CCSS Events Overview (May-June 2022) At the Centre for Complex Systems Studies (CCSS), we always believe in the added value of bringing different ideas and expertise together through various activities. With the possibility of meeting each other in person again, we would like to welcome you back to our CCSS and have scheduled the following on-site events:

Events Overview (May-Jun): Learn Complexity with Lunches & Ice Creams!

An Introduction to Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE)NATALIYA SHEVCHENKODECEMBER 21, 2020

An Introduction to Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE)

CCSS Meeting #50:Complexity: Evolution and a Creative Universe On Thursday 19th May (12:00 – 13:00), we will host a hybrid lecture with Prof. Peter Allen (Cranfield University, UK).

CCSS Meeting #50: Complexity: Evolution and a Creative Universe

Designing Resilient Regenerative Systems

NEW! Designing Resilient Regenerative Systems (MOOC) – Systemic Design Labs

Requisite Variety and Its Implications for the Control of Complex SystemsW. AshbyPublished 1991MathematicsRecent work on the fundamental processes of regulation in biology (Ashby, 1956) has shown the importance of a certain quantitative relation called the law of requisite variety. After this relation had been found, we appreciated that it was related to a theorem in a world far removed from the biological—that of Shannon on the quantity of noise or error that could be removed through a correction-channel (Shannon and Weaver, 1949; theorem 10). In this paper I propose to show the relationship between the two theorems, and to indicate something of their implications for regulation, in the cybernetic sense, when the system to be regulated is extremely complex.

[PDF] Requisite Variety and Its Implications for the Control of Complex Systems | Semantic Scholar

Click to access AshbyReqVar.pdf

How Embodied Is Cognition?Daniel D. HuttoPatrick McGivern4564 Views6 Pages1 File ▾Cognitive Science,Philosophy of Mind,Embodied Cognition,Philosophy of Cognitive Science,EnactivismShow more ▾E is the letter, if not the word, in today’s sciences of mind. E adjectives proliferate. Nowadays it is hard to avoid claims that cognition – perceiving, imagining, decision-making, planning – is best understood in E terms of some sort. The list of E-terms is long: embodied, enactive, extended, embedded, ecological, engaged, emotional, expressive, emergent and so on. This short piece explains: the big idea behind this movement; how it is inspired by empirical findings; why it matters; and what questions the field will face in the future. It focuses on the stronger and weaker ways that different E-approaches understand cognition as depending deeply on the dynamic ways in which cognizers use their bodies to engage with wider world.

(99+) How Embodied Is Cognition? | Daniel D. Hutto and Patrick McGivern – Academia.edu

The origin and conservation of self‐consciousness: Reflections on four questions by Heinz von FoersterHumberto Maturana Romesín KybernetesISSN: 0368-492XArticle publication date: 1 January 200

The origin and conservation of self‐consciousness: Reflections on four questions by Heinz von Foerster | Emerald Insight

Full text: https://www.univie.ac.at/constructivism/pub/hvf/papers/maturana05selfconsciousness.html

Asymptotic burnout and homeostatic awakening: a possible solution to the Fermi paradox?Michael L. Wong and Stuart BartlettPublished:04 May 2022

Asymptotic burnout and homeostatic awakening: a possible solution to the Fermi paradox? | Journal of The Royal Society Interface

On Twitter,

@fluffbuster says:

Hey Sys Thinkers & Change If you want practise thinking about just 3 simultaneous interacting causes – here is a great video. Also – see how clear simple semantic-triplet statements about Things/Properties/Relations can communicate anything, even .

What is VSMod ®?VSMod® is the software created to facilitate the application of the Organizational Cybernetics and more specifically the Viable System Model to the design or diagnosis of organizations from the point of view of their viability.VSMod® helps, in first place, to design a new organization, by providing the means to create its structure and to guide the designer during the process of identification of the functions required for its viability, as well as the communication channels required by those functions to work properly. The other fundamental use is to help the diagnosis of any organization from the point of view of its viability.VSMod® permits the following activities:Creating a new VSM study or modifying an existing one.Creating the structure of a complete system using as many recursion criteria as wished.To navigate through the structure of the systemVisualising the complete detailed map of the VSM corresponding to the system-in-focus selected.Adding information to the model in any format (text, audio, video, graphics, simulation models, links to web pages, etc.) and in every one of the VSM components (including communication channels, environments, etc.).All the above-mentioned functions relating to the addition or visualisation of information may be carried out at each of the recursion levels identified for the model.As well as many other features…

VSMod – Home

Intro video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLKvLyDTpF4&t=6s

Our recently released report “Catalysing Change 2022” tells the story of the movement over the last two years and highlights the seven lessons of growing “catalytic networks”. This report is written for those who are looking to organise collectively for change, in particular, those who are seeking to exchange a competitive mindset for a collaborative one. It is designed to support leaders from all sectors – NGOs, non-profit organisations, social enterprises, businesses, government agencies, media and civil society – to work together to accelerate progress on the SDGs.

Catalysing Change 2022 – Catalyst 2030

Community

The Santa Fe Institute community lecture series has been running for more than 30 years. We bring the best minds to Santa Fe to discuss the most profound questions in 21st century science and society — always with a complexity angle!OverviewRooted in Santa Fe, New Mexico and extending through our global network of researchers and scholars, the Santa Fe Institute brings leading thinkers to the local community through its signature Community Lecture series.For more than 30 years, this popular series has engaged the Santa Fe community with lively and diverse talks exploring a variety of topics, from cutting-edge research insights to the nature of human creativity. Lectures are free and open to the public. For those unable to attend in person, you can live stream all of our lectures from the Santa Fe Institute’s YouTube page. 

Community | Santa Fe Institute

LEARNING TO THINK IN SYSTEMS TO TACKLE COMPLEXITY

Published Date: 10 May 2022

In a complex and volatile world, many parts of the public sector are struggling with policy challenges that cut across agencies and jurisdictions and involve actors inside and outside government.

David R. Keith, Assistant Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, believes that understanding system dynamics – and where governments fit into broader systems – can improve public sector leaders’ ability to deliver better responses to complex challenges.

Prof. Keith is one of the new masterclass presenters in ANZSOG’s Future public sector leaders’ series and will deliver the Diagnosing and Solving Complex Policy Problems masterclass on 1 June. The masterclass will introduce public sector leaders to System Dynamics, a methodology for the modelling and analysis of complex systems and design of high-leverage interventions.

Learning to think in systems to tackle complexity | ANZSOG

Article

Open Access

Published: 10 May 2022

Marginal speed confinement resolves the conflict between correlation and control in collective behaviour

Andrea Cavagna, Antonio Culla, Xiao Feng, Irene Giardina, Tomas S. Grigera, Willow Kion-Crosby, Stefania Melillo, Giulia Pisegna, Lorena Postiglione & Pablo Villegas 

Nature Communications

volume 13, Article number: 2315 (2022)

Abstract

Speed fluctuations of individual birds in natural flocks are moderate, due to the aerodynamic and biomechanical constraints of flight. Yet the spatial correlations of such fluctuations are scale-free, namely they have a range as wide as the entire group, a property linked to the capacity of the system to collectively respond to external perturbations. Scale-free correlations and moderate fluctuations set conflicting constraints on the mechanism controlling the speed of each agent, as the factors boosting correlation amplify fluctuations, and vice versa. Here, using a statistical field theory approach, we suggest that a marginal speed confinement that ignores small deviations from the natural reference value while ferociously suppressing larger speed fluctuations, is able to reconcile scale-free correlations with biologically acceptable group’s speed. We validate our theoretical predictions by comparing them with field experimental data on starling flocks with group sizes spanning an unprecedented interval of over two orders of magnitude.

Marginal speed confinement resolves the conflict between correlation and control in collective behaviour | Nature Communications

The latest on flocking/murmurations. I have enquired about connections to the famous SFI/Langton work here:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6929809303751012353?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A%28activity%3A6929809303751012353%2C6929916328275283968%29

(Thanks to m’colleague Arthur Battram)

CONFERENCEComplexity and change: thinking, practices and processes for addressing global challenges 5 – 9 September 2022Online

Complexity and change: thinking, practices and processes for addressing global challenges