Dear Grant,

There is a scientific concept called "emergence," which describes how
complexity can arise from simplicity. You can learn more about it at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergence

Succinctly, the idea is that a system which consists of simple ingredients
can give rise to new qualities which appear much more complicated than
the qualities of the original ingredients. The wiki link provides many colorful
examples (no pun intended!), so I encourage you to explore.

Best,

HF