The Future of Complexity: Conceiving a Better Way to Understand Order and ChaosContrary to the conventional wisdom held by many contemporaries in our time, the popularity of studying complexity is fast becoming a new fad in the intellectual scene. However, can the study of complex phenomena truly reveal recognizable patterns (with predictable outcomes) to enhance our understanding of reality, especially when it is embedded within the messy web of complexity? If so, what then are the limits? This book strives to demolish some of the myths surrounding the nature of complexity and, in the process, to provide an original theory to understand it in this world and beyond. It introduces the author's dialectic theory of complexity, together with the theoretical debate in the literature. It expounds on the concept of complexity from various perspectives, including chemistry, micro- and macro-physics, biology and psychology. It also examines the nature of complexity from societal and cultural perspectives.This book presents a broad view on the nature of complexity, adequately introducing the reader to this emerging field. |
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__________________________________________________ continued __________________________________________________ Notes after-postmodernity allow exceptions autocatalytic set BCIV BCPC BDPD behavior category are solely cellular automaton chaos theory chaotic Chap civilization Civilizational comparison is relative complex systems complexity theory computational complexity theory computer simulation connectionism context democracy Dialectic Theory Different versions dystopia emergentism entropy evolution existential dialectics floating consciousness forms FPHC FPHST fractal freedom/unfreedom freer Gilbert human illustrative not exhaustive inflationary theory instance intentionally left blank interactions less equal less free logic mathematics methodological holism moral reciprocity multiverses nature necessarily mutually exclusive NP-problems ontological order-chaos principle Peter Baofu post-capitalism Post-Civilization post-democracy post-human postmodernity pre-modernity predictable problem quantum reductionism relation relative not absolute Salisbury 1999 self-organization social simulation society solely illustrative Sources space space colonization space-time specified complexity structure Teixeira Theory of Complexity Theory of Post-Capitalism thesis tion Turing Turing machine understanding universe value ideals
Passagens conhecidas
Página 229 - This play, however, is an affirmation of life— not an attempt to bring order out of chaos nor to suggest improvements in creation, but simply a way of waking up to the very life we're living, which is so excellent once one gets one's mind and one's desires out of its way and lets it act of its own accord.
Página 213 - In these systems, agents residing on one scale start producing behavior that lies one scale above them: ants create colonies; urbanites create neighborhoods; 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.
Página 119 - [t]he flapping of a single butterfly's wing today produces a tiny change in the state of the atmosphere. Over a period of time, what the atmosphere actually does diverges from what it would have done. So, in a month's time, a tornado that would have devastated the Indonesian coast doesn't happen. Or maybe one that wasn't going to happen, does".
Página 116 - X = h/p, where h is Planck's constant and p is the momentum of the electron. Furthermore it is found that the refractive index of the crystal for these waves is not unity, but that the crystal possesses a sort of "dispersion" curve for electrons of various equivalent wave-lengths.
Página 120 - If the stream of water is slow, the top containers never fill fast enough to overcome friction, but if the stream is faster, the weight starts to turn the wheel. The rotation might become continuous. Or if the stream is so fast that the heavy containers swing all the way around the bottom and start up the other side, the wheel might then slow, stop, and reverse its rotation, turning first one way and then the other.
Página 188 - These strictures mean that it is impossible to be vague about what is being assumed. It also means that the model is potentially open to inspection by other researchers in all its detail. These benefits of clarity and precision also have disadvantages, however. Simulations of complex social processes involve the estimation of many parameters and adequate data for making the estimates can be difficult to come by. Another, quite different benefit of simulation is that it can in some circumstances give...
Página 107 - I cannot believe that God would choose to play dice with the universe.
Página 213 - What features do all these systems share? In the simplest terms, they solve problems by drawing on masses of relatively stupid elements, rather than a single, intelligent "executive branch.
Página 108 - a process in which the internal organization of a system, normally an open system, increases in complexity without being guided or managed by an outside source".
Página 131 - For a phenomenon to be termed emergent it should generally be unpredictable from a lower level description.
Informação bibliográfica
| Título | The Future of Complexity: Conceiving a Better Way to Understand Order and Chaos |
| Autor | Peter Baofu |
| Editora | World Scientific, 2007 |
| ISBN | 9812708987, 9789812708984 |
| Número de páginas | 295 páginas |
| Exportar citação | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |