Organized complexity
description
Transcript of Organized complexity
![Page 1: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
Organized complexity
![Page 2: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
Papers:
Lazebnik, Y [2002]. "Can a biologist fix a radio?--Or, what I learned while studying apoptosis". Cancer Cell, 2(3):179-182.
Simon, H.A. [1962]. "The Architecture of Complexity". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 106: pp. 467-482.
Klir, G.J. [2001]. Facets of systems Science. Springer. Chapters: 3, 8, and 11.
This week’s discussion
![Page 3: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
Systems movement Roots:
Mathematics Computer Technology Systems Thinking
Cybernetics Functional equivalence Communication and information Complexity Interdisciplinary outlook Bio-inspired mathematics and computing Computing/Mechanism-inspired biology and social
science
1965: Society for the Advancement of General Systems Theory
Ludwig von Bertalanffy
Anatol Rapoport
RalphGerard
KennethBoulding
![Page 4: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
Warren Weaver’s classes of systems and problems
Organized simplicity Classical mathematical tools Calculus and differential equations Problems with a very small number of
components With perfectly predicted behavior Deterministic
Disorganized complexity Statistical tools Very large number of components High degree of unpredictability Randomness
Organized complexity Sizable number of components which are
interrelated into an organic whole Study of organization Systems where whole is more than sum of parts Need for new mathematical and computational
tools
Organizedsimplicity
Disorganized complexity
Organized Complexity
Complexity
Rand
omne
ss
Weaver, W (1948) Science and Complexity, American Scientist, 36: 536 (1948).
![Page 5: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
Examples
Organizedsimplicity
Disorganized complexity
Organized Complexity
Complexity
Rand
omne
ss
![Page 6: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
From systems science to informatics
organized complexity study of organization
“Whole is more than sum of parts” Systemhood properties Holism vs. Reductionism
Need for new mathematical and computational tools Massive combinatorial searches Problems that can only be tackled with computers Computer as lab
Understanding function Of wholes
Systems biology Evolutionary thinking
Systems thinking Emergence: How do elements combine to form new
unities?
Organizedsimplicity
Disorganized complexity
Organized Complexity
Complexity
Rand
omne
ss
![Page 7: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
Models of organized complexity Systemhood properties
Search for a language of generalized circuits Isomorphy of concepts, laws and models Minimize duplication of efforts across fields Unity of science
Not mathematics. Kenneth Boulding: “in a sense, because mathematics contains all theories it contains none; it is the
language of theory, but it does not give us the content” “body of systematic theoretical construction which will discuss general relationships
of the empirical World”. “somewhere between the specific that has no meaning and the general that has no
content there must be, for each purpose an at each level of abstraction, an optimum degree of generality”.
Empirical and problem-driven Other relevant areas
Cybernetics and Information theory (Shannon and Weaver) Mathematical theories of control and generalized circuits Optimal scheduling and resource allocation (operations research)
Ludwig von Bertalanffy
KennethBoulding
Boulding's 1st Law: "Anything that exists is possible."
![Page 8: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
“Two-dimensional science” Science in the post-industrial age
Industrial society One-dimensional science
Organized simplicity and disorganized complexity Thinghood-driven, reductionist
Information society Two-dimensional science
Thinghood and systemhood Integration of empirical science with general systems Problem-driven, understanding function Understanding of levels of generality
Historical sequence of societies: Pre-industrial: “extractive” industries, manual labor, mining, low energy
density Industrial: large-scale production, machine technology Information: computational technology and trades, information
processing, services Man -> machine -> computer
George Klir
![Page 9: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
Stepping back a bit: information, what is it?
SIGN
Thing
ICON
![Page 10: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
Stepping back a bit: information, what is it?
“Information is that which reduces uncertainty”. (Claude Shannon)“Information is that which changes us”. (Gregory Bateson)“Information is a semantic chameleon”. (Rene Thom)
The word information derives from the Latin informare in + formare = give form, shape, or character to. It is therefore to be the formative principle of, or to imbue with some specific character or quality.From: Von Bayer, H.C. [2004]. Information: The New Language of Science. Harvard University Press., Chapter 3, pp 20-21.\
![Page 11: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
Systems science: cross-disciplinary For hundreds of years, the word information has been used to signify knowledge
and related terms such as meaning, instruction, communication, representation, signs, symbols, etc.
“the action of informing; formation or molding of the mind or character, training, instruction, teaching; communication of instructive knowledge”. Oxford English Dictionary
Two of the most outstanding achievements of science in the XX century Invention of Digital Computers and Information Technology Birth of Molecular Biology
Resulted in the generation of vast amounts of data and information and new understandings of the concept of information itself
Modern science is unraveling the nature of information in numerous areas such as communication theory, biology, neuroscience, cognitive science, and education, among others.
Organization very tied to idea of information Essential for systems approaches Cf. Rosen’s comments on energy vs. communication
![Page 12: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
Information as representation We often presume that such and such information is simply a factual
representation of reality but representation of reality to whom? The act of representing something as a piece of knowledge demands
the existence of a separation between the thing being represented and the representation of the thing for somebody – between the known and the knower.
This is a form of communication: the representation of an object communicates the existence of the
(known) object to the knower that recognizes the representation.
![Page 13: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
Information as representation Signs are objects whose function is to be about other things
Objects whose function is reference rather than presence. Do not deliver things but a sense or knowledge of things – a
message. Example: Road Signs
Not a distant thing; but about distant things For information to work
There has to be a system of signs Recognizable by the relevant group of people (drivers!)
![Page 14: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
Information as relation The central structure of information is a relation
among signs, objects or things, and agents capable of understanding (or decoding) the signs.
Agents are informed by a Sign about some Thing.
sign
agentsthing
![Page 15: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
Information as relation The information relation is a sign system Semiotics is the discipline that studies sign systems
sign
agentsthing
![Page 16: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
Playing with sign systems Language and sign systems surround us
We are often not aware we use them We notice them when an object oscillates between sign and thing
Reverts from reference to presence Playing with reference in sign systems is common in Art
“beware: Cliff”Or“beware: low gravity”?
![Page 17: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
Playing with sign systems
Symbols are used as pictorial objects to draw the picture of Kitty: presence
But within the silhouette of Kitty there is also a tale of cats: reference
K itty O I am my own way of being in view and yet invisible at once Hearing everything you see I see all of whatever you can have heard even inside the deep silences of black silhouettes like these images of furry surfaces darkly playing cat and mouse with your doubts about whether other minds can ever be drawn from hiding and made to be heard in inferred language I can speak only in your voice Are you done with my shadow That thread of dark word can all run out now and end our tale
by John Hollander. Kitty, Black domestic shorthair
![Page 18: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
The name of the rose
Movie version of the Umberto Eco’s book An old manuscript, the message, is
literarily dangerous Becomes literally poisonous reference and presence become
very intertwined indeed!
![Page 19: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
Play on reference The accepted meaning of the symbols
conflicts with the object Highlights how arbitrary symbols are
The Key of Dreams, 1930, Rene Maggritte
“This is not a pipe”
![Page 20: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
When is an object a sign or a thing?
![Page 21: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
Semiotics and informatics Semantics
the content or meaning of the Sign of a Thing for an Agent Relations between signs and objects for an agent the study of meaning.
Syntax the characteristics of signs and symbols devoid of meaning
Relations among signs such as their rules of operation, production, storage, and manipulation.
Pragmatics the context of signs and repercussions of sign-systems in an
environment it studies how context influences the interpretation of signs
and how well a signs-system represents some aspect of the environment
info
rmat
ion
infro
mat
ics
![Page 22: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
(Peirce’s) Typology of Signs Icons are direct representations of objects.
Similar to the thing they represent. Pictorial road signs, scale models, computer icons.
A footprint on the sand is an icon of a foot. Common in computer interface (watch the evil
metaphore!)
![Page 23: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
(Peirce’s) Typology of Signs Indices are indirect representations of objects, but necessarily
related. Smoke is an index of fire, the bell is an index of the tolling
stroke a footprint is an index of a person.
![Page 24: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/24.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
(Peirce’s) Typology of Signs Symbols are arbitrary representations of objects
Require exclusively a social convention to be understood Convention establishes a code, agreed by a group of agents, for
understanding (decoding) the information contained in symbols. Smoke is an index of fire, but if we agree on an appropriate code
(e.g. Morse code) we can use smoke signals to communicate symbolically.
Internally consistent coding + indices: ~ non-arbitrary symbols
![Page 25: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/25.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
(Peirce’s) Typology of Signs Icons are direct representations of objects.
Similar to the thing they represent. Pictorial road signs, scale models, computer icons.
A footprint on the sand is an icon of a foot. Indices are indirect representations of objects, but necessarily related.
Smoke is an index of fire, the bell is an index of the tolling stroke a footprint is an index of a person.
Symbols are arbitrary representations of objects Require exclusively a social convention to be understood
Convention establishes a code, agreed by a group of agents, for understanding (decoding) the information contained in symbols.
Smoke is an index of fire, but if we agree on an appropriate code (e.g. Morse code) we can use smoke signals to communicate symbolically.
![Page 26: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/26.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
Assignment: Blackbox I-http://www.cs.indiana.edu/~jbollen/blackboxI501/BlackBox.html-Due on October 21, 2009 (16:00 EDT)-Deliver to OnCourse folder-Deliverable: report on your findings with regards to quadrants 2 and 3
- Describe observations, collect data from online applet- Formulate hypotheses with regards to underlying algorithm- Verify/falsify hypotheses by means of data analysis
Quadrant 2
Quadrant 3
![Page 27: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/27.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
Discussion questions Lazebnik, Y [2002]. "Can a biologist fix a radio?--Or, what I
learned while studying apoptosis". Cancer Cell, 2(3):179-182. Lazebnik seems to omit one important distinction between engineers and scientists. How does it affect his argument?
Simon, H.A. [1962]. "The Architecture of Complexity". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 106: pp. 467-482.
Simon discusses the issue of hierarchic span. What kind of effect could the internet and modern communication systems have on the span/broadness of social systems?
Klir, G.J. [2001]. Facets of systems Science. Springer. Chapters: 3, 8, and 11.
Klir discusses Bremermann’s limit: can you think of ways of computing that would alter this limit?
![Page 28: Organized complexity](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/568165a1550346895dd87f01/html5/thumbnails/28.jpg)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
Lecture 4 – Fall 2009
Next class
Aleksander, I. [2002]. “Understanding Information Bit by Bit”. In: It must be beautiful : great equations of modern science. G. Farmelo (Ed.), Granta, London.
Rosvall, M and Bergstrom, C (2007) Maps of random walks on complex networks reveal community structure. PNAS January 29, 2008 vol. 105 no. 4 1118-1123