antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor 7:20 pm on March 1, 2020

Living in the Material World | Andrew Pickering (2013)

via Living in the Material World | SpringerLink

Pickering A. (2013) Living in the Material World. In: de Vaujany FX., Mitev N. (eds) Materiality and Space. Technology, Work and Globalization. Palgrave Macmillan, London

Materiality and Space pp 25-40| Cite as

Living in the Material World

Andrew Pickering

Part of the Technology, Work and Globalization book series (TWG)

Abstract

My topic is materiality and how ideas on materiality from my field — science and technology studies (STS) — might cross over into management and organization studies. ‘Sociomateriality’ (Orlikowski & Scott, 2008) is already an important topic in management and organizations, but I will try to widen the frame. We can start with technologies of the self, then turn to industry and technoscience, and finally explore an odd form of management which builds in the perspective that I want to develop. The overall idea is to multiply our sense of the many different ways in which matter is intertwined with us.

Keywords

Viable System Model Gambling Machine Biological Computing Emergent Material Traditional Chinese Philosophy

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

via Living in the Material World | SpringerLink

antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor 7:13 pm on March 1, 2020

Why is understanding that “Systems” are conceptual models and not real world entities important?

Systems Ninja

Why is understanding that “Systems” are conceptual models and not real world entities important?

One word: Humble. Take the blind men and the elephant example.

Blind Men

The elephant is different to them all, but they are all, also correct. It is the story teller who is wrong. They show extreme arrogance to believe that only they can see the whole elephant.

The elephant is a metaphor which can explain Stafford Beers POSIWID: The purpose of a system is what the system does. A system does different things for different people at different times. Therefore that purpose is both perspective based and emergent.

This is an example of Purposive: purpose given, which requires an observer to give purpose to what they have defined as a “system to do”. “My system to clean my clothes”

In doing so they define the boundaries, what’s in and what is out. They understand how the system…

View original post 802 more words

antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor 5:21 pm on March 1, 2020

Constructivism at the Gemba – Harish Jose

https://harishsnotebook.wordpress.com/2020/03/01/constructivism-at-the-gemba/

Harish's Notebook - My notes... Lean, Cybernetics, Quality & Data Science.

forester

Gemba is one of the most emphasized words in Toyota Production System and Lean. Gemba is where the real action takes place, where one should go to gather the facts. As I ventured into Systems Thinking and Cybernetics, especially the teachings of Heinz von Foerster, it gave me a chance to reflect upon ‘gemba’. Often, we talk about gemba being an objective reality existing independent of us, and one which we can understand if we spend enough time in it. What I have come to realize is that the question of whether an objective reality exists is not the right one to ask. For me, the important question is not whether there is a reality (ontology), but how do you come to know that which we refer to as reality (epistemology).

I will start off with the famous aphorism of West Churchman, a key Systems Thinker:

“A systems approach begins…

View original post 1,345 more words

antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor 5:11 pm on March 1, 2020

Simon Parker on Twitter: “Systems folk… I’m really intrigued by Donella’s transcending paradigms leverage point. Has anyone got a good example of where using this point has worked in practice?” / Twitter

via (1) Simon Parker on Twitter: “Systems folk… I’m really intrigued by Donella’s transcending paradigms leverage point. Has anyone got a good example of where using this point has worked in practice?” / Twitter

Systems folk… I'm really intrigued by Donella's transcending paradigms leverage point. Has anyone got a good example of where using this point has worked in practice?

— Simon Parker (@SimonFParker) February 27, 2020

This led to some interesting tweets and this little blog from me – https://medium.com/@antlerboy/what-does-the-power-to-transcend-paradigms-mean-306be913ff2a

antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor 2:57 pm on February 26, 2020

Systems Thinking Ontario – 2020-03-16

details at link Systems Thinking Ontario – 2020-03-16

2020-03-16

March 16 (the third Monday of a month with 5 weeks) is the 77th meeting for Systems Thinking Ontario. The registration is at https://ecological-understanding.eventbrite.com.

Systems Thinking and Ecological Understanding

The prefix “eco-” is used in systems thinking and systems sciences in multiple ways:

the socio-ecological systems perspective;
(social-) ecological systems + panarchy;
the ecosystem approach

These relate to an ecological understanding (epistemology) of the world, on a variety of primary systems of interest. What does that entail? Based on that understanding, might we intervene with willful action, or follow an non-intrusive path according to nature?

This Systems Thinking Ontario session will follow the agenda for a lecture in the Systemic Design course, of the master’s program in Strategic Foresight & Innovation at OCADU. As in the February session, we still step through the slides slowly, and nurture a conversation that encourages participants to develop a personal appreciation through collective sensemaking.

Venue:

OCADU, sLab (Strategic Innovation Lab), 205 Richmond Street West, Room 410

Suggested pre-reading:

We will NOT cover all of the slides in the lecture presentation deck, and may defer topics for a subsequent meeting.

“Why (Intervene in) Systems Changes? Errors, Attention and Traps through an Ecological Understanding” | David Ing | January 2020 at http://coevolving.com/commons/20200129-ocadu-systems-changes-errors-attention-traps .
Blog post: “Why (Intervene in) Systems Changes?” | Feb. 15, 2020 at http://coevolving.com/blogs/index.php/archive/why-intervene-in-systems-changes/ includes web video and audio recordings.

Agenda

(see link)

Post-meeting artifacts

Bloggers are encouraged to write about their learning and experiences at the meeting. Links will be added to this page.

details at link Systems Thinking Ontario – 2020-03-16

antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor 2:54 pm on February 26, 2020

Systems change at the frontline – Think NPC, London 29 April 2020, am (from £55/bursaries available)

full details at link Systems change at the frontline – Think NPC

Systems change at the frontline

About this event

The term ‘systems change’ is being used more and more across the social sector. There is growing recognition that social problems are complex and that systems change is needed to improve people’s lives. Subsequently a growing number of charities and funders are aiming to change systems through their strategies, services and grant-making programmes.

But people engaging with systems change at the frontline face a range of barriers to success. The language of systems change can be alienating and the work is messy and emotionally draining. Funders can be reluctant to fund systems change work, senior leaders can be risk-averse, and power structures and cultural norms are resistant to change.

So what does it take to influence systems change at the frontline?

This seminar will:

Explore the barriers faced by people trying to influence systems change;
Showcase real examples of systems change at the frontline;
Discuss what kind of strategies and leadership are needed to embed systems change approaches.

Speakers will be announced closer to the event.

This event is part of our 2020 Leading Impact series of seminars.

from £55
29 April 2020, 9:45 am – 12:15 pm
Resource for London, 356 Holloway Road, London, N7 6PA

BOOK NOW

For further information:
events@thinkNPC.org

NPC is pleased to offer bursary places at each of the seminars in our Leading Impact series. These are available to representatives of charities with an annual turnover of under £500,000, who have not previously attended an NPC event. There are four bursary spaces per event, available on a first come, first served basis. To apply for our bursary places, please let us know your organisation’s charity number and how your organisation would benefit from attending this seminar by emailing events@thinkNPC.org

full details at link Systems change at the frontline – Think NPC

antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor 9:40 am on February 26, 2020

A free online introduction to artificial intelligence for non-experts

via A free online introduction to artificial intelligence for non-experts

Elements of AI

eu2019fi Start course FAQ

🎉Good News! 🎉 The Elements of AI course will soon be available in all EU languages. Read more here →

Welcome to the Elements of AI free online course!

Join over 350,000 other people learning about the basics of AI.

Select language

English→

Start the course →

Are you wondering how AI might affect your job or your life?

Do you want to learn more about what AI really means — and how it’s created?

Do you want to understand how AI will develop and affect us in the coming years?

Our goal is to demystify AI

The Elements of AI is a series of free online courses created by Reaktor and the University of Helsinki. We want to encourage as broad a group of people as possible to learn what AI is, what can (and can’t) be done with AI, and how to start creating AI methods. The courses combine theory with practical exercises and can be completed at your own pace.

Part 1

Introduction to AI

An Introduction to AI is a free online course for everyone interested in learning what AI is, what is possible (and not possible) with AI, and how it affects our lives – with no complicated math or programming required.

Explore the course →

Part 2, coming early 2020

Building AI

Building AI is a free online course where you’ll learn more about the actual algorithms that make creating AI methods possible. Some basic Python programmingskills are recommended to get the most out of the course.

→. ..

Read our privacy policy

— I am very impressed by the focus on AI in Finland and the training 1% of Finland’s population in AI – I wish it’s a template which other countries can use.

Sundar Pichai ,CEO, Google

— The idea has a simple nordic ring to it: Start by teaching 1 percent of the country’s population, or about 55,000 people, the basic concepts at the root of artificial technology, and gradually build on the number over the next few years.

Politico ,Finlands grand AI experiment →

— For AI to be successful, not only do we have to develop it; we also must work on finding diverse ways of utilizing AI. And it’s not just up to the engineers, which is why it’s so great that the Elements of AI course is free for anyone to attend.

Elina Lepomäki ,Member of Parliament

— AI is going to have as big an impact on our society as electricity

Risto Siilasmaa ,Chairman of board, Nokia

— I am very impressed by the focus on AI in Finland and the training 1% of Finland’s population in AI – I wish it’s a template which other countries can use.

Sundar Pichai ,CEO, Google

— The idea has a simple nordic ring to it: Start by teaching 1 percent of the country’s population, or about 55,000 people, the basic concepts at the root of artificial technology, and gradually build on the number over the next few years.

Politico ,Finlands grand AI experiment →

— For AI to be successful, not only do we have to develop it; we also must work on finding diverse ways of utilizing AI. And it’s not just up to the engineers, which is why it’s so great that the Elements of AI course is free for anyone to attend.

Elina Lepomäki ,Member of Parliament

— AI is going to have as big an impact on our society as electricity

Risto Siilasmaa ,Chairman of board, Nokia

— I am very impressed by the focus on AI in Finland and the training 1% of Finland’s population in AI – I wish it’s a template which other countries can use.

Sundar Pichai ,CEO, Google

— The idea has a simple nordic ring to it: Start by teaching 1 percent of the country’s population, or about 55,000 people, the basic concepts at the root of artificial technology, and gradually build on the number over the next few years.

Politico ,Finlands grand AI experiment →

— For AI to be successful, not only do we have to develop it; we also must work on finding diverse ways of utilizing AI. And it’s not just up to the engineers, which is why it’s so great that the Elements of AI course is free for anyone to attend.

Elina Lepomäki ,Member of Parliament

— AI is going to have as big an impact on our society as electricity

Risto Siilasmaa ,Chairman of board, Nokia

Our story so far

In spring 2018, Reaktor and the University of Helsinki came together with the aim of helping people to be empowered, not threatened, by artificial intelligence. Together, they built the Elements of AI to teach the basics of AI to people from a wide range of backgrounds.

350,000 students

Over 350,000 students have signed up for the Elements of AI course.

170 countries

The course has spread worldwide, with graduating students from over 170 countries.

40% women

About 40 % of course participants are women, more than double the average for computer science courses.

Frequently asked questions

Who created the Elements of AI?→How is the course graded?→Privacy Policy→

via A free online introduction to artificial intelligence for non-experts

antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor 1:34 am on February 26, 2020

Webinar: Evaluating complex systems approaches to improving health 20 March 2020 12.30 – 13.30 (GMT)

via Online Event

Webinar: Evaluating complex systems approaches to improving health

20 March 2020
12.30 – 13.30 (GMT)

How do we know whether ‘systems approaches’ to tackling complex public health challenges are effective?

With increasing recognition of a need for systems approaches to tackling complex public health challenges, how do we measure the impacts of our actions in the context of complex systems that adapt and change in response to them?

Join our webinar where we’ll share practical examples of evaluating systems approaches to tackling complex public health challenges. You’ll also hear about the latest developments in frameworks and guidance for system-level evaluation, and discover how these can be used.
If you’ve already registered, please click here to watch.

Presenters

Vanessa Er

Research Fellow
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
View biography

Laurence Moore

Director, MRC/CSO Social and Public Health
Sciences Unit
University of Glasgow
View biography

Professor Harry Rutter

Professor of Global Public Health
University of Bath
View biography

Louise Marshall

Senior Public Health Fellow
The Health Foundation
View biography

Register at: Online Event

antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor 1:21 am on February 26, 2020

Evaporative Cooling of Group Beliefs – LessWrong 2.0

via Evaporative Cooling of Group Beliefs – LessWrong 2.0

Evaporative Cooling of Group Beliefs

by Eliezer Yudkowsky

7th Dec 2007

Early studiers of cults were surprised to discover than when cults receive a major shock—a prophecy fails to come true, a moral flaw of the founder is revealed—they often come back stronger than before, with increased belief and fanaticism. The Jehovah’s Witnesses placed Armageddon in 1975, based on Biblical calculations; 1975 has come and passed. The Unarian cult, still going strong today, survived the nonappearance of an intergalactic spacefleet on September 27, 1975.

Why would a group belief become stronger after encountering crushing counterevidence?

The conventional interpretation of this phenomenon is based on cognitive dissonance. When people have taken “irrevocable” actions in the service of a belief—given away all their property in anticipation of the saucers landing—they cannot possibly admit they were mistaken. The challenge to their belief presents an immense cognitive dissonance; they must find reinforcing thoughts to counter the shock, and so become more fanatical. In this interpretation, the increased group fanaticism is the result of increased individual fanaticism.

I was looking at a Java applet which demonstrates the use of evaporative cooling to form a Bose-Einstein condensate, when it occurred to me that another force entirely might operate to increase fanaticism. Evaporative cooling sets up a potential energy barrier around a collection of hot atoms. Thermal energy is essentially statistical in nature—not all atoms are moving at the exact same speed. The kinetic energy of any given atom varies as the atoms collide with each other. If you set up a potential energy barrier that’s just a little higher than the average thermal energy, the workings of chance will give an occasional atom a kinetic energy high enough to escape the trap. When an unusually fast atom escapes, it takes with it an unusually large amount of kinetic energy, and the average energy decreases. The group becomes substantially cooler than the potential energy barrier around it.

In Festinger, Riecken, and Schachter’s classic When Prophecy Fails, one of the cult members walked out the door immediately after the flying saucer failed to land. Who gets fed up and leaves first? An average cult member? Or a relatively skeptical member, who previously might have been acting as a voice of moderation, a brake on the more fanatic members?

After the members with the highest kinetic energy escape, the remaining discussions will be between the extreme fanatics on one end and the slightly less extreme fanatics on the other end, with the group consensus somewhere in the “middle.”

And what would be the analogy to collapsing to form a Bose-Einstein condensate? Well, there’s no real need to stretch the analogy that far. But you may recall that I used a fission chain reaction analogy for the affective death spiral; when a group ejects all its voices of moderation, then all the people encouraging each other, and suppressing dissents, may internally increase in average fanaticism.¹

When Ayn Rand’s long-running affair with Nathaniel Branden was revealed to the Objectivist membership, a substantial fraction of the Objectivist membership broke off and followed Branden into espousing an “open system” of Objectivism not bound so tightly to Ayn Rand. Who stayed with Ayn Rand even after the scandal broke? The ones who really, really believed in her—and perhaps some of the undecideds, who, after the voices of moderation left, heard arguments from only one side. This may account for how the Ayn Rand Institute is (reportedly) more fanatical after the breakup than the original core group of Objectivists under Branden and Rand.

A few years back, I was on a transhumanist mailing list where a small group espousing “social democratic transhumanism” vitriolically insulted every libertarian on the list. Most libertarians left the mailing list; most of the others gave up on posting. As a result, the remaining group shifted substantially to the left. Was this deliberate? Probably not, because I don’t think the perpetrators knew that much psychology.² At most, they might have thought to make themselves “bigger fish in a smaller pond.”

This is one reason why it’s important to be prejudiced in favor of tolerating dissent. Wait until substantially after it seems to you justified in ejecting a member from the group, before actually ejecting. If you get rid of the old outliers, the group position will shift, and someone else will become the oddball. If you eject them too, you’re well on the way to becoming a Bose-Einstein condensate and, er, exploding.

The flip side: Thomas Kuhn believed that a science has to become a “paradigm,” with a shared technical language that excludes outsiders, before it can get any real work done. In the formative stages of a science, according to Kuhn, the adherents go to great pains to make their work comprehensible to outside academics. But (according to Kuhn) a science can only make real progress as a technical discipline once it abandons the requirement of outside accessibility, and scientists working in the paradigm assume familiarity with large cores of technical material in their communications. This sounds cynical, relative to what is usually said about public understanding of science, but I can definitely see a core of truth here.³

¹No thermodynamic analogy here, unless someone develops a nuclear weapon that explodes when it gets cold.

²For that matter, I can’t recall seeing the evaporative cooling analogy elsewhere, though that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been noted before.

³My own theory of Internet moderation is that you have to be willing to exclude trolls and spam to get a conversation going. You must even be willing to exclude kindly but technically uninformed folks from technical mailing lists if you want to get any work done. A genuinely open conversation on the Internet degenerates fast.

It’s the articulate trolls that you should be wary of ejecting, on this theory—they serve the hidden function of legitimizing less extreme disagreements. But you should not have so many articulate trolls that they begin arguing with each other, or begin to dominate conversations. If you have one person around who is the famous Guy Who Disagrees With Everything, anyone with a more reasonable, more moderate disagreement won’t look like the sole nail sticking out. This theory of Internet moderation may not have served me too well in practice, so take it with a grain of salt.

source Evaporative Cooling of Group Beliefs – LessWrong 2.0

From an interesting series on Death Spirals

antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor 1:14 am on February 26, 2020

The Dynamics of Seeing – Goethe, Wittgenstein and Bortoft

Transition Consciousness

I have not had much time this week to write, so thought I would jot down a few notes on where I am up to in my exploration of Ludwig Wittgenstein. Having made my way through 3/5 of Ray Monk’s Wittgenstein – The Duty of Genius, a new vista is opening up to me in terms of comprehending his philosophy. In the second part of his life he was greatly influenced by Goethe’s dynamic way of seeing, a way of seeing that can be almost impossible for intellectuals and academics to comprehend, because it is a new way of seeing which can only be experienced, and not analysed using our logical, rational and abstract minds. But this way of seeing is critical in truly comprehending the complexity of both organic systems and dynamic systems such as language, for it is only through changing our way of seeing that we can…

View original post 402 more words

antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor 2:49 am on February 25, 2020

Survey – from The Systems School – Creating a decision support tool for the use of systems thinking methods

via Creating a decision support tool for the use of systems thinking methods Survey

Creating a decision support tool for the use of systems thinking methods

Introduction

We want to support individuals and teams to feel clarity and confidence in their ability to identify a systems method at the time they need it, in their work. Our understanding is that while there are lots of systems methods, it is not always obvious what can be used when, and for what purpose. In order to offer this support, we are seeking to better understand what kinds of situations you are in and the context, when you think you would like to use a systems method, but are not sure which one to use. This will help us to develop a decision support tool for systems methods.

We’ve structured the questions around the Systems Change Framework and we’ve assumed some familiarity with this framework.

This project is being developed in partnership with Barwon Health and The Systems School.

At the end of the survey you can submit your email if you would like updates on the project.

complete the survey at: Creating a decision support tool for the use of systems thinking methods Survey

antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor 11:46 am on February 21, 2020

schumacher college live chat sessions Feb-May 2020

(From email)

Live Chat Sessions

Our live chat sessions give you the opportunity to chat with faculty about postgraduate programmes, entry requirements, funding, scholarships, accommodation and student life at Schumacher College.

Select which Live Chat you would like to join. We will send you an invitation!

Arts and Place / Poetics of Imagination Tuesday 25 February 2020: 16:00 – 17:00 (UK time)

Regenerative Economics Monday 23 March 2020: 16:30-17:30 (UK time)

Engaged Ecology Monday 18 May 2020: 16:00-17:00 (UK time)

Ecological Design Thinking Monday 2 March 2020: 16:00-17:00 (UK time)

Holistic Science Monday 20 April 2020: 16:00-17:00 (UK time)

antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor 10:51 am on February 21, 2020

Metrics of Emergence, Self-Organization, and Complexity for EWOM Research

Complexity Digest

Juan C. Correa

Front. Phys., 21 February 2020

In a recent round table organized by the Santa Fe Institute, the complexity of commerce captured the attention of those interested in understanding how complex systems science can be applicable for settings where consumers and providers interact. Despite the usefulness of applied complexity for commerce-related phenomena, few works have attempted to provide insightful ideas. This mini-review aims at providing a succinct discussion of how the metrics of emergence, self-organization, and complexity might benefit the research agenda of applied complexity and commerce/consumer studies. In particular, the paper argues possible pragmatic ways to understanding the valuable information present in word-of-mouth data found on electronic commerce platforms.

Source: www.frontiersin.org

View original post

antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor 10:50 am on February 21, 2020

Chaos | The Great Courses – paid course

via complexityexplorer

via Chaos | The Great Courses

Chaos

Course No. 1333

Instant Video $214.95

DVD $254.95

It has been called the third great revolution of 20th-century physics, after relativity and quantum theory. But how can something called chaos theory help you understand an orderlyworld? What practical things might it be good for? What, in fact, is chaos theory? “Chaos theory,” according to Dr. Steven Strogatz, Director of the Center for Applied Mathematics at Cornell University, “is the science of how things change.” It describes the behavior of any system whose state evolves over time and whose behavior is sensitive to small changes in its initial conditions.

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The 24 lectures of Chaos take you to the heart of chaos theory as it is understood today. Taught by Professor Strogatz, an award-winning Ivy League professor and a scientist described by Nature magazine as “one of the most creative biomathematicians of the past few decades,” Chaos introduces you to a fascinating discipline that has more to do with your everyday life than you may realize.

A Revolutionary Way of Thinking

Surprisingly, you have already encountered chaos theory before, although you might not have recognized it at the time. From the flapping of a butterfly’s wings to the dripping of a leaky faucet, chaos theory draws a wealth of unordinary insight from the most ordinary of occurrences.

Chaos theory affects nearly every field of human knowledge and endeavor, from astronomy and zoology to the arts, the humanities, and business. It can:

help analysts understand price fluctuations in the stock market,
ensure a smooth flow of data traffic on the Internet, and
show insurance companies how to manage the risks of natural catastrophes.

This course shows you the importance of this revolutionary field and how it has helped us come closer than ever to solving some of life’s mysteries. Today, the underlying mathematics of science’s major unsolved problems—including the nature of consciousness, the origin of life, and cancer—are essentially nonlinear; express any of these problems as a mathematical system and you learn that the whole may be either more or less than the sum of its parts.

In its ability to tackle bewilderingly complex problems, chaos theory has revolutionized the way we perceive the world around us. It allows scientists to reach beyond a dependency on the analytical limitations of the deterministic, “clockwork” universe that was the legacy of thinkers like Galileo, Kepler, and especially Newton.

Throughout the lectures, Professor Strogatz makes the case for why chaos theory marks such a radical departure from traditional science:

It asks unusual questions at the everyday scale of human life.
It shifts the focus off the laws of nature and onto their consequences.
It uses the computer not as a calculating tool but as a means of amplifying intuition.
It does not reduce complex problems into their separate parts but puts the parts back together to help understand the whole.
It is radically interdisciplinary in an era of increasingly specialized disciplines.
It paints a topsy-turvy picture of the world in which simple systems can show complex behavior.
It is a scientific field in which change came about suddenly.

Follow the Exciting Story of Chaos

As you delve into this ever-evolving field, you learn the surprising tale of how chaos theory was discovered—a story that Professor Strogatz likens to a detective novel filled with twists and turns.

First glimpsed by the French mathematician Henri Poincaré, the notion of chaos theory was lost for nearly a century before being rediscovered—almost accidentally. It was revived by a mathematically oriented meteorologist named Edward Lorenz, whose development of the butterfly effect (the extreme sensitivity of a chaotic system to tiny changes in its initial conditions) had little impact until the 1970s and 1980s, when the wave of chaos theory finally crashed onto the shores of the scientific community.

As you follow the story of chaos theory’s development, you approach the core ideas of chaos in the same way the world’s greatest thinkers, grounded in their historical contexts, once did. This story not only helps you understand the fundamentals of this field, but it also helps you appreciate the extraordinary intellectual feat that chaos theory represents.

Learn Chaos Theory Visually

This course offers you a unique opportunity to get an expert’s instruction on the field of chaos theory and is one of the only places outside the halls of academia where you can follow along with detailed computer graphics—specifically developed for this course—as visual aids.

“For understanding these core concepts [of chaos theory], pictures turn out to be much more powerful than formulas,” notes Professor Strogatz. Forgoing a heavy reliance on advanced math, he uses clear and powerful computer graphics to clarify chaos theory’s core concepts.

A large portion of the course explores the intimate relationship between chaos theory and fractals: shapes or processes whose structures repeat ad infinitum such that the tiniest parts resemble the original whole. You see how fractals are unique from more commonly known shapes like circles and cubes and how they can be used to describe a variety of processes and phenomena like the jagged coastline of Norway or the drip paintings of Jackson Pollock.

Find the Unordinary in the Ordinary

Professor Strogatz’s expert guidance lays bare the complexities of chaos theory in a way that any interested layperson can understand. With the insights he provides in Chaos, news stories about key scientific discoveries and new directions in research take on a fresh importance.

Professor Strogatz is a teacher repeatedly honored by institutions and students alike. During his tenure at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he received the E. M. Baker Memorial Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, the university’s only institute-wide teaching prize selected and awarded solely by students. In 2007, he received a lifetime achievement award for the communication of mathematics to the general public from the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics, which represents the four major American mathematical societies.

Whether charting the exciting history of the field, focusing on fractals as “the footprints of chaos,” or journeying to the frontiers of chaos research, this course shows you new ways to think about and view the world around you.

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24 lectures

| Average 30 minutes each

antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor 1:20 pm on February 19, 2020

‘The Quiet Revolution in QI: Safety-II and the Return of Practical Expertise’ – Andrew Smaggus and Suzette Woodward | Q Community – webinar recording and slides

‘Safety II’ (I like the PreAccident Investigation Podcast, there used to be a good Australian one, and of course Sidney Dekker’s writing) – along with urban development (see @strongtowns from @clmarohn, and I also like @wrathofgnon) and asset-based community development (see @CormacRussell, and of course John McKnight), seem to me to be humanistic, applied, intelligent applications of systems thinking/complexity/cybernetics which deserve very much to be part of the same universe.

via ‘The Quiet Revolution in QI: Safety-II and the Return of Practical Expertise’ – Andrew Smaggus and Suzette Woodward | Q Community

13:00 – 14:00

In this session, Canadian health researcher Andrew Smaggus shared his clear-sighted and challenging overview of the major transformation currently taking place in QI, as described in his recent BMJ Quality and Safety article, ‘Safety-I, Safety-II and burnout: how complexity science can help clinician wellness’ (closed access, but Q members can access for free).

Followed by a brief conversation with a leading UK voice in patient safety and Safety-II, Suzette Woodward, and a Q&A.