9. Concepts
The social
cost of a product represents the total human time which has to be spent for the
production of the product, as well as for the production of all the necessary production
resources. This definition is closely related to the concept of
"value" in classical economic theory: A. Smith, D. Ricardo, K. Marx,
(see also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_theory_of_value). However, here we are interested
in the "social cost" as a stand-alone concept, regardless from both
the definition of "value" and the relevant theoretical debate.
The cost of
information constitutes part of the social cost: specifically is the part that
concerns all the information production activities related to the production of
either the product or its production resources. The concept of
"information value"—closely related to "cost of
information"—is extensively discussed in [Veneris Y., 1986, The
informatics revolution, New Frontiers Publications (in Greek), pp.180-189].
Within the
framework of complex systems, the term "development" has a
specific meaning: denotes a spontaneous dynamic process of self-creation, under
the catalytic influence of the environment, where structures of increasing
complexity are successively created according to a bottom-up recursive process
(e.g. in the living systems: proteins ®
tissues ® organs). The
"development" saves information, as in each developmental phase
different types of the system's structural units derive from the
differentiation of already created types (basic type ® differentiation ® composition of the differentiated
types). The development of the living organisms is referred to as
"embryogeny".
Bar‑Yam Y., 1997, Dynamics of Complex Systems. Addison
Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, pp. 621-625
http://necsi.org/publications/dcs/index.html
See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developmental_biology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morphogenesis
A system
"evolves" if it is subjected to random variations while it is
successively stabilized in the variations that improve its functionality. A
characteristic paradigm of evolution is the
evolution of a population of reproduced organisms, where random
variations of the structure of descendants determine the probability of further
reproduction: organisms better adapted to the environment—consequently more
"sustainable"—have higher probability to be reproduced, spreading
this way their structure in the population. This process, repeated recursively,
results in the production of organisms of increasing adaptation and potentially
of higher complexity.
Bar‑Yam Y., 1997, Dynamics of Complex Systems. Addison
Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, pp. 531-542
http://necsi.org/publications/dcs/index.html
See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution
A system
could have properties that derive—potentially implicitly—from the
interdependence of its parts without being properties of the parts each one
viewed in isolation. These properties are characterized as
"emergent".
Bar‑Yam Y., 1997, Dynamics of Complex Systems. Addison
Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, pp. 10-12
http://necsi.org/publications/dcs/index.html
See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergence
http://necsi.org/guide/concepts/emergence.html
9.6 Variability and Complexity
We define as
"variability" the number of the potential discrete states of a
system. Variability depends on the scale in which the system is observed, as
slight alterations which are observable—consequently make possible the
identification of discrete states—in the small scale, are not observable in the
large scale. As a consequence, variability tends to decrease with the scale of
observation. The "complexity" of the system, defined as the logarithm
of the value of variability, determines the quantity of the information
contained in the system. Due to this definition, complexity also depends on the
scale of observation.
Bar‑Yam Y., 1997, Dynamics of Complex Systems. Addison
Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, pp. 12-14
http://necsi.org/publications/dcs/index.html
See also:
http://necsi.org/guide/concepts/complexity.html
We call
"adaptability" the possibility of a system to be dynamically
transformed, responding to stimuli coming from the environment, in order to
either maintain or acquire specific features. Such features can be related to
either the notion of sustainability, as it happens in living systems, or
desirable properties in artificial systems.
http://necsi.org/guide/concepts/adaptive.html
9.8 Epistasis: synergy and antagonism
A system
shows "epistasis" if the combined result of the function of its parts
quantitatively differs from the additive result of the function of the same
parts each one functioning independently from the others. If the combined
result exceeds the additive one then the epistasis is characterized as
"synergistic", whereas on the opposite case it is characterized as
"antagonistic".
http://www.life.uiuc.edu/micro/316/topics/genetic-analysis/epistasis.html
http://www.calresco.org/lucas/fitness.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistasis
A network
organization is characterized by the existence of many peer interlinked units which
perform in common a complex task, while only a small part of that task
corresponds to each unit. The function of each unit is not explicitly
predefined as it depends on variable conditions affecting the system.
Consequently, a system having network organization may exhibit high adaptability. The efficiency of network organization is
based more on the linkage of the units, and the consequent synergistic effects, than on the efficiency of each unit viewed in isolation. A
system having network organization may cope with partial failures better than a
hierarchically organized one, as failure of some units may be remedied by an
appropriate adaptation of the function of the rest units.
Here, as well
as in every reference to the terms "network" or "network paradigm", we use the
aforementioned specific meaning of the term "network organization".
The broader concept of a "network" may also include networks having
dissimilar units or links: http://necsi.org/guide/concepts/network.html.
We assume
that different functions formulate an "integrated system" if they are
combined in a way such that the result of each function reinforces the result
of others (see also "synergy") supporting the overall system's
functionality. Integrated systems exhibit high autonomy: to a large degree provide
by themselves the conditions required for their own performance, reducing in
this way dependence on external factors. The concept of
"integration", in this context, is closely related to the complex systems theory.
The notion of
"sustainability" describes the characteristic property of a system to
be self-preserved by maintaining the resources required for its performance.
The term "sustainability" usually refers to either social, economic,
constitutional or environmental systems.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainability
http://www.hubbertpeak.com/bartlett/reflections.htm
http://alcor.concordia.ca/~raojw/crd/reference/reference001377.html
A system
exhibits "self-organization" if properties related to its function,
behavior or structure derive from internal system's dynamics as emergent properties. Self-organization is related to adaptability, as the aforementioned properties may concern
the interaction of the system with its environment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-organization
http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/notebooks/self-organization.html
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/SELFORG.html
http://www.calresco.org/extropy.htm
An obvious consequence
of the simultaneous (parallel in time) realization of different processes of an
either natural or artificial system is the possibility to acquire the overall
result of these processes in a time shorter than the time required in the case
of the sequential (serial in time) realization. A less obvious consequence
concerns the effect of the interactions among synchronous phases of the
parallel processes on the overall result itself. The development of the living systems is based on such
interactions.