One problem with the seminal papers on complexity is that they don't connect. Take the foundational works of H.T. Odum, the systems ecologist(1) or the cybernetic systems thinkers Ross Ashby (2) or Norbert Wiener(3). It's hard to link them to other branches of complex systems study like Prigigene's 'Exploring Complexity' or Wolfram's 'New kind of Science' or Barabasi's 'Linked' (leaving out numerous important others). As a consequence few people are aware of the general timeline of complexity as a subject(4), and any timeline of the field is bound to be missing major contributions.
The problem seems is partly that the study of complex systems is interdisciplinary, because systems are, and what happens is each discipline goes off on its own tangent and acts like it is trying to take over the subject as a whole, each vying to erase each other rather than connect with each other. My work seems to be an example of an attempt to link approaches, a new form of physics intended expressly for use by any discipline, and incorporating unique useful pieces of what's been developed from all the disciplines I've been exposed to. My work may be 'odd' in more ways than that, but it's partly because I'm trying to write in a common language that makes it look 'foreign' to every discipline, so no one'll publish it... Catch 22! :-) (1) Odum: 1994 'Ecological and General Systems' (see http://www.eoearth.org/article/Odum,_Howard_T.) (2) Ross Ashby's 1947 'Ecological and General Systems' or his 1956 "Introduction to Cybernetics" (& see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Ross_Ashby) (3) Weiner 1948 'Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine' (3) complex systems thinking timeline from the cybernetics soc. (http://www.asc-cybernetics.org/foundations/timeline.htm), Phil Henshaw ¸¸¸¸.·´ ¯ `·.¸¸¸¸ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 680 Ft. Washington Ave NY NY 10040 tel: 212-795-4844 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] explorations: www.synapse9.com > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Owen Densmore > Sent: Friday, June 15, 2007 7:38 PM > To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group > Subject: [FRIAM] Seminal Papers in Complexity > > > Several of us have been attending the SFI Summer School this year. > One thing that has stood out for me is that there are very few > appropriate texts on the detailed, seminal ideas within complexity. > Either the books are "popular" or they are technical/formal enough, > but without broad view of complexity itself. Indeed, they may be > *too* advanced in their speciality for the broad use complexity > wishes to make. > > One example today was the intersection of computational theory and > statistical mechanics given by Cris Moore: > A Tale of Two Cultures: Phase Transitions in > Physics and Computer Science > Here are the slides: http://www.santafe.edu/~moore/Oxford.pdf > You'd be unlikely to find a book bridging algorithms, computational > complexity, and statistical mechanics. > > This leads me to believe that seminal papers are likely to be a good > solution for bridging the various cultures, hopefully with some that > *do* bridge gaps between specialties. > > Sooo -- gentle reader -- this brings me to a request: I'd like to > start a collection of seminal papers who's goal is to bridge the gap > between popular books and over-specialized texts, which are formal > enough to be useful for multi-discipline complexity work. This may > be daft, but I think not. > > As an example, I'd say Shannon's 1948 paper A Mathematical Theory of > Communication would be good. > > -- Owen > > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > > ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
