Learning About Life

For 300 years, the models and metaphors of Newtonian physics have dominated the world of science. Newton offered an image of the universe as a machine, a clockwork mechanism. Newton's universe is ruled by linear cause and effect--one gear turns, which makes a second gear turn, which makes a third gear turn, and so on. This cause-effect relationship is captured in Newton's F=ma formula: force gives rise to acceleration, cause gives rise to effect.