Bookeditors, Lars H. Wegner and Ulrich Lüttge.
Summary: This book focuses on modules and emergence with self-organization in the life sciences. As Aristotle observed so long ago, the whole is more than the sum of its parts. However, contemporary science is dominated by reductionist concepts and tends to neglect the non-reproducible features of complex systems, which emerge from the interaction of the smaller units they are composed of. The book is divided into three major parts; the essays in part A highlight the conceptual basis of emergence, linking it to the philosophy of science, systems biology and sustainability. This is subsequently exemplified in part B by applying the concept of emergence to various biological disciplines, such as genetics, developmental biology, neurobiology, plant physiology and ecology. New aspects of emergence come into play when biology meets the technical sciences, as revealed in a chapter on bionics. In turn, part C adopts a broader view, revealing how the organization of life follows a hierarchical order in terms of scalar dimensions, ranging from the molecular level to the entire biosphere. The idea that life is primarily and exclusively shaped by processes at the molecular level (and, in particular, by the information encoded in the genome) is refuted; rather, there is no hierarchy with respect to the level of causation in the cross-talk between the levels. In the last two chapters, the evolutionary trend toward ever-increasing complexity in living systems is interpreted in terms of the Gaia hypothesis sensu Lovelock: the entire biosphere is viewed as a functional unit (or 'holobiont-like system') organized to develop and sustain life on Earth.
Contents:
Intro; Preface; References; Acknowledgements; Contents; The Basics; Is There Anything New Under the Sun?; Introduction; Instabilities as the Ontological Core of Emergence: Novelty, Processuality, Internality; Nothing New Under the Sun and the Disregard of Instability; Acknowledging Instabilities; Novelty, Processuality, and Internality; Types of Instabilities; Watersheds-and the Static Instability; Chaos-and the Dynamical Instability; Criticalities and Bifurcations-the Structural Instability; Limits of Physical Sciences?-Methodological and Epistemological Issues Biomimetic Façade Shading SystemsBio-inspired Sustainability (Assessment); Discussion and Perspectives; References; Roots of Complexity in the Self-referential Genetic Code; References; Brains Emerging: On Modularity and Self-organisation of Neural Development In Vivo and In Vitro; Introduction: Biologic Determinism Revisited; Modules Governing Normal Development; Cells Forming Spheres; From Hollow Spheres to Planar Tissues; The Epithelium, the Most Basic Tissue; Brain and Eyes Emerging from the Body Surface Epithelium; Neural Tube Evagination, Invagination and Widening to Form an Eye From Modules to Emergent Holistic Properties in Living OrganismsModularity Versus Emergence: How to Cope with Complexity in Whole-Plant Physiology?; Introduction; Modularity and Emergence: General Remarks; Modularity and Emergence in Plant Biology; Synthesis; Redundancy; Implications for Future Basic and Applied Research in the Plant Sciences; References; Emergence in Biomimetic Materials Systems; Introduction; Biomimetic Materials Systems; Emergence in Biomimetic Materials Systems; Selected Examples for Emergence in Biomimetics; Biomimetic Composite Materials; Biomimetic Micro-laminates Limits with Respect to Reproducibility and ExperimentationObstacles to Predictability and Calculability; Boundaries of Testability and Confirmability; Limitations of Describability and Reductive Explainability; Critique of Standard Concepts of the Philosophy of Science; Science in an Unstable World; History of Science: Perceiving Instability, Imposing Stability; The Qualitative: Complexity Characteristics at the Center of Testability; Towards a Novel Kind of Calculability and Testability; Modeling Turn; Decisions ex ante and Underlying Knowledge Interests; Summary; References Modular Organization and Emergence in Systems BiologyReferences; The Emergence of Sustainability; Introduction; Emergence: Three Sustainability Facets in Response to the Planetary Crisis; Sustainability as Policy; Sustainability as Moral Value; Sustainability as Science; Submergence: System Dismantling; Crisis of Conservation Science; Crisis of Environmentalism and of Development; Convergence: Consolidating Sustainability and Moving to the Next Level; Sustainability as Utopia; Gaia: The Next Level?; Concluding Remarks: The Ticking Clock; References