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Dealing with complexity - Definition

SKILLS: Dealing with complexity, coping with stress and uncertainty, managing time effectively.

EQF LEVEL (INTERNAL REFERENCE):  2

Keywords 

  1. State / appearance 
  2. Rules/constraints
  3. Emergence
  4. Sensitivity
  5. Self-organization
  6. Unpredictability

Introduction

By the end of this LU you will be able to define complexity. Highlighting the connection of the term to complexity theory helps to better understand the definition itself.

Text

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not too simple."

Albert Einstein

Treccani defines complexity as follows:

1. Being complex

  1. Qualitative characteristic of a system, that is, of an organic and structured aggregate of interacting parts, that makes it assume properties that are not derived from the simple juxtaposition of the parts.” 

 

The theory of complex systems, also known as complexity science, is relevant to many academic fields such as  mathematics, informatics and science. It is characterised by  a new method of investigation that opposes the traditional tendency to reduce the complex to the simple. 

 

In mathematics and computational science, complexity theory is the study of algorithms used to calculate the values of functions or numerical successions. This , in scientific and technical terms , describes the evolution of complex systems.

 

General use of the term:

According to the dictionary, complexity is the state or quality of being intricate or complicated ,. Complexity is mostly due to depth of examination ,level of  detail , possible  developments that are intrinsically complicated (e.g., the complexity of an argument).

In our context, there are five properties that can be used to: 

A complex system displays the following characteristics:

  1. Circular connection of three or more elements, agents, systems. Complexity begins with three but it is not the number of parts that determines whether a system is complex or not.  Therefore,  counting  the number of parts of a system will not help in our assessment of the level of complexity of a system;
  2. Emergence of functions and capabilities not deducible from the structure and its elements, but only beyond a certain level of circular connections. This is the famous Principle of Complexity as defined by Nobel prize of Physics winner Philip W. Anderson "More is different". A Ferrari engine will only ever be a Ferrari engine; it is sophisticated or complicated to understand, but it is not complex.
  3. Self-organization, with the development of new (unpredictable?) structures capable of adapting the system to new situations and information, i.e., learning. It learns;  therefore  it is complex - unlike an airplane which is designed for a single purpose for its entire "life".
  4. Extreme sensitivity to any "butterfly wing beat" that will change, even imperceptibly, some element, some condition, and lead to a radically different result.  In contrast, very complicated airplanes are designed to be very insensitive to such minimal variations of conditions otherwise... landing in Tokyo would be very improbable;
  5. Unpredictability, i.e the occurrence of exceptional events - “black swans” -  which do not conform to the laws and formulas of a system and which cannot be anticipated by estimates based on statistical and/or stochastic models. . The first to understand this notion of unpredictability was Henri Poincaré in 1908, but he was ignored by the scientific community for 60 years. He used Newton's Law of Gravitation to  calculate and predict accurately the orbits of two planets, but failed in his attempt to do the same with three planets and wrote: "If such excellent knowledge enabled us to predict the next situation with good approximation,we would be satisfied , and we would say that the phenomenon has been predicted and is governed by laws. But this is not always the case; sometimes small differences in the conditions produce huge differences in the results . Prediction becomes impossible.

 

If we use these five characteristics as a measure, it will become clear that the following examples are complicated,  intricate or apparently complex but they are NOT complex systems: 

 

because they are designed to be absolutely predictable, and consistent regardless of   environmental, physical, economic, etc. changes.

 

In contrast, good examples of  complex systems are the following:

 

 

Hence Complexity Theory studies systems formed by a very large number of elements interacting through defined rules and subject to certain constraints, in order to understand the global behaviors and predict their evolution; in mathematics, it studies the operations necessary to solve a problem to determine its minimum number.

 

Remember:

Edgar Morin in his studies defines complexity as an antidote to atomization and separation, to progress out of context.

The theory of complex systems in fact is based on the idea that in an isolated system irreversibly grows disorder, entropy that would lead it to death.

 

What is meant by a complex system?

A complex system in general terms, is a set of variable and strongly interconnected elements where the knowledge of each element is not sufficient to establish the overall evolution of the system.

 

What does complexity epistemology highlight?

This is an interdisciplinary view of studies dealing with adaptive complex systems, chaos theory, systems theory, artificial intelligence, cybernetics, thermodynamic phenomena far from equilibrium state, meteorology, ecology, social systems.

.  

Remember

Complexity, in other words, is the characteristic of a system ( called complex), composed of organic and structured aggregate of interacting parts, where the overall behavior of the system is not immediately traceable to that of the individual constituents, but rather depends on how the parts interact. (Treccani).

 

In conclusion, we can say that Life in general is the result of complex and chaotic processes that self-organize in "stable structures “.  The infinite forms expressed in nature are the result of an ideal "Cosmic Computer" that operates infinite iterations of very simple bio-chemical-physical "formulas" that require little information to memorize and that aim to optimize energy and space, that is to "save".



Final test 

Test 1 (True/False): 

Complexity is the state or quality of being intricate or complicated 

  1. True
  2. False  
  3. True in the general use of the word but false in our context.

 

Test 2 ( finish the sentence) 

An automobile:

  1. is a complex system
  2. is not a complex system
  3. has the characteristics of a complex system but it is not
  4. is not described accurately by any of the other three options

Test 3 (correct choice) : 

The overall behavior of a complex system is not immediately traceable to that of the individual constituents:

 

  1. True
  2. False 
  3. Neither true nor false
  4. Both true and false



Language point: First versus Second conditional

 

Look at these two sentences:

 

If we use these five properties as a measure, it will become clear that the following examples are NOT complex systems.  

If such excellent knowledge enabled us to predict a phenomenon with good approximation, we would be satisfied, and we would say that the phenomenon is governed by laws.

Both sentences are composed of two parts: -

 

BUT the message is very different:

In the first sentence:

 ‘ If we use….., it will become. 

This is certain. If the condition is fulfilled the consequence will also happen, it is a sure prediction and, very importantly, we believe in the likelihood of the condition being fulfilled.



In the second sentence

’ If such knowledge enabled us….., we would be satisfied and we would say….’  

We still believe that if the condition is fulfilled, the consequence will happen but we do not believe in the likelihood of the condition being fulfilled. This uncertainty is expressed by the use of different tenses.

The use of tenses is the following:

 

Likelihood of/ belief in  the condition being fulfilled

Tense in the if part of the sentence  (the condition) 

Tense in the other part of the sentence (the consequence)

We believe that the condition will be fulfilled

present simple

will + base form of the verb (infinitive without ‘to’)

We do not believe that the condition will be fulfilled

past simple

would + base form of the verb

 

Practice

Now fill in the blanks with the verbs in the right tenses:

My son lives in London. If it…………..(rain) this weekend, he …………..(go) to the cinema.

I live in Malta,  If it ………..(snow) this weekend, I ………….(be) very surprised.

I never buy lottery tickets. If I………..(win) the lottery, I…………………(travel) around the world.

If people ……(be) less greedy, the world ………(be) a better place.

If we ………….(invest) in renewable energy, we …………..(become) less dependent on fossil fuel.

 

Answers

My son lives in London. If it rains this weekend, he will go to the cinema. (It often rains in London!)

I live in Malta, If it snowed this weekend, I would be very surprised.

I never buy lottery tickets. If I won the lottery, I would travel around the world.

If people were less greedy, the world would be a better place.

If we invest in renewable energy, we will become less dependent on fossil fuel. (if you are an optimist and think that this investment will be made.)

If we invested in renewable energy, we would become less dependent on fossil fuel. (if you are a pessimist and think that this investment is unlikely to be made.)

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