The Abstraction of Information in Complex Systems

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In complex systems, interactions between agents involve an exchange of energy, matter, or information. Information, as an abstract concept, plays a crucial role in studying complex systems. It can be represented through words, numbers, or other means. Information allows us to communicate location, as well as convey news or advice in various domains such as economics or biology. In biological systems, information flows into the system through pathogens or viruses, and this information is then abstracted within the system to activate specific cells or particles.

In most of our episodes so far, we've taken a single concept and looked at it through the context of a single example. But in this episode and the next, we're going to pull back the camera to get a bird's-eye view of complexity science, by exploring the features common to all complex systems.

We're joined again by Karoline Wiesner, Professor of Complexity Science in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Potsdam in Germany. In this episode, Karoline is going to explain four conditions that we see in complexity science: numerosity, disorder and diversity, feedback, and non-equilibrium. At the end of the episode, she's going to bring them all together to explain a central concept of complex systems: emergence.

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