Kevin Kelly, Out of Control , Addison-Wesley, New York, 1994. The dethronement of learning is one of the most exciting intellectual frontiers we are now crossing. The great secret which life has kept from us is that once born, life is immortal. Kelly, p. 84, 103.
Science is defrocked and reconstructed.
Simultaneously, that magnificent edifice, the university, like the wizard in the Emerald City, exposed by the notorious Toto, lies open through the innocent act of discovery. The human species, like the spinning skater who has lost the fixed point used for balance and stability, is out of control. Rather than seeking another fixed point, a model of reality must be quickly erected which allows for a dynamic and moving mark which provides stability through change. Complex dynamics, arising from the mathematics of Poincare, has evolved coextensively with the larger postmodern paradigm. Massaged by the systems theorists of the early 20th century, the idea did not really come into practice until the advent of cheap, massive computing power as manifested by the personal computer and the realization of low cost parallel and distributed processing.