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

Description

This work argues that it is fast becoming clear that our lives revolve around the powers of "emergence". Order arrives from the bottom-up, not top-down. Complexity is resolved through simplicity. Everywhere the same laws are obeyed, the same swarm logic is at work. "Emergence" looks at the cities we inhabit, the media frenzies we suffer and the games we play, showing how individual actions without central planning often create an adaptive communal intelligence. Steven Johnson investigates the artificial emergence which is bringing sweeping cultural and political change in its wake. Providing insights into the future, this book allows us to witness the arrival and sudden ascendancy of a potent idea.

Steven Johnson is the US bestselling author of Where Good Ideas Come From, The Invention of Air, The Ghost Map, and Everything Bad Is Good for You, and is the editor of the anthology The Innovator's Cookbook. He is the founder of a variety of influential websites - most recently, outside.in - and writes for Time, Wired, The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. http-//www.stevenberlinjohnson.com https-//twitter.com/stevenbjohnson