Architecting Complex Systems in New Domains and Problems: Making Sense of Complexity and Managing Its Unintended Consequences

2013 ◽  
pp. 41-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Godfrey
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Making Sense

scholarly journals Medical anthropology as an antidote for ethnocentrism in Jesus research? Putting the illness–disease distinction into perspective

2011 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pieter F. Craffert
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Medical Anthropology ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Historical Jesus ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
The World ◽  
The New Testament

Medicine often has side-effects or unintended consequences that are more harmful than the original disease. Medical anthropology in general and the illness–disease distinction in particular has been introduced into historical Jesus research with the intent to protect it from medicocentrism and thus to offer ways of comprehending sickness and healing in the world of Jesus and his first followers without distorting these phenomena by imposing the biomedical framework onto the texts. In particular the illness–disease distinction is used for making sense of healing accounts whilst claiming to cross the cultural gap. Based on an analysis of the illness–disease distinction in medical anthropology and its use in historical Jesus research this article suggests that instead of protecting from ethnocentrism this distinction actually increases the risk of ethnocentrism and consequently distorts in many instances the healing accounts of the New Testament.

scholarly journals Narrativity in Complex Systems

2021 ◽  
pp. 31-50
Author(s):  
Hans U. Fuchs ◽  
Federico Corni ◽  
Elisabeth Dumont
Keyword(s):  
Dynamical Systems ◽  
Complex Systems ◽  
Systems Thinking ◽  
Dynamical Model ◽  
Complex Dynamical Systems ◽  
Natural Complex ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Heuristic Strategy ◽  
Narrative Understanding

AbstractHumans use narrative for making sense of their environment. In this chapter we ask if, and if so how and to what extent, our narrative mind can help us deal scientifically with complexity. In order to answer this question, and to show what this means for education, we discuss fundamental aspects of narrative understanding of dynamical systems by working on a concrete story. These aspects involve perception of complex systems, experientiality of narrative, decomposition of systems into mechanisms, perception of forces of nature in mechanisms, and the relation of story-worlds to modelling-worlds, particularly in so-called ephemeral mechanisms. In parallel to describing fundamental issues, we develop a practical heuristic strategy for dealing with complex systems in five steps. (1) Systems thinking: Identify phenomena and foreground a system associated with these phenomena. (2) Mechanisms: Find and describe mechanisms responsible for these phenomena. (3) Forces of nature: Learn to perceive forces of nature as agents acting in these mechanisms. (4) Story-worlds and models: Learn how to use stories of forces (of nature) to construct story-worlds; translate the story-worlds into dynamical-model-worlds. (5) Ephemeral mechanisms for one-time, short-lived, unpredictable, and historical (natural) events: Learn how to create and accept ephemeral story-worlds and models. Ephemeral mechanisms and ephemeral story-worlds are a means for dealing with unpredictability inherent in complex dynamical systems. We argue that unpredictability does not fundamentally deny storytelling, modelling, explanation, and understanding of natural complex systems.

Patterns, Probabilities, and People: Making Sense of Quantitative Change in Complex Systems

2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Hoda Wilkerson-Jerde ◽  
Uri J. Wilensky
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Quantitative Change ◽  
Making Sense

scholarly journals Making Sense of Elegant Complexity in Design

2012 ◽  
Vol 134 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kemper Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Research Community ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Large Scale Systems ◽  
Disastrous Consequence ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Fundamental Understanding ◽  
The U.S

The complexity of many large-scale systems is outpacing our ability to effectively design, analyze, and manage such systems. Projects such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Boeing Dreamliner, the Mars Science Lab, Boston’s Big Dig, and the U.S. Navy’s Independence warship have all been well over budget and behind schedule. While there may be a number of contributing factors, the enormous complexity of the designed systems is certainly a culprit. Large enterprises appear to be embarking on the design of such systems without a fundamental understanding of some critical principles of complex systems. These principles are emerging in the design research community and clearly illustrate that there are some elegant and simple principles that can be used to better understand, predict, and design large-scale complex systems. In this article, a number of these principles are presented in an effort to highlight the emerging research in the science of designing complex systems. An assertion is made that simplicity and complexity can and should co-exist and if simple and elegant principles are ignored, disastrous consequence may await.

Improving Competitive Intelligence Through System Synamics

2011 ◽  
pp. 129-157
Author(s):  
Özge Pala ◽  
Dirk Vriens ◽  
Jac A.M. Vennix
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
System Dynamics ◽  
Competitive Intelligence ◽  
Accurate Information ◽  
Environmental Cues ◽  
Simulation Methodology ◽  
Intelligence System ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Competitive Intelligence System

To survive in a complex and dynamic world, organizations need relevant, timely, and accurate information about their environment. Due to the increasing complexity and dynamics of the environment, organizations run into several difficulties in their efforts to structure the intelligence activities. Two particularly persistent problems are (1) determining the relevant environmental cues and (2) making sense of the particular values of these cues. The current available methods for competitive intelligence do not eliminate these problems. In this chapter, system dynamics (SD) is proposed as an appropriate tool for competitive intelligence. System dynamics is a simulation methodology that deals with the dynamics of complex systems from a feedback perspective. How SD can help in dealing with the problems in direction (selecting the relevant environmental cues) and analysis (making sense of cues) stages and how ICT can support the use of SD in intelligence activities are discussed.

Making Sense of Adam Smith's Invisible Hand: Beyond Pareto Optimality and Unintended Consequences

2000 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elias L. Khalil
Keyword(s):  
Pareto Optimality ◽  
Capital Market ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Invisible Hand ◽  
International Capital ◽  
International Capital Market ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Explicit Reference ◽  
Wealth Of Nations ◽  
Welfare Theory

Smith explicitly spells out the term “invisible hand” in only three texts, each in a different work. What is embarrassing to neoclassical welfare theory is that these explicit references have little to do with what came to be understood by the metaphor. In particular, the explicit reference to the invisible hand in The Wealth of Nations (WN) is not about the efficiency of the market in allocating resources. Rather, it is about, ironically, how impediments in the international capital market generate great benefits.

scholarly journals The Criminalisation of Coercive Control: The Power of Law?

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 94-108
Author(s):  
Sandra Walklate ◽  
Kate Fitz-Gibbon
Keyword(s):  
Intimate Partner Violence ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Coercive Control ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Legal Context ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Do So

Making sense of intimate partner violence has long been seen through the lens of coercive control. However, despite the longstanding presence of this concept, it is only in recent years that efforts have been made to recognise coercive control within the legal context. This article examines the extent to which the law per se has the power, or indeed the capacity, to respond to what is known about coercive control. To do so, it charts the varied ways in which coercive control has entered legal discourse in different jurisdictions and maps these efforts onto what is evidenced about the nature and extent of coercive control in everyday life. This article then places the legal and the everyday side by side and considers the unintended consequences of ‘coercive control creep’. In conclusion, it is suggested that the criminalisation of coercive control only serves to fail those it is intended to protect.

scholarly journals Making Sense of Advice About Drinking During Pregnancy: Does Evidence Even Matter?

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-69
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Mitchell Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
At Risk ◽  
Disease Control ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Health Messages ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Public Health Messages ◽  
Cdc Guidelines ◽  
Control And Prevention

ABSTRACTWomen have been told not to drink during pregnancy for decades; last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) extended that advice to all women who were at risk for experiencing a pregnancy. This commentary puts the recent CDC guidelines in historical perspective and considers the unintended consequences of public health messages that extend beyond what is supported by evidence.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document