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| | Amazon.com: Ubiquity : The Science of History . . . or Why the World Is Simpler Than We Think: Books (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-02) |
 | | Let's begin with a counter-thesis, namely that the "ubiquity" found in simplistic computer models ("games") which are then related to real world systems such as earthquakes, sandpiles, the stock market, political and social history, etc., may be an artificiality and a whole lot less significant than Buchanan supposes. |
 | | In the book Ubiquity by Mark Buchanan, processes as diverse as forest fire size, stacking rice grains, market fluctuation, scientific paper citations, species extinction history, epidemiology, sizes of wars and earthquake severity are said to generate occasional catastrophic behavior following similar statistical behavior. |
 | | So, the thesis of 'Ubiquity' does provide an alternative - that sometimes the effect of even a small change will cause monumental alterations to the world according to the ubiquitous power law. |
| www.amazon.com /exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/060960810X?v=glance (3948 words) |
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