Book review: Scale 書籍摘要: 規模
Scale: The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies
規模: 生物、城市、經濟和公司的增長、創新、可持續性和生命節奏的普遍規律
by Geoffrey West
This book is all about finding underlying simplicity in seemingly complex phenomena by comparing similarities between organisms, cities and companies.
這本書是關於看似複雜的現象的基本簡單性。作者比較了生物體、城市和公司之間的相似性。
Metabolism is a central theme. In any evolving system, a continual supply of energy is needed, and the by-product of using this energy is always disorder: entropy in ageing organisms; carbon emissions in cities; waste and excess in large organisations.
代謝是关键主題之一。 任何不斷演变的系統需要持續供應能源,并使用能量的副產品總是混亂,如衰老生物的熵;大型組織的浪費和過剩;城市中的碳排放量。
Complex mathematical formula show surprising parallels between phenomena in the universe. For example, in many ways, an elephant is like a scaled-up version of a mouse when you compare weight, heart rate, life span, metabolic rate, number of offspring, and so on. The bigger the animal, the slower the pace of life.
複雜的數學公式顯示了宇宙中現象之間的驚人相似之處。例如,在許多方面,當觀察它們的重量、心率、壽命、代謝率、後代數量等時,大象就像老鼠的放大版本。動物越大,生活節奏越慢。
But it is not as simple as “twice as big, twice as much”, or “half as big, half as fast”. That would be ‘linear thinking’. Instead, scaling laws— sublinear, superlinear and non-linear—have been developed by mathematicians over centuries, enabling predictions about a huge range of phenomena.
但這個規則不像”兩倍大,兩倍多”,或”一半大,一半快”那麼簡單。這將是「線性思維」。相反,數百年來數學家開發的縮放定律——亞線性、超線性和非線性——使我們能夠預測一系列現象。
Similar to scaling in biological organisms, assets, income and output increase in a predictable way in line with the number of employees in a company—not linearly, but sublinearly. Cities, on the other hand, are scaled in the opposite direction. The bigger the city, the faster the pace of life: diseases spread faster, business are born and die more often… people even walk faster, all in line with scaling laws.
與生物體類似,資產、收入和產出根據公司員工人數以可預測的方式增長。城市則朝相反的方向縮放。城市越大,生活節奏越快:疾病傳播得更快,企業生與死更頻繁……人們甚至走得更快,都符合縮放法。
Furthermore, data shows that the infrastructure of a city, including the length of roads, electrical cables, water pipes and number of petrol stations, scales sublinearly according to population size, no matter what country you are in.
此外,數據顯示,一個城市的基礎設施,包括道路長度、電纜、水管或加油站數量,根據其人口規模而增加,無論在哪個國家。
Network systems are another central theme of this book, from arteries, nerves and capillaries in animals, to veins, intracellular networks and roots in plants, to pipes, roads, drains and cables in cities.
網路系統也是一個关键主題,從動物的動脈、神經和毛細血管,到植物的靜脈、細胞內網路和根部,到城市的管道、道路、排水溝和電纜。
Emphasis is given to the fact that there is no one “in control” of these processes—they evolve spontaneously and are inextricably interconnected.
作者強調,沒有人”控制”這些過程——它們強調一個事實,即沒有人”控制”這些過程——它們是自發演變的,也是密不可分的。
Overall, this book goes a step towards illuminating the fascinating ways that the universe seems to conform to mathematical laws and principles. A heavy read, but recommended to anyone interested in maths, science and the mysteries of the universe.
總體而言,這本書揭示了宇宙符合數學規律和原則的迷人方式。我推薦給任何對數學、科學和宇宙奧秘感興趣的人。
