Complexity arises from interactions between components from "summary" of Chaos by James Gleick
The idea that complexity emerges from the relationships and interactions between individual components lies at the heart of chaos theory. At first glance, this concept may seem counterintuitive – one might expect complexity to arise from intricate structures or elaborate designs. However, chaos theory challenges this assumption by highlighting the importance of interconnections and dependencies in shaping the behavior of complex systems. In the world of chaos theory, simplicity does not necessarily equate to predictability. Even systems with a small number of components can exhibit complex and unpredictable behavior if those components are interconnected in nonlinear ways. This interconnectedness gives rise to feedback loops, amplifying small changes and ultimately leading to large-scale effects that are difficult to anticipate. Consider, for example, the weather – a classic example of a complex system governed by chaotic dynamics. The atmosphere consists of countless individual molecules interacting with one another through a web of physical and chemical processes. These inte...
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