Thursday, December 23, 2010
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."
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."
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."
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."
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."
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."
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."
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."
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