Dimensions
146 x 223 x 28mm
Order arrives from the bottom up; not top down. Such systems display emergent behaviour: the movement from low-level rules to higher-level sophistication.
Johnson unearths a secret history of decentralised thinking, looking at those like Adam Smith, Friedrich Engels and Alan Turin who contributed to the study of self-organisation long before this became a recognised science. But most of all Johnson pursues emergence in the present, investigating the software that will soon allow artificial emergence to transform our media, bringing sweeping changes in its wake.
This compelling and revelatory book is rich with insights into that future. It allows us to witness the exhilarating arrival and sudden ascendency of a potent new idea.