How the size of networks can skyrocket The growth process of networks. Left: In the beginning, only a few elements join to form many small networks. Middle: In the intermediate phase, several mid-sized networks have been created. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPIDS), the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Gottingen, and the University of Gottingen have mathematically described for the first time the influence of single additional links in a network. Neurons in the brain constantly establish new connections, websites link to each other and a person traveling infected with influenza creates a network of infected places with each intermediate stop. To answer these questions, the scientists from Göttingen tracked the growth of networks link by link. The situation can be compared to the social contacts established in a summer camp for children, whose participants all don’t know each other at the beginning of their vacation.
Complex systems tutorial Jan Burian burianj (at) vse.cz You can find here: Basic introduction to Complex Systems Science and relevant modeling tools Many links to web resources and a list of relevant literature "Complex systems" (4IZ636), lecture on University of Economics, Prague Content Intuitive definitions of complexity Basics of (complex) systems science Self-organization and related concepts Formal definitions of complexity Very short introduction to modeling methodology Cellular automatons Complex networks Agent-based models References Intuitive Definitions of Complex Systems System is an entity in terms of parts and relations between them. Structural relations define which parts are connected together. Structurally complex system A system that can be analyzed into many components having relatively many relations among them, so that the behavior of each component can depend on the behavior of many others. Basics of (complex) systems science Remember: Interconnection of parts matters in complex systems! Feedback
COPING WITH COMPLEXITY Coping with the complexity of today’s business environment is not about predicting the future or reducing risk. It’s about building the capacity, in yourself, your people, and the organization to adapt continuously and learn speedily, in order to maximize the chances of seizing fleeting opportunities. These authors’ excellent suggestions will help today’s leaders cope with complexity. As business leaders, policy makers, the academic community, the media and an outraged public search the rubble of the global economic crisis for clues as to what went wrong, all fingers point to a common perpetrator, poor risk management. But while risk management, or lack thereof, played its part in the disintegration of the world financial system, we contend that another culprit played an even bigger role: complexity, and an inability to cope with it. Complex environments, complex organizations Complexity is one of the salient hallmarks of the 21st century. 1. 2. 3. 4.
caos La vita si evolve verso un regime di equilibrio tra l’ordine e il caos. Suggestiva l’immagine che la vita esiste ai confini del caos. Quasi come se la vita esistesse in una sorta di transizione, nello stato ordinato adiacente alla transizione di fase che porta al caos. I sistemi che si trovano nello stato ai confini del caos - un compromesso tra l’ordine e l’imprevisto- sono quelli che meglio sono in grado di coordinare attività complesse, e allo stesso tempo di evolversi. Il mondo vivente è abbellito da una sovrabbondanza di ordine. Vengono considerate reti, in particolare reti booleane, ed esaminati i cicli di stato che in esse si formerebbero. Si può regolare la connessione della rete e modificare le regole di controllo. Proprio in mezzo, tra l’ordine e il caos, vicino alla transizione di fase, possono verificarsi i comportamenti più complessi: abbastanza ordinati da assicurare una stabilità, ma pieni di flessibilità e di sorprese. Un programma per PC è un insieme di istruzioni.
[마음―몸―시공간 Mind―Body―Spacetime] "책과 통하는 블로그, 알라딘 서재!" 창발Emergence 관련 논문과 저작들 ― 마음/의식과 관련하여 (계속 수정 증보 중입니다 ― 2007. 06. 10.일요일. 16:44 현재) Emergence in Philosophy and Science: An Extended Bibliography (last updated June 10, 2007) assembled and compiled by Yoon ScinCh-nW-k (qualia) from South Korea 마음mind과 의식consciousness 연구에서 창발/창발성emergence 개념은 앞으로 핵심적 역할을 할 것이다. (창발 개념과 직간접으로 관련이 있는 것들로 수반supervenience, 실현realization, 결정determination, 환원reduction, 부분전체론mereology, 자기조직화self-organization, 복잡성complexity, 혼돈chaos, 생기론vitalism, 기계론mechanism, 하향인과downward causation, 비선형 동역학nonlinear dynamics 따위와 같은 개념을 들 수 있다. Mandelbrot Set (photo from Wikipedia.org) ■ Abbott, Russ (Sep. Received: 28 September 2005; Accepted: 20 July 2006; Published Online: 6 Oct. 2006 This paper was submitted as an invited paper resulting from the Understanding Complex Systems conference held at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, May 2005. ☞ A Draft of this paper (10/12/2005): ◇ Abel, David L. and Jack T.
An Outline for an Integral Meta-Studies, Mark Edwards Mark Edwards is an Assitant Professor at the University of Western Australia Business School and adjunct lecturer at John F. Kennedy University in California. He teaches in the areas of business ethics, organizational change and transformation and integrative metatheory. He has published in scholarly journals on a variety of topics including organizational development, organizational learning, sustainability, futures studies, cultural evolution, disability studies, metatheory development and integrative metastudies. Shortened version posted with permisson of SUNY Press. Full Essay Available at the SUNY Press Ebook Store Mark Edwards Abstract Integral metatheory does not currently employ any formal research method for developing or evaluating its frameworks, propositions and knowledge claims. Neither science nor rationality are universal measures of excellence. Introduction This article outlines an argument for scientific method in integral metatheory building. Purpose, scope and audience
FOLP Project - Keynote address Social Futures in an On-line World Barbara Lepani Lateral Solutions (Aust) Pty Ltd and The Australian Centre for Innovation, The University of Sydney We can look at the emerging future of our society through the lens of three possible scenarios: A comfortable Australia with a large secure middle class based on well paid employment in secure jobs, home ownership and high levels of education, with just a small percentage of the population able to accumulate above average wealth due to circumstances of birth or talent, and just a small percentage of the population living below the poverty line due to their inability to participate in the workforce or failure to accumulate savings to augment the pension in old age. As Mackay has noted, this post materialist generation talks a great deal about "spirituality". The third scenario is the stuff of science fiction and the poetic musings of our writers, film makers, cybernaut adventurers, and others. Other service industries followed. {*style:<b>
The complexity of communicating…complexity « Get "fit for randomness" [with Ontonix UK] Monday, 29 November, 2010 Complexity is, to many, a pretty abstract concept and that, as some would say, makes it a pretty “tough sell”. Fair point. It would take a pretty long elevator ride to get the pitch across to someone who has no idea what you are talking about…or why. Having said that I haven’t tested it out on unsuspecting elevator passengers. If you have visited this blog before (THANK YOU) you will already know that I am prone to quote Seth Godin and Nassim Taleb (NNT). I take heart from that and work hard to emulate their simplicity when it comes to communicating about complexity…are you getting a measure of the task now??? I have been working hard to “condense” the message about what we do and, broadly, how. Seth Godin frequently reminds marketers about the need to identify their market and to tailor the message. NNT refers, in Fooled by Randomness to a “…rehash of Boileau’s adage” “What is easy to conceive is clear to express/Words to say it would come effortlessly” Like this: