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Virtual
Ecosystems -- Complex Systems
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"A replay of
the tape yields an entirely different but equally
sensible outcome; small and apparently insignificant
changes lead to cascades of accumulating
differences."
Stephen J Gould - Wonderful Life |
A complex system is a system
whose global behavior is greater than the sum of its
parts. Its aggregate behavior results in static and
dynamic patterns that cannot be understood unless the
relationships between the system components are
examined. Social systems formed (in part) out of people,
the brain formed out of neurons, molecules formed out of
atoms, the weather formed out of airflows are all
examples of complex systems.
The field of complex systems cuts across all traditional
disciplines of science, as well as engineering,
management, and medicine. It focuses on certain
questions about parts, wholes and relationships. The
system's patterns cannot usually be predicted by only
studying the individual characteristics of a component
because the system behavior is different from the
behaviors of the constituent parts.
A complex system must be viewed as a distributed network
of sparsely connected components many of which can only
be described by highly non-linear spatial and temporal
relationships. To study the relationships in a complex
system, mathematical models must be created. Since a
complex system contains many factors and relationships,
it is multi-dimensional. Multidimensional mathematical
models are generally not solvable. However, the system's
interrelationships can usually be simulated with
computer programs and visualized using computer
graphics.
Using the process of iteration, a graphical model can be
stepped through time. This procedure gives the
investigator a minimum of four dimensions (x, y, z, and
time) to examine. Additional dimensions can be added by
using color and symbols. Complex systems is a relatively
new field of science studying how parts of a system give
rise to the collective behaviors of the system, and how
the system interacts with its environment.
The study of complex systems is about understanding
indirect effects. Problems that are difficult to solve
are often hard to understand because the causes and
effects are not obviously related. Pushing on a complex
system "here" often has effects "over
there" because the parts are interdependent. This
has become more and more apparent in our efforts to
solve societal problems or avoid ecological disasters
caused by our own actions.
While chaos is the study of how simple systems can
generate complicated behavior, complexity is the study
of how complicated systems can generate simple behavior.
An example of complexity is the study of fireflies.
Here, many individual systems conspire to produce a
single collective rhythm. |
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