Scale: The Universal Laws of Life and Death in Organisms, Cities and Companies
West, Geoffrey
Primary Category:
Literature /
Nonfiction
Genre: Treatise
-
Annotated by:
- Trachtman, Howard
- Date of entry: Jan-22-2019
- Last revised: Jan-22-2019
Summary
Geoffrey
West sounds like the perfect dinner guest. He has lived a fascinating life and
his professional persona has evolved over time from theoretical physicist to
global scientist. He is a distinguished professor at the Santa Fe Institute and
is one of those rare people who knows something interesting and worthwhile about
just about everything.
In Scale, West examines networks that provide the basis for complex systems: biological systems like the human circulatory system, coastal ecosystems, and man-made systems like urban communities and global corporations. He identifies three defining features shared by each. First, the networks serve the entire system and fill the entire space that is available. Second the terminal units in the networks share common design features and are essentially the same, whether they are the capillaries that provide nutrients and oxygen to peripheral tissues or the electrical outlets that enable access to the grid for home appliances.First, the networks serve the entire system and fill the entire space that is available. Second the terminal units in the networks share common design features and are essentially the same, whether they are the capillaries that provide nutrients and oxygen to peripheral tissues or the electrical outlets that enable access to the grid for home appliances. Finally, there is a natural selection process at work that is constantly optimizing the network function. West emphasizes that these defining features of complex systems are present in biological systems like the human circulatory system, coastal ecosystems, and man-made systems like urban communities and global corporations.
These common features enable West to identify fairly simple mathematical formulas that predict the relationship between changes in size and efficiency of complex systems. In general, in biological systems size and energy consumption are scaled sublinearly, i.e., metabolic rate does not increase to the same extent as size. The limits to growth occur because of the increased demands for maintenance of the system. What makes Scale an innovative work is West’s effort to apply the scaling laws derived from observations in nature to man-made complex systems such as cities and companies. He identifies two distinct components in these human systems, the materials that constitute the infrastructure and the creative work that is produced. West then demonstrates that while the physical demands of these complex human systems, such as roads, electricity, and water supply, which mirror the metabolic requirements of biological systems, increase sublinearly, the productive output like wages, theaters, and patent activity, which have no parallel in non-human biological systems, increase supralinearly. Moreover, this inventive works requires a proportionately increasing input of resources as size increases. West tries to draw lessons about the rational limits to growth by extrapolating from the scaling laws that underlie biological complex systems to the two components of the artificial systems created by mankind. West cautions against blind reliance on “big data” alone to solve the pressing social problems confronting mankind. Instead, he advocates for delineation of underlying mathematical principles to guide the analysis of the growth of cities and companies and rational future planning.
In Scale, West examines networks that provide the basis for complex systems: biological systems like the human circulatory system, coastal ecosystems, and man-made systems like urban communities and global corporations. He identifies three defining features shared by each. First, the networks serve the entire system and fill the entire space that is available. Second the terminal units in the networks share common design features and are essentially the same, whether they are the capillaries that provide nutrients and oxygen to peripheral tissues or the electrical outlets that enable access to the grid for home appliances.First, the networks serve the entire system and fill the entire space that is available. Second the terminal units in the networks share common design features and are essentially the same, whether they are the capillaries that provide nutrients and oxygen to peripheral tissues or the electrical outlets that enable access to the grid for home appliances. Finally, there is a natural selection process at work that is constantly optimizing the network function. West emphasizes that these defining features of complex systems are present in biological systems like the human circulatory system, coastal ecosystems, and man-made systems like urban communities and global corporations.
These common features enable West to identify fairly simple mathematical formulas that predict the relationship between changes in size and efficiency of complex systems. In general, in biological systems size and energy consumption are scaled sublinearly, i.e., metabolic rate does not increase to the same extent as size. The limits to growth occur because of the increased demands for maintenance of the system. What makes Scale an innovative work is West’s effort to apply the scaling laws derived from observations in nature to man-made complex systems such as cities and companies. He identifies two distinct components in these human systems, the materials that constitute the infrastructure and the creative work that is produced. West then demonstrates that while the physical demands of these complex human systems, such as roads, electricity, and water supply, which mirror the metabolic requirements of biological systems, increase sublinearly, the productive output like wages, theaters, and patent activity, which have no parallel in non-human biological systems, increase supralinearly. Moreover, this inventive works requires a proportionately increasing input of resources as size increases. West tries to draw lessons about the rational limits to growth by extrapolating from the scaling laws that underlie biological complex systems to the two components of the artificial systems created by mankind. West cautions against blind reliance on “big data” alone to solve the pressing social problems confronting mankind. Instead, he advocates for delineation of underlying mathematical principles to guide the analysis of the growth of cities and companies and rational future planning.
Publisher
Penguin Press
Edition
First Edition edition (May 16, 2017)
Page Count
496
Commentary
My major concern is the potential hazard of providing the Single Answer to Everything. Humans seem very susceptible to totalizing visions, attempts to account for the complexity of life, both biological and artificial, with one solution. There are philosophers like Isaiah Berlin who have cautioned against this intellectual trap. Berlin argues for modesty and recognition of the incommensurability of human needs and goals in the design of ethical and sociopolitical systems. As I read Scale, I had a vague sense of unease that West’s findings could lead someone to think that after plugging in a full set of variables and applying the allometric relationships that West identifies, one would be able to design the perfect city or company. However, I think the thoughtful CEO or city planner needs to tack between two areas of uncertainty that I suspect will always need to be accounted for. Looking outward, the interrelationships between the components in the natural world will always be a bit more complex than any programmer can capture, no matter how big the data set used to model the complex system. Looking inward, I hope that people will maintain within themselves an infinite capacity to interact and adapt to one another and the surrounding environment in unpredictable and innovative ways.
The likely consequence of these two uncertainties is that there will always be an element of surprise in the analysis and design of complex systems. Success will come to those who recognize these limitations and still forge ahead, albeit with a healthy dose of humility. I think Geoffrey West recognizes this and I hope he can lead the effort.