COMPLEXITY
Carlos Gershenson on Balance, Criticality, Antifragility, and The Philosophy of Complex Systems
Episode guests
Podcast summary created with Snipd AI
Quick takeaways
- Complex systems challenge predictability and reductionist approaches by highlighting the importance of interactions and the concept of computational irreducibility.
- Organizations must balance robustness and adaptability to effectively deal with complexity and dynamic problems.
- Designing anti-fragile systems requires understanding the interconnectedness of humans with nature and shifting focus towards enhancing our ability to inhabit nature.
Deep dives
The Influence of Complexity on Predictability
Complex systems, characterized by interactions and the generation of new information, challenge the predictability offered by reductionist approaches. While reductionism simplifies to enable prediction, it tends to overlook interactions. The concept of computational irreducibility further highlights the limitations of predictability. The balance between robustness and adaptability emerges as an essential consideration, allowing for the exploration of new possibilities while maintaining functioning systems. Heterogeneity plays a crucial role in effective adaptation, as relevant elements remain stable while less relevant ones explore and innovate.
The Implications of Complexity for Organizations
Organizations often struggle to deal with complexity due to limited variety, the ability to handle diverse challenges. Ashby's Law of Requisite Variety states that a controller needs at least the same variety as the system it aims to control. Many organizations lack the variety required to effectively deal with complex systems and dynamic problems. Balancing robustness and adaptability is essential to accommodate the changing nature of systems. Organizations must determine the appropriate level of adaptability to address unexpected challenges, while also retaining stability.
The Role of Anti-Fragility and Taking Our Place in Nature
Anti-fragility, coined by Nassim Taleb, describes systems that benefit from perturbations and thrive in the face of noise. However, designing anti-fragile systems requires knowledge about the magnitude of perturbations, which is often challenging due to computational irreducibility. The belief that humans can control nature is being replaced with the understanding that humans are part of nature. Consequently, our focus should shift towards enhancing our ability to inhabit nature rather than attempting to transform it completely. This perspective aligns with certain aspects of Buddhist philosophy that emphasize the interconnectedness and indivisibility of the observer, the observed, and the act of observing.
Adaptation vs Prediction in Complex Systems
When dealing with complex problems that undergo constant change, it is often more effective to shift the approach from prediction to adaptation. By accepting the unpredictable nature of these problems, one can achieve better performance and even surpass optimal outcomes. For example, public transportation systems can benefit from this approach, known as super optimality. In a rapidly moving world, where technological infrastructure is constantly advancing, it is crucial to address issues on the appropriate time scale. Failure to do so can result in snap judgments and negative consequences, such as stereotypes affecting interactions between authorities and citizens. Embracing adaptation and balance between order and chaos can lead to more sustainable solutions.
Criticality and the Benefits of Heterogeneity
Complex systems often exhibit criticality, a regime between order and chaos, which offers the benefits of both phases. Criticality requires a delicate balance that can be achieved through structural, temporal, and functional heterogeneities within the system. Including heterogeneity in models leads to properties similar to those observed in critical systems. This understanding can facilitate decision-making and search processes. However, the challenge lies in making informed decisions in scenarios where multiple variables interact and optimal solutions are hard to identify. Balancing individuality and cooperation is vital, as is encouraging multi-disciplinary collaboration to find better alternatives.
How do we get a handle on complex systems thinking? What are the implications of this science for philosophy, and where does philosophical tradition foreshadow findings from the scientific frontier?
Welcome to COMPLEXITY, the official podcast of the Santa Fe Institute. I’m your host, Michael Garfield, and every other week we’ll bring you with us for far-ranging conversations with our worldwide network of rigorous researchers developing new frameworks to explain the deepest mysteries of the universe.
In this episode we speak with Carlos Gershenson (UNAM website, Google Scholar, Wikipedia, Twitter), SFI Sabbatical Visitor and professor of computer science at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, where he leads the Self-organizing Systems Lab, among many other titles you can find in our show notes. For the next hour, we’ll discuss his decades of research and writing on a vast array of core complex systems concepts and their intersections with both Western and Eastern philosophical traditions — a first for this podcast.
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Mentioned & Related Links:
Carlos publishes the Complexity Digest Newsletter.
His SFI Seminars to date:
A Brief History of Balance
Emergence, (Self)Organization, and Complexity
Criticality: A Balance Between Robustness and Adaptability
Festina lente (the slower-is-faster effect)
Antifragility: Dynamical Balance
W. Ross Ashby & The Law of Requisite Variety
Hyperobjects
by Timothy Morton
How can we think the complex?
by Carlos Gershenson and Francis Heylighen
The Implications of Interactions for Science and Philosophy
by Carlos Gershenson
Complexity and Philosophy
by Francis Heylighen, Paul Cilliers, Carlos Gershenson
Heterogeneity extends criticality
by Fernanda Sánchez-Puig, Octavio Zapata, Omar K, Pineda, Gerardo Iñiguez, and Carlos Gershenson
When Can we Call a System Self-organizing?
by Carlos Gershenson and Francis Heylighen
Temporal, Structural, and Functional Heterogeneities Extend Criticality and Antifragility in Random Boolean Networks
by Amahury Jafet López-Díaz, Fernanda Sánchez-Puig, and Carlos Gershenson
When slower is faster
by Carlos Gershenson, Dirk Helbing
Self-organization leads to supraoptimal performance in public transportation systems
by Carlos Gershenson
Dynamics of ranking
by Gerardo Iñiguez, Carlos Pineda, Carlos Gershenson, & Albert-László Barabási
Self-Organizing Traffic Lights
by Carlos Gershenson
Dynamic competition and resource partitioning during the early life of two widespread, abundant and ecologically similar fishes
by A. D. Nunn, L. H. Vickers, K. Mazik, J. D. Bolland, G. Peirson, S. N. Axford, A. Henshaw & I. G. Cowx
Towards a general theory of balance
by Carlos Gershenson
A Calculus for Self-Reference
by Francisco Varela
On Some Mental Effects of The Earthquake
by William James
Self-Organization Leads to Supraoptimal Performance in Public Transportation Systems
by Carlos Gershenson
Alison Gopnik on Child Development, Elderhood, Caregiving, and A.I.
Complexity Ep. 99
Simon DeDeo on Good Explanations & Diseases of Epistemology
Complexity Ep. 72
David Wolpert on The No Free Lunch Theorems and Why They Undermine The Scientific Method
Complexity Ep. 45
The Clock of the Long Now: Time and Responsibility
by Stewart Brand
Does Free Will Violate The Laws of Physics?
Big Think interviews Sean Carroll
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