complex or complicated 


Complexity is the quality of being intricate and compounded. Complex systems can be identified by what they do - display organization without a central organizing principle and also by how they may or may not be analyzed - decomposing the system and analyzing subparts does not necessarily give a clue as to the behavior of the whole.
Two properties set a complex system apart from one that is merely complicated: self-organisation and emergence. Emergence is the appearance of behaviour that could not be anticipated from a knowledge of the parts of the system alone.

Examples

Patterns often seem complex. But its mathematical structure almost is very simple. (more...)

Social complexity:
The coexistence of different social groups appears complex and often provokes conflicts.
In Istanbul not only two continents but also serveral religions and cultures meet. Since 500 years the people lived there together in peace.
The situation in Israel appears completely different....

 


islamic architecture in Isfahan

Acoustics: Polynesian people can interpret the complexity of the oceanic surface. They can see and hear interferences of sea waves. (more...)

Research: Santa Fe Institute / New Mexico: The institute is a interdisciplinary center for complexity studies. Its Bulletins inform about the diversity of research.

 


complex: the liquid surface

links

complexity at wikipedia

theory links

http://www.exploratorium.edu/complexity/CompLexicon.html
this site informs about the major ideas of complexity
http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/complexity.html
Links for Cybernetics, Systems Theory and Complexity
http://www.inst.at/trans/4Nr/jochum.htm
essay of Jochum/Vienna, that treats Michel Serre's thinking about complexity