Here is a list of complexity science books in a popular science style from when the hype was the biggest—from 1988 and a decade further*—and some very brief comments. Several of them are available at archive.org, as linked below. I’m pretty sure I forgot several. If so, I’ll add them later.

* I’m no longer the film buff I used to be, but this reminds me of the golden age of Hong Kong police action films which most fans agree, with surprisingly little discussion, was from 1984 to 1993. (And, yes, John Woo’sHard Boiledis the crown jewel of the genre.)

HR Pagels, 1988.The Dreams of Reason: The Computer and the Rise of the Sciences of Complexity. Simon and Schuster, New York.

We’ll kick off with maybe the most remarkable of all these books (and the most interesting…

Amos Golan and John Harte

PNAS 119 (33) e2119089119

Modeling and inference are central to most areas of science and especially to evolving and complex systems. Critically, the information we have is often uncertain and insufficient, resulting in an underdetermined inference problem; multiple inferences, models, and theories are consistent with available information. Information theory (in particular, the maximum information entropy formalism) provides a way to deal with such complexity. It has been applied to numerous problems, within and across many disciplines, over the last few decades. In this perspective, we review the historical development of this procedure, provide an overview of the many applications of maximum entropy and its extensions to complex systems, and discuss in more detail some recent advances in constructing comprehensive theory based on this inference procedure. We also discuss efforts at the frontier of information-theoretic inference: application to complex dynamic systems with time-varying constraints, such as…

In the history of science of systems thinking, Debora Hammond related the backgrounds and connections of the founder of the Society for General Systems Research, that is now the International Society for the Systems Sciences.

Boulding (1956) plays a large role in framing two orientations towards “general systems theory”.

Kenneth Boulding used to distinguish between what he called ‘special’ general systems theory and ‘general’ general systems theory, the first oriented primarily around mathematical modeling and the second incorporating a more philosophical consideration of the ethical dimensions of systems. From my own perspective there are three primary orientations within the systems community. Each of the original founders reflects one or more of these orientations, with slightly different emphasis.

(1) Theoretical/Rational—Formal Models, Quantitative Analysis
(2) Applied/Empirical/Utilitarian—Interdisciplinary Problem Solving
(3) Normative—Humanistic, Anti-mechanistic [p. 426]

These three orientations reflect the motivations of why individuals might be interested in diving into a science…

The International Workshop Controlling Complexity aims at bringing together researchers from the fields of nonlinear systems and control, optimization, and complex networks to celebrate the 70th birthday of Franco Garofalo who started the research group on nonlinear systems and complex networks at the University of Naples Federico II with a group of students and colleagues who are now established researchers in Italy and abroad. The workshop will gather scholars from the Control Community to share their views and perspectives on the emerging challenges in the analysis, design and control of complex systems. We welcome the participation of young researchers and PhD students.

Read the full article at: www.sicc-it.org