Emergence

<p><b>Steven Johnson's <i>Emergence</i>:<i> The Connected Lives of Ants Brains Cities and Software</i> is a fascinating look at how self-organising systems are changing the world.</b><br><br> Why do people cluster together in neighborhoods? How do internet communities spring up from nowhere? Why is a brain conscious even though no single neuron is? What causes a media frenzy?<br><br>The answer as Steven Johnson's groundbreaking book shows is emergence: change that occurs from the bottom up. When enough individual elements interact and organize themselves the result is collective intelligence - even though no-one is in charge. It is a phenomenon that exists at every level of experience and will revolutionize the way we see the world.<br><br> 'Exhilarating' J.G. Ballard<br><br> 'A dizzying dazzling romp through fields as disparate as urban planning computer-game design neurology and control theory'<i> Economist</i><br><br> 'Mind-expanding ... intelligent witty and tremendously thought-provoking ... Popular science books interesting enough to read twice don't come along all that often'<i> Guardian</i><br><br> 'Not just a fascinating quirk of science: it's the future'<i> The New York Times</i></p>