Mitch Waldrop’s Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos, published in 1992, is one of the best books I’ve read in recent times. It describes the science behind complex adaptive systems and the work academics from numerous disciplines have done on the concept of emergence. I also think it contains a kernel of insight – and a possible scientific explanation – on why top-down control of economies is a bad idea.

Complexity and emergence

But first, what are complex adaptive systems? The following passages from Waldrop’s book is a neat summary of what they are:

“For example, every one of these questions refers to a system that is complex, in the sense that a great many independent agents are interacting with each other in a great many ways. Think of the quadrillions of chemically reacting proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids that make up a living cell, or the billions of interconnected neurons that make up the brain,

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