This course is divided into three broad themes:
Theme 1: The Great Chain of Being
Physics has assembled a comprehensive picture of how the universe works, starting from the Big Bang, extending to the tiniest scales of the atom, to the processes of living things, the solar system, the Earth, and onward to the largest scales in the universe. How does it all fit together? The modern picture is a sort of updated version of the mediaeval Great Chain of Being. Humans are suspended between the tiny, fast and weird world of particle physics and the unimaginably slow, stupendously large cosmos. In this part of the course we will explore this picture, hitting some of the highlights. Some possible topics include:
• The weird world of the very small: subatomic particles.
• Atoms, molecules and Life.
• The Big Bang and the origin of the elements.
• Stars, galaxies and planetary systems.
• Dynamics in the ecosystem, the evolution of the bio/geo/cryo spheres.
• Energy and entropy
• Chance and contingency in physics
Theme 2: Complex behaviour emerges from simple rules
The basic rules of physics seem to imply that everything should be boring. Why aren’t they? In this section, we look at how apparently simple systems can miraculously produce complex, unpredictable results which are nevertheless highly organized in some senses. Such unexpected order is said to be “emergent”. We will discuss the implications of this (relatively recent) observation for the reductionistic program of physics. What does it mean to explain an emergent phenomenon scientifically? Some possible topics include:
• Chaos, fractals and hidden order.
• Life and other cellular automata games.
• Nonlinear dynamics and instabilities.
• Spontaneous symmetry breaking and emergent patterns.
• Is mere computation explanation?
• Flocking, swarming and spontaneous synchronization.
Theme 3: Self-organization everywhere
In this section, we look beyond the usual physical systems and think about the implications of the previous sections for the interpretation of human experience. Social and economic systems also display emergence and self-organization. Can we understand anything about them from thinking about physics? Some possible topics:
• Memes and genes.
• Human and insect cities.
• Networks, small-world and otherwise.
• The economy as a self-organizing complex system.
• The world wide web as a self-organizing complex system.
• The future of the human species on Earth, and beyond Earth.
• The limits of physics.