Review: Sync, by Steven Strogatz

These circumstances, though, are not rare, and more, they are all important to our way of life, including the way our heart's pacemaker works, the manner in which networks develop, the way disease spreads, the way lasers work, and even the way our electrical grid is hooked together.

On the face of it, spontaneous order, or "Sync" as Professor Strogatz has dubbed it, is an almost counter-intuitive idea. It is the notion that all the linked entities within a medium can suddenly take on the same characteristics. One of the earliest forms noticed in nature was the tendency of crickets to chirp in unison. The science of "Sync" helps to explain this phenomenon, and it has led to an understanding of advanced scientific breakthrougths such as superconductors. (Superconductors will transfer electricity without friction or power loss because of the inherent order of its structure.)

Steven Strogatz gives us a history of the science of Sync. Interestingly enough, Mr. Strogatz has played a part in that history himself, so he is well-qualified to write on the subject.

"Sync" will give the reader new respect for science and mathematics. As Professor Strogatz points out in his book, spontaneous order arising in huge systems is not really that foreign an idea within the context of human experience. Adam Smith illustrated how economic order arose from the independent interests of its components. It was once thought that such order had to be imposed on a system. The order of the heavens, for example, was used as an argument for the existence of God.

Yet the "Science of Sync" shows how this order appears even in inanimate objects on a microscopic and even sub-atomic level.

When I picked up this book, I thought it might subvert the idea of entropy, (which includes the notion that when you create order, more chaos results somewhere else). Yet the science of Sync does not necessarily do this; to make sync happen seems to require some outside force, energy source or stimulus. Thus, the "Science of Sync" is not meant to contradict some of the famous movements that have arisen over the last few decades (chaos theory, complexity theory, cybernetics, et al). It is a complementary science that provides unity in the fields of medicine, physics, biology, sociology and more.

"Sync" will start ideas rolling around in your head. It got me wondering about the conflict of ideas in a culture. I find it interesting that the battle between Marxism and Capitalism that has played out over the last 150 years is one between a system of spontaneous order and a system that (in spite of the theory involved) could only be imposed by a "dictatorship of the proletariat". The system in "Sync" now has the upper hand (perhaps because, ultimately, capitalism is more in sync with human behavior).

The value of Professor Strogatz's book is manifold. It not only popularizes a new and promising science, it makes our world intelligible. It is written for the general reader. The concepts presented are not always easy to get your mind around, but Professor Strogatz does a great job creating understandable analogies and down to earth explanations. This is an enjoyable read and ultimately will influence the way we, as a society, view the universe.

This book is available at Amazon.com.