How Nature Works
Core ideas of systems sciences
Monday evenings, 6:30 - 8:30 pm 
Free overview January 18th
Sliding scale fees : $150 - $250
If you seek a more complete understanding of our world, from everyday life & health to deeper questions about nature, evolution and the cosmos, then this 9-week introductory-level lecture course is for you. Using a mixture of well-crafted lectures, discussions, imagery, suggested readings and a complete set of notes, it offers an introduction to about two dozen principles of systems sciences (complexity sciences or network theory) to explain the workings of all kinds of natural and human systems - collections of interacting parts - ranging in scale from from chemical and cellular to human physiology and health to ecosystems, economies and climate.
Born in the minds of Earth's best scientists, including Nobel laureates, systems principles are radically different from the scientific views of the previous four centuries. This course will significantly alter your understanding of nature, life, consciousness, evolution, society, Earth and even reality itself.
How Nature Works has no prerequisites; it is open to anyone with any background, from no science at all to a PhDs in science. The principles explained lay a foundation for all other Euglena Academy courses; it is a required prerequisite for advanced courses at Euglena.
Topics include:
science as a way of knowing : what it is, what it is not, & how it works chaos theory, fractal geometry & power laws : richly graphic & easy mathematics necessary to characterize all systems, natural & human cellular automata : a new, easier kind of mathematics that is strongly visual, yet more powerful & useful than algebra & calculus for understanding nature non-equilibrium thermodynamics : the science of energy, energy gradients & flows emergence theory : formalizing the concept that a whole is greater than the sum of its parts autopoiesis theory : "self making" : how living systems self organize to astounding levels of complexity with raw materials & energy gradients symbiogenesis : a new theory of evolution - including the origins of new species - that operates via symbiosis & natural selection Gaia theory (geophysiology), the science of Earth's self-regulating system that automatically maintains Earth's temperature and the chemical composition of its air and water.