SCIENCE ORICA Teee (cuss oly a akea ast eae verte mre y from such books as The Tuo of Paes and The Turning Point, have made him one of our most eloquent spokespersons on the latest discoveries emerging at the fron- tiers of scientific, social, and philosophical thought. Wins ceUw nee oe Recor a el essen ae recent scientific breakthroughs as the theory of complexity, Gaia theory, chaos theory, and other explanations of the properties of organisms, social systems, and ecosystems. Capra’s surprising findings stand in stark contrast to accepted paradigms of mechanism and Darwinism, and provide an extraordinary new foundation for ecological policies that will allow us to build and sustain communities without diminishing the opportunities for future generations. “A sweeping vision of the scientific landscape and probably | VB SLL Aol aa ena Velat moa eresty eas VC eso iect “The acclaimed author of The Tuo of Physics puts modern biology and ecology under his revisionist scrutiny...Fascinating.” Kirkus Reviews “This book, a rare blending of the heart and the head, should be required reading...” —theodore Roszak, Director, Keopsychology Institute, California State University, Hayward, and aut UCSL Bookstores TEC 237430 014959 0385476760 D 0199 Basa fOO2 $ TRSeEE UFSC} CAPRA WEB OF LIFE:. UNThe Web of LifeAlso by Fritjof Capra The Tao of Physics The Turning Point Uncommon Wisdom Belonging to the UniverseA New Scientific Understanding of Living SystemsFritjof Capra THE WEB OF LIFE ANCHOR BOOKS DOUBLEDAY New York London Toronto Sydney Auckland© AN ANCHOR Book PUBLISHED BY DOUBLEDAY a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. 1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036 AncHor Books, Dousiebay, and the portrayal of an anchor are trademarks of Doubleday, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. The Web of Life was originally published in hardcover by Anchor Books in October 1996. The Library of Congress has cataloged the Anchor hardcover edition as follows: Capra, Fritjof. The web of life: a new scientific understanding of living systems Fritjof Capra—Ist Anchor Books ed. . cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Life (Biology) 2. Biological systems. 3. System theory. I. Title. QHS501.C375 1996 574’.01—de20 96-12576 ar IsBn 0-385-47676-0 Copyright © 1996 by Fritjof Capra All Rights Reserved Printed in the United States of America First Anchor Books Trade Paperback Edition: October 1997 1098765 4 3To the memory of my mother, Ingeborg Teuffenbach, who gave me the gift and the discipline of writing.Contents Acknowledgments _ xiii Preface xvii Part One / THE CULTURAL CONTEXT CHAPTER 1 Deep Ecology—A New Paradigm 3 Part Two / THE RISE OF SYSTEMS THINKING CHAPTER 2 From the Parts to the Whole 17 CHAPTER 3 Systems Theories 36 CHAPTER 4 — The Logic of the Mind 51 Part Turee / THE PIECES OF THE PUZZLE CHAPTER 5 Models of Self-Organization 75 CHAPTER 6 = The Mathematics of Complexity 112 Part Four / THE NATURE OF LIFE cHAPTER 7 A New Synthesis 157 CHAPTER 8 Dissipative Structures 177 CHAPTER 9 —Self-Making 194 CHAPTER 10 The Unfolding of Life 222 CHAPTER I! — Bringing Forth a World 264x CONTENTS CHAPTER 12. Knowing That We Know 286 Epilogue: Ecological Literacy 297 Appendix: Bateson Revisited 305 Notes 309 Bibliography 325 Index 335This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. . . . Whatever befalls the earth, befalls the sons and daughters of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. —Tep Perry, inspired by Chief SeattleAcknowledgments The synthesis of concepts and ideas presented in this book took over ten years to mature. During this time I was fortunate to be able to discuss most of the underlying scientific models and theo- ries with their authors and with other scientists working in those fields. I am especially grateful * to Ilya Prigogine for two inspiring conversations during the early 1980s about his theory of dissipative structures; to Francisco Varela for explaining to me the Santiago theory of autopoiesis and cognition in several hours of intensive discus- sions during a skiing retreat in Switzerland, and for numerous enlightening conversations over the past ten years about cogni- tive science and its applications; to Humberto Maturana for two stimulating conversations in the mid-1980s about cognition and consciousness; to Ralph Abraham for clarifying numerous questions regarding the new mathematics of complexity; to Lynn Margulis for an inspiring dialogue in 1987 about the Gaia hypothesis, and for encouraging me to publish my synthe- sis, which was then just emerging;xiv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS * to James Lovelock for a recent enriching discussion of a wide range of scientific ideas; * to Heinz von Foerster for several illuminating conversations about the history of cybernetics and the origins of the concept of self-organization; * to Candace Pert for many stimulating discussions of her peptide research; * to Arne Naess, George Sessions, Warwick Fox, and Harold Glasser for inspiring philosophical discussions; and to Douglas Tompkins for urging me to go deeper into deep ecology; * to Gail Fleischaker for helpful correspondence and telephone conversations about various aspects of autopoiesis; * and to Ernest Callenbach, Ed Clark, Raymond Dasmann, Leonard Duhl, Alan Miller, Stephanie Mills, and John Ryan for numerous discussions and correspondence about the principles of ecology. During the last few years, while I was working on the book, I had several valuable opportunities to present my ideas to col- leagues and students for critical discussion. I am indebted to Satish Kumar for inviting me to teach courses on “The Web of Life” at Schumacher College in England during three consecutive sum- mers, 1992-94; and to my students in these three courses for countless critical questions and helpful suggestions. I am also grateful to Stephan Harding for teaching seminars on Gaia theory during my courses and for his generous help with numerous ques- tions about biology and ecology. Research assistance by two of my Schumacher students, William Holloway and Morten Flatau, is also gratefully acknowledged. In the course of my work at the Center for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley, I have had ample opportunity to discuss the characteris- tics of systems thinking and the principles of ecology with teachers and educators, which helped me greatly in refining my presenta- tion of these concepts and ideas. I especially wish to thank Zenobia Barlow for organizing a series of ecoliteracy dialogues, during which most of these conversations took place. I also had the unique opportunity of presenting various parts ofACKNOWLEDGMENTS xv the book for critical discussions in a regular series of “systems salons,” held by Joanna Macy during 1993-95. I am most grateful to Joanna, and to my colleagues Tyrone Cashman and Brian Swimme, for in-depth discussions of numerous ideas at these inti- mate gatherings. I wish to thank my literary agent, John Brockman, for his encouragement and for helping me formulate the initial outline of the book that he presented to my publishers. I am very grateful to my brother, Bernt Capra, and to Trena Cleland, Stephan Harding, and William Holloway for reading the entire manuscript and giving me valuable advice and guidance. I also wish to thank John Todd and Raff for their comments on several chapters. My special thanks go to Julia Ponsonby for her beautiful line drawings and her patience with my repeated requests for alter- ations. I am grateful to my editor Charles Conrad at Anchor Books for his enthusiasm and helpful suggestions. Last but not least, I want to express my deep gratitude to my wife, Elizabeth, and my daughter, Juliette, for their understanding and patience during many years, when I left their company again and again to “go upstairs” for long hours of writing.Preface In 1944 the Austrian physicist Erwin Schrédinger wrote a short book entitled What Is Life? in which he advanced clear and com- pelling hypotheses about the molecular structure of genes. This book stimulated biologists to think about genetics in a novel way and in so doing opened a new frontier of science, molecular biol- ogy. During subsequent decades, this new field generated a series of triumphant discoveries, culminating in the unraveling of the ge- netic code. However, these spectacular advances did not bring biologists any closer to answering the question posed in the title of Schrédinger’s book. Nor were they able to answer the many asso- ciated questions that have puzzled scientists and philosophers for hundreds of years: How did complex structures evolve out of a random collection of molecules? What is the relationship between mind and brain? What is consciousness? Molecular biologists have discovered the fundamental building blocks of life, but this has not helped them to understand the vital integrative actions of living organisms. Twenty-five years ago one of the leading molecular biologists, Sidney Brenner, made the fol- lowing reflective comments: