Complexity Theory
Complexity theory in computer science studies the resources required to solve computational problems, such as time and space. It explores the inherent difficulty of problems and classifies them based on their computational complexity. This field aims to understand the limits of efficient computation and the relationships between different types of problems.
4 Key excerpts on "Complexity Theory"
- Eoin Flaherty(Author)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Palgrave Macmillan(Publisher)
...“Complexity” refers to ordered phenomena in a high-dimensional system (i.e., with high degrees of freedom) that emerge from a large number of interactions among system components. (Sawyer 2005 : 15) ‘Complexity’ as a distinctive field of thought and practice owes its coherence to input from the fields of systems science, cybernetics, sociology, philosophy, and artificial intelligence (Castellani and Hafferty 2009), through which a formal programme of cross-disciplinary research began. Its popularisation owes significant debt to its most prominent research group, the Santa Fe institute – to which Brian Arthur would subsequently contribute – founded in 1984 by physical chemist George Cowan. It thus shares many commonalities and continuities with general systems theory. Its founders and proponents were drawn predominantly from the natural sciences, and both emerged out of a common concern with the perceived dominance of reductionism in scientific method (Hammond 2003 ; Skyttner 2005 ; Castellani and Hafferty 2009). As an emerging paradigm, it offered a significant challenge to accepted scientific assumptions: While a Newtonian universe was founded on stability and order, chaos theory teaches that instability and disorder are not only widespread in nature, but essential to the evolution of complexity in the universe. Thus chaos theory, as relativity theory and quantum theory before it, presents another strike against the singular determinism of a Newtonian view of the natural realm. (Eliot and Kiel 2004 : 2) Chaos and complexity therefore describes a paradigm through which, for the social sciences at least, reductionist approaches are questioned, and the role of general law-bound processes in the production of social change, is subjected to critical scrutiny. The complexity account is different from established approaches to causal explanation in historical sociology, and Goldstone (1998) identifies three such established modes of causal reasoning...
eBook - ePubEducation for Sustainable Development in the Postcolonial World
Towards a Transformative Agenda for Africa
- Leon Tikly(Author)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...2 Introducing complex systems Introduction In providing a critique of global and national agendas and in seeking to outline an alternative, transformative account of education for sustainable development, the book draws on recent scholarship in Complexity Theory and, in particular, work on the nature of complex systems. The aim of this chapter is to provide an introduction to the view of complex systems that informs the remainder of the book. At a deep ontological level, the understanding of complexity can be said to inform the other theoretical approaches that will be introduced in later chapters. 1 The chapter will commence with a brief overview of the nature of Complexity Theory and of complex systems. The second half of the chapter will reflect on some of the implications for understanding and researching education system change that arise from an appreciation of complexity and that have informed the book. Why Complexity Theory? Complexity Theory has its origins in the natural sciences where it has been applied to a wide variety of disciplinary fields, including neuroscience, ecology, epidemiology, computer science, and the study of physical phenomena such as turbulent fluids, gravitational systems in space, and to the intricacies of living cells (Capra 2005; Waldrop 1992; Cairney 2012; Geyer and Cairney 2015). Complexity Theory has, however, become increasingly influential within the social sciences (Byrne and Callaghan 2014; Elliot 2013). The attraction lies partly in the extent to which it draws attention to phenomena or behaviours that pertain at a system level and arise from the interaction between elements within a system. It thus seems suited to a book that is fundamentally concerned with understanding education systems...
eBook - ePubPosthuman International Relations
Complexity, Ecologism and Global Politics
- Doctor Erika Cudworth, Doctor Stephen Hobden(Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Zed Books(Publisher)
...2 • Complexity Theory in the study of the social world In this chapter we examine the ways in which complexity ideas have been adopted across a range of social sciences and humanities. We do this for two reasons. First, to establish that complexity approaches have found a wide range of applications. This does not, of course, mean that it is necessarily the case that a complexity approach is appropriate in the study of international relations. However, it does suggest, given that complexity thinking has established a foothold across a range of studies of the social world, that its potential is worthy of consideration. Secondly, we wish to draw attention to the variety of different ways in which complexity ideas have been appropriated. In short, there is not one Complexity Theory, but a variety of approaches, all of which draw upon a shared cluster of ideas. While virtually all of the approaches that have been developed using complexity ideas share some similarities, this is often fairly limited. There are various conceptions of what constitutes complexity, how we might analyse it, and what the implications are for our understanding of the human and non-human realms. A particular distinction can be drawn between those approaches that view complexity as a feature of models or metaphors that we might use to analyse the social world (a majority view) and those that see complexity as ontologically real. In the second half of the chapter we draw up a typology of approaches which could be described as complexity, and attempt to distinguish between them and their implications. We advocate an approach that we describe as ‘differentiated complexity’, which we see as radical, thick (Strand 2007) and general (Morin 2007). Complexity and the social sciences For some parts of the social sciences, the impact of complexity thinking is a very recent affair. Certainly, in international relations, work drawing on complexity ideas is very new...
eBook - ePubComplexity, Management and the Dynamics of Change
Challenges for Practice
- Elizabeth McMillan(Author)
- 2008(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...The use of the term ‘complexity’ derives from the nature of the systems which are the chief focus of study. These dynamical systems are made up of many interacting agents who respond and react to each other in a constant interplay. This over time leads to the creation of ever more complex, complicated and multilayered patterns of behaviour and existence. For example, the activities of many agents (people) interacting in a common sphere of interest leads to the determining of prices and the creation of financial markets. The human brain, too, is made up of millions and millions of neurons or individual agents. These all operate within their own sub systems, such as the cerebellum, amygdala or the hypothalamus. But they all work together, co-operating and co-ordinating and in so doing create the amazing living system that is the human brain. Complexity scientists seek to understand these complex, dynamical, highly unpredictable features of our world in order to discover their underlying principles and to understand how they respond, react and create the natural order that binds our universe together. Complexity science takes a holistic attitude to things. This gives it a fresh perspective and new insights into dificult concepts such as the nature of consciousness, intelligence and life itself. It has been found very useful in advancing understanding in a wide number of applications including biological, ecological, physical, social and economic systems. More recently it has been applied to legal studies, politics, psychology and psychological theory, philosophy, medicine and health care and, of course, management and organizational studies. Complexity science (including chaos), challenges much of the established, classical, scientific view. For example, it considers that small details and changes do matter and are of considerable significance. It is concerned with understanding paradoxes and contradictions and with the exploration of irregularities...
