In a complex world where plants and animals and everything else are duking it out to survive, an organism stands to gain from becoming more complex.

RESEARCH on the origins, development, and dynamics of complexity in biological systems has been a core topic of inquiry at the Santa Fe Institute since its founding 30 years ago in 1984. SFI’s scientists have worked to develop an understanding of a dizzying array of biological phenomena, from the origins of life, to transitions from single- to multi-cellularity, to evolutionary innovation at different levels of biological organization, to the relationship between ecological complexity and dynamical stability.

THE CLASSICAL UNIVERSE is made up brick by brick, starting in the void and culminating with the earth: from the emptiness of night that gave rise to day, to the day that produces the outward order of the heavens, and finally to life upon the ground. The Theogony is a story describing the origins of energy and matter and information in the form of life. The Theogony exemplifies humanity’s great surprise that the universe should have emerged from chaos, that emptiness has not reigned eternal, and that the earth should be hospitable and supportive of multiform sentience.