p.83 Kepler had discovered that the planets move in elliptical orbits, but he had seen this as a violation
of Pythagorean symmetry. Newton showed that what counted was not the shape of the motion but the underlying dynamic. The orbit
might be an ellipse, but the law is simple and square.
p.93 Positive and negative feedbacks are ubiquitous not just in engineering, but also in atmospheric, biological,
and economic systems, which is one of the reasons predicting them is difficult.
p.94 Variation among individuals and survival of the fittest created a trial-and-error selection mechanism,
which meant that species' traits did not remain static but were in a constant state of dynamic flux and self-improvement.
p.170 The danger of global warming, for example, was first identified by the Swedish physical chemist Svante
Arrhenius over a hundred years ago.
p.213 The sense of dynamic balance also gives an understanding of why individual genes, or even groups of
genes, are only partially useful for predicting an organism's traits. What counts is the behaviour of the whole organism.
If any one part is out of balance, the the organism may either adjust itself internally or modify its behaviour to compensate.
p.226 The desire to maximize utility is a kind of force that drives the economy.
p.227-228 First, the value of an asset depends on its prospects for future growth... An
asset's valuation must also take into account its risk, which is related to its tendency to fluctuate... Value is
therefore not a solid, intrinsic property, but is a fluid quality that changes with circumstances.
p.310 Even if models do not have predictive accuracy, they are still useful tools for understanding the
present, envisaging future scenarios and educating policy makers and the public.
p.318 Human beings excel at two types of prediction... One is based on empathy - working
out what someone else is feeling, putting ourselves in the shoes of another - and the second on cause and effect.
The former works best for living beings, the latter for objects.
p.324 Einstein's theory of relativity was accepted not because a committee agreed that it was a very sensible
model, but because its predictions, most of which were highly counterintuitive, could be experimentally verified.
p.335 Lack of predictability is a deep property of life. Any organism that is too predictable in its behaviour
will die. And in an unpredictable environment, the ability to act creatively, while maintaining a kind of dynamical internal
order, is a prerequisite.
p.349 Mathematical models will always be indispensable. Like language, they are a way to understand the
world, and organize and communicate our thoughts. They help us perform hypothetical experiments, explore possible scenarios,
and expose fragilities. Most of all, they help us comprehend what is happening now.
