In this reading, Gary William Flake invites readers on a journey through the world’s complex systems, where simplicity gives rise to complexity. Flake begins by examining the concept of reductionism which is a traditional scientific approach to understanding systems by dissecting them into their smallest components. While reductionism has been a powerful tool in science, enabling breakthroughs in fields from biology to physics, Flake argues that it falls short when grasping the behavior of complex systems. According to Flake, considering the smallest unit of complex system is not enough to understand the behavior of the entire system; for instance, one can not deduce the behavior of the ant colony by considering individual ants or the nervous system by just considering individual neurons. This is the result of what Flake calls holism where the whole system is greater than the sum of the individual parts mainly due to the complex interaction of the individual parts in the system. The complex interaction among the individual systems can be explained by three attributes namely: Parallelism, Iteration, and Adaptation. These complex interactions of individual units in complex systems among themselves and with their environment make it difficult to use a direct reductionist approach.
Later in this chapter, Flake turns to discussing the convergence of sciences due to computation. According to Flake, computers have blurred the line between experimentation and theory. This is mainly a result of the simulation of experiments on computers. Through modeling various phenomena, such as weather patterns and brain networks, researchers have discovered general laws that dictate the actions of intricate systems. Thus, Flake establishes the framework for the remainder of the book, which aims to investigate the computational foundations of some of nature’s most complex phenomena, such as adaptive systems and fractals.