'The Virtual' is a term used by Deleuze and Guattari that parallels the idea of {{phase-space}}. The Virtual alludes to aspects of reality that may or may not manifest, depending on how a system comes to be activated.
In order for a complex system to adapt, it needs to contain agents that have the capacity to behave in different ways - to enact adaptation you need adaptable things.
Think of preferential attachment as an attribute of when 'the rich get richer' within a networked system. This occurs when nodes that have a lot of links tend to attract more links as other nodes enter the system resulting in super-nodes.
Early versions of systems theory assumed that systems could be 'optimized' to a single condition. CAS analysis assumes that more than one system state can satisfy optimizing criteria, and so the system is able to gravitate to multiple equilibria.
Fitness ‘peaks’ are regimes wherein a given agent behavior maximizes energetic returns while minimizing outputs. Peaks are thus optimum behaviors in phase space - though there may be numerous peaks, each employing different strategies. See also {{Fitness-Landscape}}
Beyond its day-to-day usage, this term used in now employed in the social sciences to highlight the Path Dependency exhibited in many social systems. This is seen to contrast with prior conceptions like "the march of history", which imply a clear causal structure. By speaking about the work as something contingent, it also begs the question of what other "worlds" might have just as equally manifested, had things been slightly different.
Similar ideas are captured in the ideas of Non-Linearity, {{sensitivity-to-initial-conditions}}, History Matters.
Pictured below: the contingent trajectory of the double pendulum:
In geography there has been a move away from thinking about space as a "thing" and to instead think about how different places exist due to how they interact with flows. Places that capture more flows, are more geographically relevant
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Definitions
Definitions are key thinkers, attributes, and seminal texts that relate or contribute to Complex Adaptive Systems theory. This is an alphabetical listing of all definitions in the CAS Explorer. See all categories and collections in the site →
Complex Adaptive Systems do not obey predictable, linear trajectories. They are "Sensitive to Initial Conditions", such that small changes in these conditions can lead the system to unfold in unexpected ways. That said, in some systems, particular 'potential unfoldings' are more likely to occur than others. We can think of these as 'attractor states' to which a system will tend to gravitate.
This feature of complex systems means that the behavior of a system cannot be known in advance, but instead needs to be enacted in time. Learn More about Bifurcations →
In geography there has been a move away from thinking about space as a "thing" and to instead think about how different places exist due to how they interact with flows. Places that capture more flows, are more geographically relevant
Caramelization half and half robust kopi-luwak, brewed, foam affogato grounds extraction plunger pot, bar single shot froth eu shop latte et, chicory, steamed seasonal grounds dark organic. Learn More about Causal Loop Diagrams →
Chris Langton is a research and computer scientist. His research interests include artificial life, complex adaptive systems, distributed dynamical systems, multi-agent systems, simulation technology, and the role of information in physics.
Caramelization half and half robust kopi-luwak, brewed, foam affogato grounds extraction plunger pot, bar single shot froth eu shop latte et, chicory, steamed seasonal grounds dark organic. Learn More about Conrad Waddington →
Beyond its day-to-day usage, this term used in now employed in the social sciences to highlight the Path Dependency exhibited in many social systems. This is seen to contrast with prior conceptions like "the march of history", which imply a clear causal structure. By speaking about the work as something contingent, it also begs the question of what other "worlds" might have just as equally manifested, had things been slightly different.
Similar ideas are captured in the ideas of Non-Linearity, {{sensitivity-to-initial-conditions}}, History Matters.
Pictured below: the contingent trajectory of the double pendulum:
The word Cybernetics comes from the Greek 'Kybernetes', meaning 'steersman' or 'oarsman'. It is the etymological root of the English 'Governor'. Cybernetics is related to an interest in dynamics that lead to internal rather than external governing.
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Understanding the degrees of freedom available within a complex system is important because it helps us understand the overall scope of potential ways in which a system can unfold. We can imagine that a given complex system is subject to a variety of inputs (many of which are unknown), but then we must ask, what is the system's range of possible outputs?
The Second Law of Thermodynamics is typically at play in most systems - shattered glasses don't reconstitute themselves and pencils don't stay balanced on their tips. But Complex Systems exhibit some pretty strange behaviors that violate these norms...
What do we mean when we speak of Fitness? For ants, fitness might be discovering a source of food that is abundant and easy to reach. For a city, fitness might be moving the maximum number of people in the minimum amount of time. But fitness criteria can also vary - what might be fit for one agent isn't necessarily fit for all.
Fitness ‘peaks’ are regimes wherein a given agent behavior maximizes energetic returns while minimizing outputs. Peaks are thus optimum behaviors in phase space - though there may be numerous peaks, each employing different strategies. See also {{Fitness-Landscape}} Learn More about Fitness Peaks →
Caramelization half and half robust kopi-luwak, brewed, foam affogato grounds extraction plunger pot, bar single shot froth eu shop latte et, chicory, steamed seasonal grounds dark organic. Learn More about Georg Cantor →
Haken popularized the concepts of Enslaved States and 'synergetics'. The notion of 'enslavement' is similar to the idea of Attractor States, wherein a system will tend to gravitate towards a particular regime and then remain in that state unless there is a system Perturbation.
In order to be responsive to a world consisting of different kinds of inputs, complex systems tune themselves to states holding just enough variety to be interesting (keeping responsive) and just enough homogeneity to remain organized (keeping stable). To understand how this works, we need to understand flows of information in complex systems, and what "information" means. Learn More about Information →
The concept of interactive, incremental shifts in a system might seem innocent - but with enough agents and enough increments we are able to tap into something incredibly powerful. Evolutionary change proceeds in incremental steps - and with enough of these steps, accompanied by feedback at each step, we can achieve fit outcomes. Any strategies for increasing the frequency of these iterations will further drive the effectiveness of this iterative search.
Early versions of systems theory assumed that systems could be 'optimized' to a single condition. CAS analysis assumes that more than one system state can satisfy optimizing criteria, and so the system is able to gravitate to multiple equilibria.
Network theory is a huge topic in and of itself, and can be looked at on its own, or in relation to complex systems. There are various formal, mathematical ways of studying networks, as well as looser, more fluid ways of understanding how networks can serve as a structuring mechanism. Learn More about Networks →
Nikos Angelos Salingaros is a mathematician and polymath known for his work on urban theory, architectural theory, complexity theory, and design philosophy.
A system is considered to be open and dissipative when energy or inputs can be absorbed into the system, and 'waste' discharged. Here, system inputs like heat, energy, food, etc., can traverse the open boundaries of the system and ‘drive’ it towards order: seemingly in violation of the second law of thermodynamics.
Complex systems can follow many potential trajectories: the actualization of any given trajectory can be dependent on small variables, or "changes to initial conditions" that are actually pretty trivial. Accordingly, if we truly wish to understand system dynamics, we need to pay attention to all system pathways (or the system's phase space) rather than the pathway that happened to unfold.
Power laws are particular mathematical distributions that appear in contexts where a very small number of system events or entities exist that, while rare, are highly impactful, alongside of a very large number of system events or entities exist that, while plentiful, have very little impact.
Learn More about Power Laws →
Think of preferential attachment as an attribute of when 'the rich get richer' within a networked system. This occurs when nodes that have a lot of links tend to attract more links as other nodes enter the system resulting in super-nodes. Learn More about Preferential Attachment →
In order for a complex system to adapt, it needs to contain agents that have the capacity to behave in different ways - to enact adaptation you need adaptable things. Learn More about Requisite Variety →
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One of the intriguing characteristics of complex systems is that highly sophisticated emergent phenomena can be generated by seemingly simple agents. These agents follow very simple rules - with dramatic results.
Complex systems tend towards scale-free, nested hierarchies. By 'Scale-free', we mean to say that we can zoom in on the system at any level of magnification, and observe the same kind of structural relations.
A system is considered to be self-organizing when the behavior of elements in the system can, together, arrive at a globally more optimal functional regimes compared to if each system element behaved independently. This occurs without the benefit of any controller or director of action. Instead, the system contains elements acting in parallel that will gradually manifest organized, correlated behaviors: Emergence.
Strike a match and drop it in the forest. How big will the resulting fire be? The forest is dry but not overly so... vegetation is relatively thick. Will the fire burn a few trees and then flame out, or will it jump from branch to branch, burning thousands of acres to the ground?
Considers resilience in urban and ecological systems, with resilience thought of not as a capacity to return to an earlier state after a disturbance, but instead the capacity to evolve or adapt to new conditions
Whole Earth Catalogue editor, and advocate for resilient design: developed idea of building layers able to evolve and be modified across different time scales.
'The Virtual' is a term used by Deleuze and Guattari that parallels the idea of {{phase-space}}. The Virtual alludes to aspects of reality that may or may not manifest, depending on how a system comes to be activated. Learn More about The Virtual →
Economist who developed one of the first cellular automata demonstrations: showing how segregation of agents will emerge as a phenomena due to simple rules that, in and of themselves, do not appear to be strongly linked to segregation outcomes.
Complex systems do not follow linear, predictable chains of cause and effect. Instead, system trajectories can diverge wildly into entirely different regimes.
Caramelization half and half robust kopi-luwak, brewed, foam affogato grounds extraction plunger pot, bar single shot froth eu shop latte et, chicory, steamed seasonal grounds dark organic.
Caramelization half and half robust kopi-luwak, brewed, foam affogato grounds extraction plunger pot, bar single shot froth eu shop latte et, chicory, steamed seasonal grounds dark organic.
Caramelization half and half robust kopi-luwak, brewed, foam affogato grounds extraction plunger pot, bar single shot froth eu shop latte et, chicory, steamed seasonal grounds dark organic.
Caramelization half and half robust kopi-luwak, brewed, foam affogato grounds extraction plunger pot, bar single shot froth eu shop latte et, chicory, steamed seasonal grounds dark organic.
https://www.worldcat.org/title/wisdom-of-crowds/oclc/966061865
