scholarly journals CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS FOR THE JUSTIFICATION OF THE USE OF MICROSCOPIC ENTROPY EVOLUTION OPERATORS, TRANSFORMATIONS AND INTERNAL TIME IN THE THEORY OF DURABILITY STRUCTURALLY AND FUNCTIONALLY COMPLEX SYSTEMS

Author(s):  
V.A. Ostreykovskiy ◽  
◽  
S.A. Lysenkova ◽  
V.G. Nedorezov ◽  
N.K. Yurkov ◽  
...  
Author(s):  
J. Ladyman ◽  
K. Wiesner

This introductory chapter provides an overview and a brief history of complexity science, which is the study of complex systems. All living systems and all intelligent systems are complex systems. Complexity science is relatively new but already indispensable. Many of the most important problems in engineering, medicine, and public policy are now addressed with the ideas and methods of complexity science. However, there is no agreement about the definition of 'complexity' or 'complex system', nor even about whether a definition is possible or needed. The conceptual foundations of complexity science are disputed, and there are many and diverging views among scientists about what complexity and complex systems are. Even the status of complexity as a discipline can be questioned given that it potentially covers almost everything. The origins of complexity science lie in cybernetics and systems theory, both of which began in the 1950s. Complexity science is related to dynamical systems theory, which matured in the 1970s, and to the study of cellular automata, which were invented at the end of the 1940s. By then computer science had become established as a new scientific discipline.


Author(s):  
James Ladyman ◽  
Karoline Wiesner

What is a complex system? Although “complexity science” is used to understand phenomena as diverse as the behavior of honeybees, the economic markets, the human brain, and the climate, there is no agreement about its foundations. In this introduction for students, academics, and general readers, the authors develop an account of complexity that brings the different concepts and mathematical measures applied to complex systems into a single framework. The book begins with an overview and a brief history of complexity science. Complexity science is relatively new but already indispensable. Many of the most important problems in engineering, medicine, and public policy are now addressed with the ideas and methods of complexity science. The conceptual foundations of complexity science are disputed, and there are many and diverging views among scientists about what complexity and complex systems are. Its origins lie in cybernetics and systems theory and it is related to dynamical systems theory and the study of cellular automata. The book introduces the different features of complex systems and discusses different conceptions of complexity with the authors documenting their own account. In do so, they explain why complexity science is so important in today's world.


PsycCRITIQUES ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 58 (15) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Gordon
Keyword(s):  

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