Physicists are fond of saying that the simplest laws with the most explanatory power are the most elegant or beautiful. Sometimes laws are deduced from mathematics, as if we could divine Nature's secret patterns. They are discovered from repeated observation and often allow for a concise mathematical expression. The laws of Nature, from the simplest to the most complex, are attempts to summarize this widespread display of order. The display of order in Nature allowed for a methodic counting and organizing as a means to gain some level of control over what was otherwise distant and unapproachable, the marching patterns of a world moving in ways beyond human reach. Nature, on the other hand, shows ordered patterns at all scales: trees branch, and so do rivers, bodies, and arteries tides and planetary orbits are periodic, day follows night, the seasons alternate, the moon has phases. The laws of man are guarantors of order, a necessary control against the inherent greediness of our species. Without our laws, society would quickly descend into chaos.
So much so that we need laws to keep order, to make sure we stay on track. The Sundarbans, a mangrove forest at the edge of the Bay of Bengal, stretch across parts of southwestern Bangladesh and southeastern India.
