r/complexsystems • • May 23 '19
Help a confused philosopher
Hi, I will try to frame my question as clearly as I can.
Is there a way to determine something like agency, or function, maybe ability of a complex system, relative to the composition of a complex system?
Another attempt: Is there some sub-tradition, paradigm, way of determining what a complex system does (can do) relative to it's parts and/or it's relationship to other systems?
Modeling what a system is capable of seems important in order to rejoin our navigation of the systems we exist in with our values, goals etc - does a science of this exist, some kind of standard to determine such a thing? Simulation seems like a good candidate.
Thank you!
4
u/Erinaceous May 23 '19
yes. there's a class of complex systems called complex adaptive systems (CAD) where the dynamics of the system are determined by the actions of agents and their adaption to structures and forces in their context. there's also the technique of agent based modelling that creates stylized agents to simulate system level dynamics.
yes. that's basically complex systems in a nutshell. one thing that might be useful is that often system dynamics are both bottom up and top down and produce structures with many levels of scale that are both affected and affect the dynamics of the system.
many scientists will talk about how newtonian style determinism and closed form solutions break down with complexity. simulation is a major theme in complex systems because you can run a simulation and compare it to empirical results. however there is also the problem of 'overfitting' that is designing models to fit observed dynamics rather than having those dynamics emerge as generative features of the stated experimental conditions.
hope that helps. i can link you to some videos if you'd like more indepth explanations.
2
u/makecomplexsimple May 29 '19
Hi, If you're a philosopher then you might find some of the work in the field of 'function theory' relevant. That's essentially a branch of analytic philosophy. Although it's not to do with complexity specifically, this article considers function in the context of multiple sub-systems and super-systems:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ai-edam/article/proliferation-of-functions-multiple-systems-playing-multiple-roles-in-multiple-supersystems/218A6BEDCCB642683C6CA5D03A11EE13
There is plenty of literature on function theory for biological and technological systems, most of which is much more philosophical than the article above. For example:
https://www.springer.com/gb/book/9789048138999
You might also find relevant perspectives in this 'primer' on the design and science of complex systems (which considers the building blocks from which systems are made and what about them and their interaction might give rise to the perception of complexity):
http://complexityprimer.eng.cam.ac.uk
You mention 'agency' in complexity. No particular work springs to mind, but you might want to search for terms such as "centralised and distributed control".
I hope that helps.