The Complexity Paradox: The More Answers We Find, the More Questions We Have - Hardcover

Mossman, Kenneth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199330344 ISBN 13: 9780199330348

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2014

Synopsis

Living systems exhibit a fundamental contradiction: they are highly stable and reliable, yet they have the capacity to adapt to changing environmental conditions. This paradoxical behavior arises from the complexity of life--a high degree of order and cooperation that emerges from relatively simple interactions among cellular components. The Complexity Paradox proposes inventive, interdisciplinary approaches to maintaining health and managing and preventing disease by considering the totality of human biology, from the cellular level on up to entire populations of individuals. From the perspective of complexity, which acknowledges that there are limits to what we can know, Kenneth L. Mossman opens the door to understanding essential life processes in new and extraordinary ways. By tying together evolution, functional dynamics, and investigations into how the body processes energy and uses genetic information, Mossman's analysis expresses a unified theory of biology that fills a critical niche for future research in biology, medicine, and public health.

About this title

About the Author

Kenneth L. Mossman is former Professor of Health Physics in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University, and had served as an Administrative Judge for the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In 2013, he was appointed by the President of the United States to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. Dr. Mossman died suddenly in January of 2014. He was known for his research into the biological effects of low-level radiation, radiological risk assessment and risk management, and radiation protection and public policy.

Review

"Well written and fascinating, The Complexity Paradox has enough specificity to ensure confidence in the conclusions but not so much as to obfuscate the central message of complexity's importance for medicine to a nonspecialist audience. As such, it will intrigue and educate a wide range of scholars, undergraduates, and general readers on the
importance of complexity theory for the future of biology and medicine." --The Quarterly Review of Biology

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0199330344
• ISBN 13: 9780199330348
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 286