Travel to South America

The Quark and the Jaguar: Adventures in the Simple and the Complex

Format: Paperback
Author: Murray Gell-Mann
ReleaseDate: 15 September, 1995
Publisher: Owl Books
Rating:

The basics of information theory as relating to the science of emergent order is clearly presented
Gell-Mann's theories are useful in understanding chaos theory as well as many branches of quantum physics. This book gives valuable information on how complex systems arise out of a simple, natural ground. A description of Gell-Mann's ecological explorations and efforts to maintain the biosphere is also given. The magician and student of physics will be well rewarded for reading Gell-Mann's work. The processes of consciousness and so magical phenomena may be understood in this light.

Too tedious to finish
Gell-Mann won a Nobel Prize for his work in physics, but he will never will a Pulitzer for his writing. Mr. It's too tedious to endure.

I love reading books about physics. I tried to read this book -- twice. I wanted to like it. But both times, I got no more than a third of the way through, and couldn't force myself to read another word.

Mr. Gell-Mann's writing is too convoluted and dry, his theories so superficially presented. Unless you're a speed reader, I'd imagine there are very few people who would ever waste the time required to force themselves through this very disappointing book.
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Complexity theme is contrived; superficial coverage of many subjects
I found this to be a pointless endeavor. Gell-Mann went to much effort to weave the diverse topics of this book together under the theme of complex adaptive systems. A good theme should provide cohesion or make the subject more approachable. Conceiving of both a single-celled organism and a culture as complex adaptive systems, however, provides little insight into the functioning of either and serves mostly to drive home the point that the notion of a complex adaptive system is so broad that nearly anything worth discussing falls under that heading.

Quantum physics is discussed at length. Unfortunately this section reads more like a catalog of concepts and discoveries than like a good introduction conveying key concepts. Other subjects (biology, evolution, ecosystems, computer learning, economics, public policy) are covered too superficially to yield anything of interest.

The major arguments of _The Quark and the Jaguar_ are as follows:

1) Effective complexity is not the same as algorithmic complexity. Algorithmic complexity is 0 for uniform data and highest for completely random data. (Potential) effective complexity is highest in the middle, where patterns and rules (schema) can be derived and minimal for both uniform data and random data.

2) Classical physics implies a deterministic world. How can anything interesting happen? Because quantum physics offers randomness.

3) Complex adaptive systems create schemas to model the data. This is true for the formation of life, to children learning to speak, to scientific progress, etc. Successful complex adaptive systems are solutions to problems. So the biological and cultural diversity on the planet represents a huge amount of valuable information.

4) We should preserve biological and cultural diversity so we don't lose valuable information.

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