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A review by uhambe_nami
Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order by Steven Strogatz
5.0
The spectacle of synchrony in nature is one of those mysteries that strike a chord in us. Fireflies blinking on and off in unison. Schools of fish moving gracefully as if they were only one. Pacemaker cells in a heart working all together to make that heart beat. Menstrual cycles of female roommates and co-workers starting to match each other over time (yes, it's true!) And then there's the synchronization between things that aren't even alive: photons that align to form a laser beam; electrons marching in step in a superconductor; the moon turning on its axis at precisely the same rate as it circles the earth; and pendulum clocks that hang next to each other adjusting their periodic swaying, as Christiaan Huygens observed, "in a kind of sympathy".
Mindless, lifeless things can sync spontaneously, says Steven Strogatz, because the capacity for sync does not depend on intelligence, or life, or natural selection. It springs from the deepest source of all: the laws of mathematics and physics. Using math, Strogatz shows why synchrony is likely to happen in nature, and why in some cases it is inevitable. This is wonderful, fascinating stuff, and perhaps the best part of all is that there is still so much more to discover. We can't explain it all, admits Strogatz in the end: maybe we instinctively realize that if we ever find the source of spontaneous order, we will have discovered the secret of the universe.
Yes, maybe.
Mindless, lifeless things can sync spontaneously, says Steven Strogatz, because the capacity for sync does not depend on intelligence, or life, or natural selection. It springs from the deepest source of all: the laws of mathematics and physics. Using math, Strogatz shows why synchrony is likely to happen in nature, and why in some cases it is inevitable. This is wonderful, fascinating stuff, and perhaps the best part of all is that there is still so much more to discover. We can't explain it all, admits Strogatz in the end: maybe we instinctively realize that if we ever find the source of spontaneous order, we will have discovered the secret of the universe.
Yes, maybe.