"From biology to economics to information theory, the theme of interdependence is in the air, framing our experiences of all sorts of everyday phenomena. Indeed, the network may be the ascendant metaphor of our time. Yet precisely because the language of interdependence has become so commonplace as to be almost banal, we miss some of its most surprising and far-reaching implications"-- Provided by publisher.

Introduction: Taking Interdependence Seriously --It Depends: Contingent Existence -- What Do Objects Depend On?: Physical Substance, Matter, and the External World -- What Does Sensing Depend On?: Transduction, Energy, and the Meeting of Worlds -- What Do Organisms Depend On?: Bodies, Selves, and Internal Worlds -- What Does Order Depend On?: Patterns, Gaps, and the Known World -- Conclusion: Life As We Know It. Introduction: Taking Interdependence Seriously -- It Depends: Contingent Existence -- What Do Objects Depend On?: Physical Substance, Matter, and the External World -- What Does Sensing Depend On?: Transduction, Energy, and the Meeting of Worlds -- What Do Organisms Depend On?: Bodies, Selves, and Internal Worlds -- What Does Order Depend On?: Patterns, Gaps, and the Known World -- Conclusion: Life As We Know It.