scholarly journals The emergence of consensus: a primer

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 172189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Baronchelli
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Complex Systems ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Short Review ◽  
Systems Science ◽  
Social Consensus ◽  
Population Scale ◽  
Complex Systems Science

The origin of population-scale coordination has puzzled philosophers and scientists for centuries. Recently, game theory, evolutionary approaches and complex systems science have provided quantitative insights on the mechanisms of social consensus. However, the literature is vast and widely scattered across fields, making it hard for the single researcher to navigate it. This short review aims to provide a compact overview of the main dimensions over which the debate has unfolded and to discuss some representative examples. It focuses on those situations in which consensus emerges ‘spontaneously’ in the absence of centralized institutions and covers topics that include the macroscopic consequences of the different microscopic rules of behavioural contagion, the role of social networks and the mechanisms that prevent the formation of a consensus or alter it after it has emerged. Special attention is devoted to the recent wave of experiments on the emergence of consensus in social systems.

Educating for Cyber (Security)

2021 ◽  
pp. 394-408
Author(s):  
Roger Bradbury
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Entropy Production ◽  
Maximum Entropy ◽  
Cyber Security ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Physical Principle ◽  
Systems Science ◽  
Technological Singularity ◽  
Complex Systems Science ◽  
Over Time

This chapter considers the problem of educating for cybersecurity from the perspective of complex systems science. It argues that education is a process that has evolved in human social systems to curate, increase, and transmit the information needed for system survival. Education creates an increase in the negentropy (or useful information) of those systems as they seek to maximize the acquisition and throughput of energy—a physical principle known as maximum entropy production (MaxEP). Civilizations have responded to this principle over time by finding new solutions to the Earth’s MaxEP and becoming more complex in the process. A key part of this complexification is education. And in the present cyber age it is, as in previous ages, a lagging process cobbled together from the structures and processes of previous ages. The current education responses may soon be superseded as a new solution to the Earth’s MaxEP—the technological singularity—looms.

The Cultural Evolution of Creative Ideas and Social Innovations

2021 ◽  
pp. 185-210
Author(s):  
Mike Unrau ◽  
Liane Gabora
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Systems Science ◽  
Complex Systems Theory ◽  
Evolution Of Technology ◽  
Economic Collapse ◽  
Lower Entropy ◽  
Complex Systems Science

We apply complex systems science to the study of social systems and show how a complex-systems-inspired theory of creativity, which is referred to as ‘honing theory’, provides insight into social innovation. We propose that creativity and social innovation are processes of self-organization that yield a lower-entropy state in worldviews, which are self-organizing webs of understanding. This allows us to offer a novel perspective on the evolution of technology, the role of creativity in cultural evolution and the manner in which creativity drives innovation in social systems, such as the economy. We also introduce creative destruction as having metaphoric relevance for a social system transition from entropy to negentropy, and offer a social innovation example addressing economic collapse and resilient reorganization. We conclude that concepts from complex systems theory, and particularly entropy, shed light on both creativity and social innovation and further our understanding of how innovation affects social systems, such as in cultural and economic change.

Philosophy for Public Health and Public Policy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Complex Systems ◽  
Ethical Framework ◽  
Systems Science ◽  
Health It ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Novel Theory ◽  
Complex Systems Science

This book provides a novel theory of the philosophy of public health and public policy. It is addressed both to philosophers and to policymakers, inviting policymakers to rethink the nature of public policy, and philosophers to rethink the nature of philosophy. The book is divided into three parts. Part I argues that a number of popular philosophical tools such as thought experiments are poorly calibrated for providing guidance to policymakers. It advances a new approach to philosophy, which draws both on pragmatism and on complex systems science. Part II examines the role of ethical values in public health. It argues that certain commonly expressed worries about public health paternalism are much less convincing than is often thought. It further argues that individuals have a right to public health. If a state does not take easy steps to reduce risks to health, then it will often violate individuals’ right to public health, and should be criticized as a Neglectful State. Part III integrates the complex systems analysis developed in Part I with the ethical framework developed in Part II. It examines three spheres in which public health policy needs to make choices—responsibility, equality, and networks, focusing on three challenges: (1) how to make use of judgements of responsibility, and whom to hold responsible; (2) how to specify the goal of health equity and how to pursue it and (3) the implications of the fact that most health risks are contagious or can be amplified by socially mediated networks of causes.

scholarly journals An Introduction to Complex Systems Science and Its Applications

Complexity ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander F. Siegenfeld ◽  
Yaneer Bar-Yam
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Complex Systems ◽  
Multiscale Analysis ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Analytic Approach ◽  
Systems Science ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Comprehensive Review ◽  
Complex Systems Science

The standard assumptions that underlie many conceptual and quantitative frameworks do not hold for many complex physical, biological, and social systems. Complex systems science clarifies when and why such assumptions fail and provides alternative frameworks for understanding the properties of complex systems. This review introduces some of the basic principles of complex systems science, including complexity profiles, the tradeoff between efficiency and adaptability, the necessity of matching the complexity of systems to that of their environments, multiscale analysis, and evolutionary processes. Our focus is on the general properties of systems as opposed to the modeling of specific dynamics; rather than provide a comprehensive review, we pedagogically describe a conceptual and analytic approach for understanding and interacting with the complex systems of our world. This paper assumes only a high school mathematical and scientific background so that it may be accessible to academics in all fields, decision-makers in industry, government, and philanthropy, and anyone who is interested in systems and society.

Complex Systems Science

2021 ◽  
pp. 243-256
Author(s):  
Matt Kasman ◽  
Nancy Breen ◽  
Ross A. Hammond
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Systems Science ◽  
Complex Systems Science

On Thresholds and Trigger Mechanisms

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oran R. Young
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Complex Systems ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Tipping Points ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Socioecological Systems ◽  
Governance Systems ◽  
State Changes ◽  
Trigger Mechanisms

Complex systems are subject to changes that are nonlinear, commonly hard to anticipate, often abrupt, and sometimes transformative. In recent years, these phenomena have become a focus of considerable interest among natural scientists who speak about thresholds or boundaries (often characterized as tipping points), trigger mechanisms, and state changes. Similar phenomena occur in social systems involving shifts from peace to war and back, the collapse and replacement of political systems, and fluctuations between periods of economic growth and depression. In this context, it is helpful to differentiate among explosions, cascades, and inflections. The dynamics of such transitions are determined by the fragility of the relevant systems and the intensity of the trigger mechanisms. Building on analyses of tipping points and trigger mechanisms in biophysical systems and socioeconomic systems leads to a consideration of similar phenomena in socioecological systems of the sort that are central to the pursuit of sustainability in the Anthropocene. In considering the role of governance in such settings, it is important to bear in mind that governance systems, too, are complex and dynamic.

How Complex Systems Science Can Revolutionize Population Health Theory

2020 ◽  
pp. 73-88
Author(s):  
Patricia Goodson
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Population Health ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Theory Building ◽  
Public Health Workforce ◽  
Systems Science ◽  
Complex Health Problems ◽  
Complex Systems Science ◽  
Health Theory ◽  
And Training

This chapter discusses whether and how complex systems science (CSS) can revolutionize population health theory. First, the chapter defines theory and the practice of theory-building (or theorizing); second, it outlines some of the difficulties found in current population health theorizing; lastly, it characterizes the mechanisms through which CSS can influence, change, and revolutionize current theorizing efforts. The chapter also describes two examples of scholars who used CSS to challenge currently held assumptions and reframe complex health problems. Lastly, the author addresses the implications—of adopting a CSS approach to theorizing—for practice, policy development, and training of the future public health workforce.

Bridging the Divide

2020 ◽  
pp. 3-14
Author(s):  
Yorghos Apostolopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factor ◽  
Complex Systems ◽  
Population Health ◽  
Health Science ◽  
The Other ◽  
Systems Science ◽  
Shared Understanding ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
The One ◽  
Complex Systems Science

This chapter contextualizes the volume and describes its organization. It begins by delving into the limitations of the prevailing reductionist paradigm in population health science and the need for a transition from a typically risk factor–based science to a science that recognizes the whole and relationships among parts of pressing population health problems. Next, it walks readers through distinctions between public and population health on the one hand and key concepts of complexity on the other, while offering a shared understanding of population health science and complex systems science. The chapter also lays out the design of and potential audiences for this book.

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