Out of Control

by Kevin Kelly

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Out of Control is a summary of what we know about self-sustaining systems, both living ones such as a tropical wetland, or an artificial one, such as a computer simulation of our planet. The last chapter of the book, "The Nine Laws of God," is a distillation of the nine common principles that all life-like systems share. The major themes of the book are:OdOut of Control is a summary of what we know about self-sustaining systems, both living ones such as a tropical wetland, or an artificial one, such as a computer simulation of our planet. The last chapter of the book, "The Nine Laws of God," is a distillation of the nine common principles that all life-like systems share. The major themes of the book are:

  • As we make our machines and institutions more complex, we have to make them more biological in order to manage them.
  • The most potent force in technology will be artificial evolution. We are already evolving software and drugs instead of engineering them.
  • Organic life is the ultimate technology, and all technology will improve towards biology.
  • The main thing computers are good for is creating little worlds so that we can try out the Great Questions. Online communities let us ask the question "what is a democracy; what do you need for it?" by trying to wire a democracy up, and re-wire it if it doesn't work. Virtual reality lets us ask "what is reality?" by trying to synthesize it. And computers give us room to ask "what is life?" by providing a universe in which to create computer viruses and artificial creatures of increasing complexity. Philosophers sitting in academies used to ask the Great Questions; now they are asked by experimentalists creating worlds.
  • As we shape technology, it shapes us. We are connecting everything to everything, and so our entire culture is migrating to a "network culture" and a new network economics.
  • In order to harvest the power of organic machines, we have to instill in them guidelines and self-governance, and relinquish some of our total control.
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Kevin Kelly's wonderfully perceptive new book shatters more paradigms per page than any other text in this decade. OUT OF CONTROL makes me feel good to be alive.
-- Bruce Sterling
"Out-of-control" is the breakthrough concept of contemporary science and technology. It links the best of cutting-edge biology, computer science, economics, organizational theory, art, and much more. No longer just the best journalist on the subject, Kevin Kelly with this book is actively shaping the intellectual implosion.
-- Stewart Brand
Out-of-control is in! Extremely cool McNuggets of information on every page.
-- Doug Coupland,
author of Generation X
Kevin Kelly's OUT OF CONTROL is a sweeping and imaginative tour de
force, exploring the frontiers of science and technology. If you are having trouble with the complexity of things, get OUT OF CONTROL, and into some of the most creative current thinking in America: fractal and far out, chaotic and post-Darwinian, and reaching for the Divine.
-- George Gilder
"This lively and fascinating read is the classic, millenial paradigm-buster. After reading Out of Control, you'll never again think in the same way about how your world is organized. In fact, you'll feel slightly superior to, and impatient with, all those people who are still stuck in old-fashioned, 20th-century modes of thought."
--Joel Garreau,
author of Edge City: Life on the New Frontier, and The Nine Nations of North America, and reporter for theWashington Post.
"Out of Control" is a real thriller, full of astonishing and bold
connections, and more gripping than almost any sci-fi book I've ever
read. What I like is the way the book jumps between specifics and far-reaching
generalities - from how modern computer animation works, for example, to
how complex organisms evolve self-regulation. I find it difficult to contain my
enthusiasm in just a few lines for a work so rich and complex.
-- Brian Eno