15 Quotes by M. Mitchell Waldrop

In non linear systems-and the economy is most certainly nonlinear-chaos theory tells you that the slightest uncertainty in your knowledge of the initial conditions will often grow inexorably. After a while, your predictions are nonsense.

Theoretical economists use their mathematical prowess the way the great stags of the forest use their antlers: to do battle with one another and to establish dominance.

If the chemistry was too simple and the complexity of the interactions was too low, then nothing would happen; the system would be “subcritical.” But if the complexity of the interactions was rich enough-and Kauffman’s mathematics now allowed him to define precisely what that meant-then the system would be “supercritical.” Autocatalysis would be inevitable. And the order really would be for free.

Competition and cooperation may seem antithetical,” he says, “but at some very deep level, they are two sides of the same coin.

Predictions are nice, if you can make them. But the essence of science lies in explanation, laying bare the fundamental mechanisms of nature.

It will require the renunciation or sublimation or transformation of our traditional appetites: to outbreed, outconsume, and conquer our rivals, especially our rivals in other tribes. These impulses may once have been adaptive. Indeed, they may even be hard-wired into our brains. But we no longer have the luxury of tolerating them. And.