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
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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."