Name: How Nature Works: The Science of Self-Organized Criticality
ISBN: 9780387987385

How Nature Works: The Science of Self-Organized Criticality

Per Bak

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and acknowledgments Self-organized criticality is a new way of viewing nature. The basic picture is one where nature is perpetually out of balance, but organized in a poised state-the critical state-where anything can happen within well-defined statistical laws. The aim of the science of self-organized criticality is to yield insight into the fundamental question of why nature is complex, not simple, as the laws of physics imply. Self-organized criticality explains some ubiquitous patterns existing in nature that we view as complex. Fractal structure and catastrophic events are among those regularities. Applications range from the study of pulsars and black holes to earthquakes and the evolution of life. One intriguing conse- quence of the theory is that catastrophes can occur for no reason whatsoever. Mass extinctions may take place without any external triggering mechanism such as a volcanic eruption or a meteorite hitting the earth (although the the- ory of course cannot rule out that this has in fact occurred). xu How Nature Works Since we first proposed the idea in 1987, more than 2, ooo papers have been written on self-organized criticality, making ours the most cited paper in physics during that period. How Nature Works is the first book to deal with the subject. The basic idea is simple, and most of the mathematical models that have been used in the implementation of the theory are not complicated.

Book Details

Publisher: Copernicus Books
Publish Date: Apr 23rd, 1999
Pages: 212
Language: English
Edition: 1996. 2nd Print - undefined
Dimensions: 9.15in - 6.14in - 0.74in - 0.73lb
EAN: 9780387987385
Categories: • Chaotic Behavior in Systems• System Theory• Physics - General

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What people are saying

Paul Kedrosky

@pkedrosky

2 years

Ancient amateur & meh athlete. Partner at https://t.co/9bw1gDao60. Co-founder https://t.co/jByvjs8tWJ. Research fellow at MIT IDE. Mailing list & other socials at https://t.co/JcYiTI7wgF.

I've had a few people ask for accessible book recs on risk and complexity. Here are some: - How nature works: the science of self-organized criticality, Per Bak - Fooled by randomness / Black Swan / Antifragile, Nassim Taleb - Risk Uncertainty and Profit, Frank Knight #xp

Director, Sapient Capital | Curiosity Sherpa https://t.co/38z9WE4UQC

Weird musing/open question. Per Bak's book "How Nature Works" finds fractal patterns of severity and frequency of market crashes, sandpiles, earthquakes, traffic jams and the brain. But he also found it in mass extinction events....

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What people are saying

Paul Kedrosky

@pkedrosky

2 years

Ancient amateur & meh athlete. Partner at https://t.co/9bw1gDao60. Co-founder https://t.co/jByvjs8tWJ. Research fellow at MIT IDE. Mailing list & other socials at https://t.co/JcYiTI7wgF.

Director, Sapient Capital | Curiosity Sherpa https://t.co/38z9WE4UQC

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