Complex Systems

This space introduces visitors to the ideas of Fractals, Chaos, Complexity and Computation.  We study the examples of objects, such as trees, river networks, coastlines, weather, earthquakes, the human body, the stock market, evolution, and others that display examples of fractal geometry. 

We explore many of the fascinating ideas popularized by B. Mandelbrot and others about self-similarity across different geometric scales.   We engage with processes of "self-organization" that arise in systems with feedback, and the ways in which those processes lead to the emergence of coherent space-time structures for systems with no natural length or time scales.  We want to understand the idea of Cellular Automata and their relationship to computation.  We see how chaos and order are inextricably linked with a kind of strange duality.  As a result, we explore the profound philosophical implications of these ideas, including their effects on modern art and architecture, and especially on the definition of life itself.

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