get a much better idea of his thesis when they read this book.

The only minor point: why no commentary on where we appear to be rushing? Or better yet, why nothing about the philosophical implications of complexity? Perhaps the authors wanted to keep this book as non-controversial as possible and thereby potentially have it as an "official" reference but I cannot see why people should be upset by drawing some conclusions. Unless, of course, it is simply because some of the conclusions are so scary.

This book should be standard reading!