  Understanding the dynamical behavior of many-particle systems both in and out
of equilibrium is a central issue in both statistical mechanics and complex
systems theory. One question involves "nature versus nurture": given a system
with a random initial state evolving through a well-defined stochastic
dynamics, how much of the information contained in the state at future times
depends on the initial condition ("nature") and how much on the dynamical
realization ("nurture")? We discuss this question and present both old and new
results for low-dimensional Ising spin systems.

Statistical Mechanics