Complexity Rising: From Human Beings to Human Civilization, a Complexity Profile by Yaneer Bar-Yam | The New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI) - 0 views
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This article analyzes the human social environment using the "complexity profile," a mathematical tool for characterizing the collective behavior of a system. the analysis is used to justify the qualitative observation that complexity of existence has increased and is increasing. the increase in complexity is directly related to sweeping changes in the structure and dynamics of human civilizationthe increasing interdependence of the global economic and social system and the instabilities of dictatorships, communism and corporate hierarchies. Our complex social environment is consistent with identifying global human civilization as an organism capable of complex behavior that protects its components (us) and which should be capable of responding effectively to complex environmental demands.
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What is generally not recognized is that the relationship between collective global behavior and the internal structure of human civilization can be characterized through mathematical concepts that apply to all complex systems. An analysis based upon these mathematical concepts suggests that human civilization itself is an organism capable of behaviors that are of greater complexity than those of an individual human being. In order to understand the significance of this statement, one must recognize that collective behaviors are typically simpler than the behavior of components. Only when the components are connected in networks of specialized function can complex collective behaviors arise.
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The goal of this article is to extend The systematic understanding of collective or cooperative behavior so as to characterize such behavior in physical, biological and social systems.
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Since time immemorial humans have complained that life is becoming more complex, but it is only now that we have a hope to analyze formally and verify this lament. This article analyzes the human social environment using the "complexity profile," a mathematical tool for characterizing the collective behavior of a system. the analysis is used to justify the qualitative observation that complexity of existence has increased and is increasing. the increase in complexity is directly related to sweeping changes in the structure and dynamics of human civilizationthe increasing interdependence of the global economic and social system and the instabilities of dictatorships, communism and corporate hierarchies. Our complex social environment is consistent with identifying global human civilization as an organism capable of complex behavior that protects its components (us) and which should be capable of responding effectively to complex environmental demands.