Hello all, >From your emails which I have read, you all seem to know each other. I am glad to participate within the group.
Robert Link suggested that the CoCo group might be helpful.I wrote a paper discussing global civilization and the biosphere in which it is embedded as a complex adaptive system--indeed one that is not especially adaptive at this time. It is a qualitative discussion and I would like to add a quantitative dimension to the extent possible. So, I am seeking helpful input. I do think it is not all that easy to apply or adapt a quantitative measure -- statistical or computational--if one does not have a familiarity with the subject. Nothing ventured; nothing gained and neither you nor I have anything to lose. The paper was published as the 5th RISC Paper by the University of Ljubljana & WISDOM. The Web site for the paper is http://www.wisdom/Publikation/pdf/RiskBerichte/RRR_BStark_SustainableGlobal_09.pdf--. However, a summary of the paper is on the cooperation.commons Web site. The title of my paper is "A Case Study of a Complex Adaptive Systems Theory, Sustainable Global. Global Governance: The Singular Challenge of the Twenty-first Century." The paper can more easily be accessed by Googling my name. The basis of a quantitative framework would seem to begin with properties of a complex adaptive system (CAS).Such properties include: 1) a threshold of dense causal interconnectivity leading to non-linear behavior--a complexity threshold--as I call it ; 2) emergence, e.g., behavior which may produce an international governance system (sometimes referred to as an international system of governance networks) that extends beyond the narrow self-interest of our anarchic strong nation system; 3) hypothetical chaotic scenarios; 4) scenarios leading to a hypothetical phase transition, i.e., proximate, sustainable global governance; 5) a point of no return or of very tragic consequences (Stuart Kauffman's term "complexity catastrophe"), e.g., James Hansen's somber prediction in 2006 that we have fewer than ten years to correct our energy policies and that if we don't, our "current "business as usual" practices will produce a 35% increase of carbon emissions by 2015, The first property - a threshold of dense causal interconnectivity- is quite intuitive. Such thresholds exist between and within nations and societies, i.e., technological advances in communication and transportation that have contributed to the globalization of the economy, but, as well, thresholds between civilization and the biosphere that have contributed to global warming, loss of biodiversity, etc., and thresholds between ecosystems. Indices of such thresholds should be quite manageable to put together. One can not do everything, however. A computational simulation of the global political system and the biosphere in which it is a part-- C.S. Holling's "panarchy"-- is probably beyond anything I should attempt. Something on a smaller scale would seem to be reasonable. Comments will be appreciated. Bennett Stark -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CooperationCommons" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cooperationcommons?hl=en.
