The 17th century heralded the reductionism methodology of modern science. In this, the resolution of a problem starts with defining the problem domain, followed by a series of steps for reducing the problem into a logically feasible set of subproblems. The scientist arrives at a satisfactory solution to the overall problem by partially resolving each subproblem, one after another.

This approach yielded rich rewards until the 1970s, when several scientific problems were stored away under the label “solved.” Until then, almost all of the problems encountered in the scientific and socioeconomic world belonged to the closed system type. Such problems were easily solvable by the application of reductionism methodology. In 1972, scientists were shocked with the Club of Rome’s report on the predicament of mankind [1]. The world realized that “the underground energy and resources were finite and the self-renewal ability of the Earth was limited.” Such energy and resources closely intertwine climate, population, food, biodiversity, and safety assurance. The scientists came to the stark realization that solutions to problems within a region of the globe are not the same as those applicable to problems that occur globally. The 20th century methodology, successful with closed system problems, will not suit the problems of the 21st century, because the problems of the new century involve multiple intertwined causes. During this century, diseases such as cancer, metabolic disorders, and immunodeficiency will continue to demand solutions, and solutions to these and several other problems involve integrated systems with multiple dimensions.

This collection of papers is edited by Mario Tokoro, President of the Sony Computer Science Laboratories (Sony CSL) and a prominent computer scientist in his own right. The book is organized into nine chapters, each by an expert in the area of concern. This review details chapters 1 to 5; chapters 6 to 9 include: “The Future of Content Is in Ourselves,” “Towards the Cybernetic Earth,” “Observation and Control of Global Social Information,” and “Computational Information Geometry.”

In chapter 1, Tokoro starts with a brief introduction to the concepts of open systems and their problems. He points out that every real (alive) system in the world has some interaction with its outer world; therefore, they are all open systems. Today, most of the problems of closed systems have been solved. The remaining problems will yield solutions only through open system approaches. Such problems pertain to the global environment, sustainable societies, health and life care, ecosystem conservation, economic and societal stability, and the safety of complex and gigantic man-made systems. The main characteristic of open systems is that they consist of subsystems configured in complex ways. Because of this complex configuration and deployment, these subsystems and their interrelationships are difficult to understand and solve using the reductionist approach. Another characteristic of open systems is that problems must be solved while the subsystems are alive and operational--in other words, while the boundary conditions and functions keep changing. In the case of man-made systems, changes occur to the definitions and specifications, but the system parameters have to be analyzed and solved without halting the operation of the system. Open systems require dynamic modeling, massive numerical simulations, and solutions of time-dependent system parameters. When analysis and dynamic modeling fail to yield solutions in the form of equations, scientists have to resort to a multi-agent system approach. The enormous complexity of open systems calls for the collaboration of a number of experts who are well versed in real-time complex solutions.

Chapter 2, by Hiroaki Kitano, is about biological robustness. In the past, Kitano investigated the evolution of species and the adaptive ability of individuals. Since then, he has moved on to studying systems’ abilities to maintain their functions in the midst of internal and external perturbation. He proposes a new medical treatment for the robustness of cancer cells. In chapter 3, Kazuhiro Sakurada explains epigenetics as the functional changes of genes to be conveyed without making any changes to DNA sequences. He considers that life could be better understood by combining genetically deterministic phenomena and individual creatures’ epigenetical phenomena together, and he proposes a new approach of system biology to unify them. Ken Mogi’s experiments on brain science are presented in chapter 4.

Next, Luc Steels contributes a particularly interesting chapter on evolutionary linguistics and the study of language and meaning. The study involves physical robots that integrate vision and more complex grammatical language. In this work, language is seen as an open system that speakers and listeners can adapt to their communication needs.

This very timely book comes out as a milestone in the field. The work presented in this book is sure to be cited in the years to come.