Control Information

Control Information: "Control information has a number of distinctive properties. First and foremost, it does not have any independent existence. It is not a concrete thing, or a mechanism. It is defined (and specified) by the relationship between a particular cybernetic system (a user) and his/her/its environment(s) – external and internal. In this paradigm, the environment contains latent or potential control information (which we designate “Ip”), but this potential does not differ in any way from the physical properties of the environment. This is a crucial point; there are no discrete embedded properties out there. Moreover, this potential is only actualized when a purposeful (cybernetic) system makes use of it. In other words, the very existence and functional effects produced by control information are always context-dependent and user-specific. A few examples may help to clarify this seemingly paradoxical, even counter-intuitive notion:"

Complexity thinking

Complexity thinking: "The innovative breakthrough of Complexity and Chaos theory has illuminated a new way of thinking - complexity thinking, with much greater capacity for understanding complex phenomena and processes than systems thinking.

With complexity thinking, seemingly chaotic unfolding of life in nature and society is seen as a manifestation of creativity inherent in the all-embracing wholeness of existence. The way creativity 'speaks' is through the spontaneity of emergence, through the power of self-organization and evolution. Every single embryo, nay, every single germ emerges out of complex dynamic interaction of substances, forces and energies of different nature and with different degrees of interwovenness and intensity. Once emerged, the germ evolves in a unique rhythm that reflects the rhythm of the whole universe."

Systems Thinking - An Operational Perspective of the Universe

Systems Thinking - An Operational Perspective of the Universe: "Systems Thinking
An Operational Perspective of the Universe

Yes, I admit the title may be a bit presumptuous on my part. I do have to start somewhere though, don't I? I suppose the difficulty I have been having with this article is somewhat based on the intimidation factor presented by the great minds that have evolved our understanding to this point. Great minds such as Descartes, Newton, Bertalanffy, Wiener, Bateson, and Forrester. And, should I be so presumptuous as to believe I can add to what they have wrought? So, with humility I continue."

theWay

theWay: "theWay of Systems

theWay is an effectiveness enhancement facility. theWay does not purport to provide answers. theWay provides access to fundamental principles, with supporting information, to develop understanding to support the development of strategies to address situations. Not just any strategies, but strategies which have a very high probability of working when applied. To employ theWay an understanding of Systems and Systems Thinking is essential, as well as how we formulate questions influences the answers we develop."

Archetypes - Interaction Structures of the Universe

Archetypes - Interaction Structures of the Universe: "Accidental Adversaries

The Accidental Adversaries structure is a composed of three reinforcing loops and two balancing loops. Overall system growth is driven by a global reinforcing loop. Two local reinforcing loops create balancing loops which then limit the growth of the overall system. This is by far not one of the easiest archetypes to understand.

The loop consisting of A's Activity toward B, B's Success, B's Activity toward A, and A's Success represents a cooperative reinforcing loop between A and B. At the same time that A and B are taking actions to enhance each others success they are taking actions to promote their own success. This activity is represented by two inner reinforcing structures represented by A's Activity toward A influencing A's Success which in turn influences A's Activity toward A, and B's Activity toward B influencing B's Success which in turn influences B's Activity toward B."

A Taste of Systemics

A Taste of Systemics: "Over the last four or five decades, we have been faced with increasingly more complex and pressing problem-situations, embedded in interconnected systems operating in dynamically changing environments. In addressing these problem situations and working with their relevant systems, we have learned to recognize the limitations of the perspectives, methods and tools of the traditional scientific orientation."

30 Years of Computational Autopoiesis: A Review

30 Years of Computational Autopoiesis: A Review: "The idea of autopoiesis, and especially its computational realisation, has proved very fruitful in its development and elaboration over the last thirty years. As we have seen, it represents a core thread in the history of what we now call Artificial Life, linking back directly to von Neumann's founding work in evolutionary automata.

We now have a comparatively clear formulation of several key open problems. One very general challenge is to articulate the relationship between the ``fine-grained'' and ``coarse-grained'' models of computational autopoiesis, and the relationship between both of these and work in ``wet'' artificial life. More specific, concrete challenges revolve around the exhibition of substantive Darwinian evolutionary phenomena among lineages of artificial (computational) autopoietic individuals. Phenomena of particular interest would include the evolution of individuality itself [2], the exhibition of a molecular-agent computational model of the Chemoton [11], and the evolution of von Neumann-style genetic architecture based on a programmable constructor [29].

Francisco Varela was a pivotal figure in the development of our field to this point. His influence and intellectual legacy provides a strong foundation to tackle these difficult and profound problems that we still face in properly understanding the organisation of the living, its origin and its evolution."

Complexity Rising: From Human Beings to Human Civilization, a Complexity Profile

Complexity Rising: From Human Beings to Human Civilization, a Complexity Profile: "Since time immemorial humans have complained that life is becoming more complex, but it is only now that we have a hope to analyze formally and verify this lament. This article analyzes the human social environment using the 'complexity profile,' a mathematical tool for characterizing the collective behavior of a system. The analysis is used to justify the qualitative observation that complexity of existence has increased and is increasing. The increase in complexity is directly related to sweeping changes in the structure and dynamics of human civilizationthe increasing interdependence of the global economic and social system and the instabilities of dictatorships, communism and corporate hierarchies. Our complex social environment is consistent with identifying global human civilization as an organism capable of complex behavior that protects its components (us) and which should be capable of responding effectively to complex environmental demands."

Complex Systems and Anarchism - Infoshop News

Complex Systems and Anarchism - Infoshop News: "Current political structures

The state, being a fairly hierarchical creature, would like to make things function coherently. However its greatest weakness is its incapacity to find solutions to problem descriptions of large complexity. As an example militaries and states are finding it increasingly impossible to deal with the emergence of guerrilla warfare and terrorism. The models of organisation used in these social structures are highly decentralised and highly non-hierarchical. In the end, the state has little chance of eradicating such movements. The state must find simple descriptions of objectives and is at a fundamental disadvantage because of the more limited capacity to deal with complexity.

Capitalism and corporate globalisation however are fearsome beasts. The internal model is highly networked. These creatures move across state boundaries with great agility. They have emergent behaviour which is ridiculously complex. Nobody even understands how the stock market functions (or dysfunctions). Capitalism is also incredibly robust, being able to adapt to circumstances in ways that Marx would have never thought possible. The only chance of combating an enemy of this type is with one of at least equal complexity."

Complex Systems and Anarchism - Infoshop News

Complex Systems and Anarchism - Infoshop News: "Complex Systems and Anarchism

by Gavin Mendel-Gleeson
Red and Black Revolution #15 (Ireland)

Analysing human societies as complex systems can provide an insight into historical processes and the strengths and weaknesses of capitalism Complex systems theory is a scientific theory coming out of a tradition of catastrophe theory, chaos theory, control theory, and especially cybernetics. Complex systems theory arises as a rejection of the traditional programme of reductionist science. It rejects reductionism as being both unnecessary and intractable.

Traditional physics has attempted to find fundamental laws at the smallest granularity possible. However, it is now known that because of the nature of interactions at very detailed granularity, it can be computationally intractable to predict behaviour of aggregate systems. Water, for instance, is best described (under most conditions) with fluid flow equations which describe aggregate behaviour with relatively simple (non-linear) equations.

Attempting to describe it as an aggregate wave function of 1026 interacting quantum particles is not computationally feasible. Instead complex systems theory attempts to describe systems at a natural granularity that allows for tractable prediction of behaviour."

EU scientists prove robots can learn to 'think' - Headlines - Research – European Commission

EU scientists prove robots can learn to 'think' - Headlines - Research – European Commission: "EU-funded scientists have tested a groundbreaking theory that sees robots learning to 'think' about the actions they can perform on an object. The upshot is that robots can teach themselves by learning from their observations and experiences. This latest development is an outcome of the PACO-PLUS ('Perception, action and cognition through learning of object-action complexes') project, funded under the 'Information society technologies' (IST) Thematic area of the EU's Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) to the tune of EUR 6.9 million."

Institute for New Economic Thinking supports 2nd SFI-affiliated project | Santa Fe Institute

Institute for New Economic Thinking supports 2nd SFI-affiliated project | Santa Fe Institute: "Traditional economic models failed to predict or make sense of the global economic crisis that began in 2007. INET seeks to address this failure, and the weaknesses of currently accepted economic theory, by promoting changes in theory and practice through conferences, grants, and education initiatives."

University of Michigan, Center for the Complex Study of Systems

University of Michigan, Center for the Complex Study of Systems: "CSCS Director Testifies Before Congress

On July 20, 2010, CSCS Director Scott Page testified before the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology�’s Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight. His topic was �“Building a Science of Economics for the Real World.�” The transcript of his testimony can be found here."

Adopt A Liberal Arts Graduate � Frontiers In Biology I

Adopt A Liberal Arts Graduate � Frontiers In Biology I: "Frontiers In Biology I
Posted by Magnus Spurlock III on November 5, 2010 in Sci/Tech | 0 Comment

Magnus Spurlock III is a contributing writer to adopt a liberal arts graduate. He earned a Master’s degree in Cybernetics from Lehigh University and a Doctor of Philosophy from Carnegie Mellon University with a thesis on ‘Exact Black–Scholes Invariants in Nonequilibrium Mixing Negentropy.’ His office chair is more comfortable than beds belonging to most soft-science majors and all LAGs.

J Craig Venter heads the J Craig Venter Institute and speaks at exclusive international conferences featuring breakfasts with silver platters of Hungarian-paprika-sprinkled deviled eggs covered with such a scattershot Pollocking of hollandaise that they must have been crop-dusted by flying Dutchmen. And yet even he rested on the seventh day."

Un bug déconnecte des missiles nucléaires américains pendant une heure

D'après le Los Angeles Times, les responsables militaires ont insisté sur le fait que les missiles n'auraient absolument pas pu être lancés de manière accidentelle, et ajouté que si les Etats-Unis avaient eu besoin de lancer des missiles dans l'escadron affecté par le bug, ils auraient pu utiliser des systèmes de secours.

L'incident n'a été relaté que ce mardi, parce que les responsables voulaient pouvoir examiner le système de lancement des missiles avant d'en discuter. Quand il est apparu qu'il s'agissait d'un souci technique, et non pas d'une attaque d'un autre pays par exemple, l'inquiétude de l'armée a été levée et les responsables ont communiqué.

http://www.slate.fr/lien/29325/un-bug-deconnecte-des-missiles-nucleaires-americains-pendant-une-heure

Washington Center for Complexity and Public Policy - FutureScape�

Washington Center for Complexity and Public Policy - FutureScape�: "What everyone knows is what has already happened or become obvious. What the aware individual knows is what has not yet taken shape, what has not yet occurred.

Everyone says victory in battle is good, but if you see the subtle and notice the hidden so as to seize victory where there is no form, that is really good.

— Sun Tzu, The Art of War"

Parental nurturing important for normal functioning of brain later in life – epigenomic impact | rndsync's Blog

Parental nurturing important for normal functioning of brain later in life – epigenomic impact | rndsync's Blog: "Just as in complex systems small perturbations at the beginning have huge impact on the outcome later, scientists in these researchers found that small changes in maternal care had long lasting changes even into adulthood.
'We already knew that maternal care determined the stress responses of an offspring through a similar process, but this is the first time maternal care has been shown to link, via epigenetics, with a key enzyme that causes a major human disorder,' said Jonathan Seckl, MD, PhD, of The University of Edinburgh, and an expert on the molecular process of hormones."

Cyberterrorism: mysterious computer virus attacks Iran - Miami Technology | Examiner.com

Cyberterrorism: mysterious computer virus attacks Iran - Miami Technology | Examiner.com: "Cybercasters in South Florida and around the world got chilling news of a cyber warfare going on. The diplomatic tensions related to the development of civilian nuclear power in Iran moved to new dimensions:cybernetics. For several days, a malicious code, the virus 'Stuxnet', infects computers and specifically targets Iranian control software developed by Siemens, which is installed on computers at nuclear power plants in Iran. Over 30,000 computers have been targeted; the Iranian government denies any 'serious damage' inflicted by the virus"

The Man Who First Said 'Cyborg,' 50 Years Later - Alexis Madrigal - Technology - The Atlantic

The Man Who First Said 'Cyborg,' 50 Years Later - Alexis Madrigal - Technology - The Atlantic: "We're gathered here today to celebrate Manfred Clynes. Fifty years ago, he coined the word 'cyborg' to describe an emerging hybrid of man's machines and man himself. The word itself combined cybernetics, the then-emerging discipline of feedback and control, and organism."

Complexity Theory & Philosophy of Education

Complexity Theory & Philosophy of Education: "‘The organism restricts the individual creativity of its component unities, as these unities exist for that organism. The human social system amplifies the individual creativity of its components, as that system exists for these components’ (Maturana & Varela, 1998, p. 199)."

Complexity Theory & Philosophy of Education

Complexity Theory & Philosophy of Education: "In the simplest terms, [these systems] solve problems by drawing on masses of relatively stupid elements, rather than a single, intelligent, ‘executive branch’. They are bottom-up systems, not top-down ... . [T]hey are complex adaptive systems that display emergent behaviour. In these systems, agents residing on one scale start producing behaviour that lies one scale above them: ants create colonies; urbanites create neighbourhoods; simple pattern-recognition software learns how to recommend new books. The movement from low-level rules to higher-level sophistication is what we call emergence"

Complexity Theory & Philosophy of Education

Complexity Theory & Philosophy of Education: "The current vogue is for the third of the three C’s: complexity. The buzzwords here aree m e r ge n c e ands e l f - o r ga n i z at i o n, as complexity theory seeks to understand how order and stability arise from the interactions of many components according to a few simple rules ... . But very often what passes today for ‘complexity science’ is really something much older, dressed in fashionable apparel."

Charitable behavior found in bacteria

Charitable behavior found in bacteria

The Joy that follows Sex! | Southern Genes

The Joy that follows Sex! | Southern Genes: "Embryogenesis begins with fertilization, with the sperm and egg merging to produce a new organism. Then the new cell begins the ancient chromosome square dance that produces two cells from one, then four from two and on and on. As the cells divide they begin to change, moving from cells that could become anything, to cells that have been sent along a pathway to eventually become liver cells, or brain cells, skin, bone or blood. Embryogenesis is self-organization, with the cells of the embryo programmed by its genes to become particular cell types, at particular times, in particular places. In the past, all we as scientists have been able to do is watch and wonder at this complexity."

Resource Links on Self-Organisation, Complexity and Artificial Life

Resource Links on Self-Organisation, Complexity and Artificial Life: "Links to Journals & Resource Sites"

Emergence and Evolution - Constraints on Form

Emergence and Evolution - Constraints on Form: "Emergence and Evolution - Constraints on Form
by Chris Lucas

'The view of evolution as chronic bloody competition among individuals and species, a popular distortion of Darwin's notion of 'survival of the fittest,' dissolves before a new view of continual cooperation, strong interaction, and mutual dependence among life forms. Life did not take over the globe by combat, but by networking.'

Lynn Margulis and Dorian Sagan, Slanted Truths, 1997

'The emergent qualities that are expressed in biological form are directly linked to the nature of organisms as integrated wholes; these can be studied experimentally and simulated by the use of complex non-linear models.'

Brian Goodwin, How the Leopard Changed its Spots, 1994, Ch 7"

The Brain Rules

The Brain Rules: "The Brain Rules

Small variations in the initial configuration of the squares can lead to large changes in the resulting patterns. But small variations in the underlying rules can lead to even more dramatic changes.

This page uses rules very similar to the Seeds rules. As with Seeds: If a square is on, it turns off. If a square is off, it turns on if exactly two neighboring squares are on. But there is one small twist: When a square turns off, it can't turn on in the very next iteration. Squares in this in-between state are colored red."

The Great Beyond: A zebrafish's first minutes of life caught on film

The Great Beyond: A zebrafish's first minutes of life caught on film: "A zebrafish's first minutes of life caught on film�-�August 19, 2010

Forget baby pictures - proud cell biologists can now show off videos of their growing zebrafish beginning at the earliest stages of development, thanks to a new microscope technology described online today in Science (doi: 10.1126/science.1189428)."

Guest Insights: Smart swarms: The power of self-organization - Peter Miller

Guest Insights: Smart swarms: The power of self-organization - Peter Miller: "When army ants charge across the floor of a rain forest, there's no commander telling them where to go, no squad leaders rallying the troops.

When termites build a soaring mound on the savanna--complete with a network of ducts to regulate air and moisture inside--there's no project manager lining up subcontractors, no architect consulting blueprints.

Honeybees don't need a CEO to make the call when they select a new home from a dozen possible sites, even though the fate of every individual in the hive is riding on the decision.
Which raises a provocative question: If groups in nature can do it, why can't we? Why do human organizations require great leadership when colonies of ants, flocks of birds, and schools of fish get by just fine without any at all?

Is it because the problems they face are simpler than ours? Are their environments less complex and unpredictable?"

FOXNews.com - Clouds Can Communicate, Scientists Say

FOXNews.com - Clouds Can Communicate, Scientists Say: "'Cloud fields organize in such a way that their components 'communicate' with one another and produce regular, periodic rainfall events,' explained Graham Feingold, a research scientist with the National Oceanic and�Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) and the paper's lead author.

In other words, Feingold found clear evidence of self-organization in the regular patterns of rainfall and repeating growth of those floating puffs of cotton."

Our Human Development Initiative

Our Human Development Initiative: "Our Human Development Initiative

Sustainable human development will occur when all humans can have fulfilling lives without degrading the planet. This, we believe, is the ultimate goal. Two leading indicators have identified how we can get there."

Complexity Theory - A perspective on Education

Complexity Theory - A perspective on Education: "`Complexity refers to the condition of the universe which is
integrated and yet too rich and varied for us to understand
in simple common mechanistic or linear ways. We can
understand many parts of the universe in these ways but
the larger and more intricately related phenomena can only
be understood by principles and patterns - not in detail.
Complexity deals with the nature of emergence, innovation,
learning and adaptation’. (Santa F�Group 1996, cited in
Battram 1998 p.v)"

New evidence for quantum Darwinism found in quantum dots

New evidence for quantum Darwinism found in quantum dots: "New evidence for quantum Darwinism found in quantum dots
May 10, 2010 By Lisa Zyga New evidence for quantum Darwinism found in quantum dots

Enlarge

These images show a recurring scar found in simulations that bears a strong resemblance to experimental images. Scars were found to replicate and produce offspring states in agreement with quantum Darwinism. Image credit: A.M. Burke, et al. �2010 APS.

(PhysOrg.com) -- Physicists have found new evidence that supports the theory of quantum Darwinism, the idea that the transition from the quantum to the classical world occurs due to a quantum form of natural selection. By explaining how the classical world emerges from the quantum world, quantum Darwinism could shed light on one of the most challenging questions in physics of the past century."

Future of Life- Evolutionary Thrashing and Social Chaos

Future of Life- Evolutionary Thrashing and Social Chaos: "Future of Life- Evolutionary Thrashing and Social Chaos
Friday, 09 July 2010 11:31
Written by David Tow

David Hunter Tow
David Hunter Tow- Director of the Future of Life Research Centre, forecasts that society may be on the cusp of social chaos triggered by ‘Evolutionary Thrashing’, which could result in major social breakdown for many decades.

According to David Tow, the ‘evolutionary thrashing’ phenomenon occurs when the rate of change in a system’s environment exceeds its capacity to effectively adapt or evolve, before again being overwhelmed by the next wave of change.

At the biological level this can result in an organism’s inability to reach its optimal potential, making it less fit and more susceptible to extinction. This is currently occurring on the planet at an unprecedented rate. Many species are finding it increasingly difficult to adapt to the continuous changes in their habitat resulting from global warming and human destruction, with a quarter of vertebrate species predicted to become endangered or extinct by 2050."

Print Page - Emergent Complexity Theory and the Anarchist Approach

Print Page - Emergent Complexity Theory and the Anarchist Approach: "Ants are not the deft little erectors, foragers, and soldiers people think they are. Actually they are quite inept at all of the skills people laud over them. Ants are not clever and quick, but ant colonies are."

Science in diplomacy: “On tap but not on top” � SciDev.Net’s Weblog

Science in diplomacy: “On tap but not on top” � SciDev.Net’s Weblog:

Science in diplomacy: “On tap but not on top”

Nuclear weapons: a case for science diplomacy

There’s a general consensus in both the scientific and political worlds that the principle of science diplomacy, at least in the somewhat restricted sense of the need to get more and better science into international negotiations, is a desirable objective.

There is less agreement, however, on how far the concept can – or indeed should – be extended to embrace broader goals and objectives, in particular attempts to use science to achieve political or diplomatic goals at the international level.

...

"Whatever definition is used, three particular aspects of the debate became the focus of attention during the Wilton Park meeting: how science can inform the diplomatic process; how diplomacy can assist science in achieving its objectives; and, finally, how science can provide a channel for quasi-diplomatic exchanges by forming an apparently neutral bridge between countries."

Systems and System-References � Larval Subjects .

Systems and System-References � Larval Subjects .: "Following Maturana and Varela (though my major points of reference are Bateson, von Foerster, and especially Luhmann), I distinguish between autopoietic systems and allopoietic systems. An autopoietic machine, Maturana and Varela argue,

is a machine organized (defined as a unity) as a network of processes of production (transformation and destruction) of components that produce the components which: (i) through their interactions and transformations continuously regenerate and realize the network of processes (relations) that produced them; and (ii) constitute it (the machine) as a concrete unity in a space in which they (the components) exist by specifying the topological domain of its realization as such a network. (Autopoiesis and Cognition, 78 – 79)

Translated into English, autopoietic systems are systems that produce their own components through their own components. These systems roughly compose the domain of the living and the social, though there might be other autopoietic systems as well. By contrast, allopoietic systems are systems that are produced by something else. These systems are roughly the domain of the inanimate"

Complexity theory and the new public management

Complexity theory and the new public management: "Complexity theory and the new public management"

This article explores whether complexity theory can inform a more realistic and democratic approach to achieving policy goals than the audit culture of performance management. The example of higher education is used to show how organisational systems interact with a policy landscape which can be tuned by government action. Universities exist at different attractors on this landscape and its ruggedness determines the extent to which transformative organisational change is likely to occur. Policy landscapes can be tuned to actively encourage transformation in performance. This is similar to the use of performance targets to steer organisations towards meeting their targets, but unintended consequences often follow from target-setting for organisations and individuals because it fails to recognise whole systems. Using examples from neighbourhood renewal, the article considers the alternative of scanning key parameter values and feedback to an organisation's planning and operational processes. Scanning and responding to key parameter values offers a more flexible and adaptable approach than performance management, but needs more autonomy and a greater degree of discursive democracy within organisations than is currently the case in the UK's public services.

KM4Dev Innovation Proposal 4 - KM4DevWiki

KM4Dev Innovation Proposal 4 - KM4DevWiki: "As the 2009 Nobel Laureate in Economics, Elinor Ostrom, has argued: 'To explain the world of interactions and outcomes occurring at multiple levels, we also have to be willing to deal with complexity instead of rejecting it... We should continue to use simple models where they capture enough of the core underlying structure and incentives that they usefully predict outcomes. When the world we are trying to explain and improve, however, is not well described by a simple model, we must continue to improve our frameworks and theories so as to be able to understand complexity and not simply reject it.”"

Innovation nation: Why Australia needs an innovation system | Business21C

Innovation nation: Why Australia needs an innovation system | Business21C: "This is an urgent issue and one that the country cannot ignore. The good news is that, with the Cutler Review into Australia’s innovation system, Venturous Australia, we have identified what has been sorely missing in the Australian innovation environment: any kind of national innovation system in which things are connected.

Government and public agencies, research and education institutions, finance and venture capital – none of these have operated in any coherent relationship with each other.

With the innovation review and the follow-up white paper, Powering Ideas: An innovation agenda for the 21st Century, published by the government with the Federal Budget in May, the pieces of the innovation jigsaw are being put together. Crucially, we are starting to look at new sources of innovation over and above the traditional, linear approach of funding public research in the hope of transferring scientific discoveries to the market – important as that is."

COMPLEXITY EXPLAINED: 17. Epilogue | Nirmukta

COMPLEXITY EXPLAINED: 17. Epilogue | Nirmukta: "With reductionism comes the conviction that a court proceeding to try a man for murder is “really” nothing but the movement of atoms, electrons, and other particles in space, quantum and classical events, and ultimately to be explained by, say, string theory.

Stuart Kauffman (2006)"

Complex systems tutorial

Complex systems tutorial: "Self-organization

Self-organization (First used by Ashby in 1948.). The ability of the system to autonomously (without being guided or managed by an outside source) increase its complexity."

Complexity Science and Innovation | InnovationManagement

Complexity Science and Innovation | InnovationManagement: "Complexity Science and Innovation
Share

What has complexity science to do with innovation management? Quite a few things if you ask Dr. Curt Lindberg of Plexus Institute, NJ, the States. Complexity science is the scientific study of complex systems, systems with many parts that interact to produce patterns of behavior that cannot easily be explained by the behavior of the individual constituent elements. From a business perspective you can use it to better understand the importance of relationships and interactions to your innovation efforts."

Complex systems tutorial

Complex systems tutorial: "Feedback

The basic rules of the complex systems could be paradoxically very simple, but their effects are intricate and unexpected because of feed-back relations between parts."

The Complexity of Evolution | Wired Science | Wired.com

The Complexity of Evolution | Wired Science | Wired.com: "The Complexity of Evolution

* By Brandon Keim Email Author
* April 15, 2008 |
* 9:39 am |
* Categories: Uncategorized
*

Complexity

Scientists usually study natural selection at a single level, such as genes or individuals or even a population, says biophysical complexity researcher Maya Paczuski — but it takes place at all these levels simultaneously, and what happens at each scale resonates through the web of life in ways we’re just beginning to comprehend.

I talked to Paczuski, founder of the University of Calgary’s Complexity
Science Group, for a recent Wired.com story on the expansion of evolutionary theory to include complexity and emergence. These phenomena don’t replace the classic mechanisms of genetic mutation and natural selection, but work with them; and accompanying this expanded conception of evolution is the multi-scale perspective espoused by
Paczuski."

Evolution as Biological Thermodynamics | Wired Science | Wired.com

Evolution as Biological Thermodynamics | Wired Science | Wired.com: "Evolution as Biological Thermodynamics

* By Brandon Keim Email Author
* February 13, 2008 |
* 10:56 am |
* Categories: Uncategorized
*

Darwin213
When Guy Hoelzer runs computer simulations of organisms living in the modeling equivalent of a featureless plain, he sees them break into different species — even though there’s no reason for natural selection to take place.

That preliminary but tantalizing finding hints at some larger phenomenon driving the mechanisms of neo-Darwinian evolution. Hoelzer thinks the phenomenon is self-organization: combine energy with complex networked interaction and order will emerge.

In the abstract of 'On the logical relationship between natural selection and self-organization,' published in 2006 in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology, he described natural selection as 'a mechanism that coordinates the coevolution of species in an ecosystem to effectively capture, process and dissipate solar energy into the earth’s shadow … an emergent process founded on the same thermodynamic imperatives that are thought to underlie all self-organization.'"

Microbe May Answer Mystery of Multicellular Life | Wired Science | Wired.com

Microbe May Answer Mystery of Multicellular Life | Wired Science | Wired.com: "Microbe May Answer Mystery of Multicellular Life

* By Brandon Keim Email Author
* July 8, 2008 |
* 1:40 pm |
* Categories: Uncategorized
*

Sponges

You may owe the complexity of your 100-trillion-celled body to the ancestors of a primitive microbe called Monisiga brevicollis.

Described in two studies published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, M. brevicollis possesses one of the most the most elaborate sets of cellular signaling genes ever found.

The microbe’s communications mechanisms could prove a critical piece in the puzzle of how single-celled organisms — the only form taken by Earthly life for three billion years — combined into many-celled creatures.

That jump has confounded scientists and inspired critics of evolution, who insist that mutation and natural selection alone are too incremental to explain such a dramatic transition."

Complexity Theory in Icky Action: Meet the Slime Mold | Wired Science | Wired.com

Complexity Theory in Icky Action: Meet the Slime Mold | Wired Science | Wired.com: "Complexity Theory in Icky Action: Meet the Slime Mold

* By Brandon Keim Email Author
* February 15, 2008 |
* 7:00 am |
* Categories: Animals
*

Slime_mold_undermulch There are few creatures more remarkable than the lowly slime mold.

But is the slime mold really a creature? Or is it a fungus? If it’s not a fungus, is it a single entity — or millions? Or both?

Hence its remarkability."

Slime Mold Grows Network Just Like Tokyo Rail System | Wired Science | Wired.com

Slime Mold Grows Network Just Like Tokyo Rail System | Wired Science | Wired.com: "Slime Mold Grows Network Just Like Tokyo Rail System

* By Laura Sanders, Science News Email Author
* January 22, 2010 |
* 2:56 pm |
* Categories: Biology
*

slime_mold_1

Talented and dedicated engineers spent countless hours designing Japan’s rail system to be one of the world’s most efficient. Could have just asked a slime mold."