Hello all,
I am new to this list. I am a retired mathematician and an unretired
activist.
I'm interested in philosophy and science. To find out more check the link
http://hometown.aol.com/mikenoc
which also has a link to the paper excerpted below.

Regards,
Mike Brand
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Dialectics, Complexity and the Crisis

Much about current political life is hardly encouraging.  They can call it
the New World Order if they want to, but the collapse of the USSR, the growth of
right wing militias in the US, the transformation several years ago of
"Operation Hope" into military conflict in Somalia and the more recent carnage in
former Yugoslavia are all prominent examples of the chaotic character of the
moment.  The formerly stable is crumbling and everywhere things appear to be
getting worse.  Unemployment, violence and poverty are all increasing.  No
solution appears forthcoming from those in power or their loyal opposition.  The
abruptness of change, the radical rupture with the past, is everywhere.  Many
scientists, especially those involved in progressive political activity, are
trying to find meaning in the current chaos.  How should they understand the
crisis? The continuous, incremental perspective on development, however useful it
may be to describe gradual development, does not apply here.  Yet, this is the
perspective on how change occurs which has dominated much of social and natural
science until recently.

Meanwhile, a revolution is sweeping all areas of modern science.  Its source
is electronic.  Everywhere, the computational capability of computers is
providing access to previously unavailable quantities of information.  As a result,
patterns of development of diverse processes are becoming known.  The most
recent expression of the new discoveries is the so-called "new science" of
complexity.  It finds common patterns of motion among quite different processes
known as complex dynamic systems.
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