Didier Sornette is a professor of geophysics at UCLA and a research director at the National Center for Scientific Research in France. He uses complexity theory to study the myriad causes and effects of catastrophic events, ranging from earthquakes to stock market crashes.
Is there a simple way to explain complexity theory? S:
It's an attempt to understand the organization of all the stuff of interest around us, from galaxies down to bacteria, by understanding the interplay between the positive and negative feedbacks of the various interacting elements. Negative feedback is often obvious—if there are too many rabbits, they eat all the grass, and the population goes down. Positive feedback is much less well appreciated and understood. For example, the more fax machines there are, the more attractive they become because you have more people sharing and extending information. Very simply speaking, positive feedback amplifies an effect, while negative feedback dampens it.
