The acclaimed author of The Tao of Physics puts modern biology and ecology under his revisionist scrutiny. Capra's whole approach is based on the premise that earlier schools of science falsely attempted to force their subjects into mechanistic, easily quantifiable models, in opposition to the holistic awareness of today's scientific revolutionaries.
Systems thinking and fractal geometry replace traditional analytical tools and methods.
In biological terms, this means abandoning the traditional emphasis on the cell as a fundamental building block of life. Instead, the modern cell emerges as a symbiotic partnership between a number of formerly independent entities, now playing the roles of nucleus, mitochondria, ribosomes, chloroplasts, and so forth. Indeed, the emphasis on cooperation is a keynote of Capra's vision. The Gaia hypothesis, in which Earth itself is seen as a single self-regulating biological entity, plays a large role in his vision. But Capra pushes his thesis too eagerly and with too little attention to mundane details.