Sociology and Complexity Science

Sociology and Complexity Science PDF Author: Brian Castellani
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3540884629
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
By now, most academics have heard something about the new science of complexity. In a manner reminiscent of Einstein and the last hundred years of physics, complexity science has captured the public imagination. ® One can go to Amazon. com and purchase books on complexification (Casti 1994), emergence (Holland 1998), small worlds (Barabási 2003), the web of life (Capra 1996), fuzzy thinking (Kosko 1993), global c- plexity (Urry 2003) and the business of long-tails (Anderson 2006). Even television has incorporated the topics of complexity science. Crime shows ® ® such as 24 or CSI typically feature investigators using the latest advances in computational modeling to “simulate scenarios” or “data mine” all p- sible suspects—all of which is done before the crime takes place. The ® World Wide Web is another example. A simple search on Google. Com using the phrase “complexity science” gets close to a million hits! C- plexity science is ubiquitous. What most scholars do not realize, however, is the remarkable role sociologists are playing in this new science. C- sider the following examples. 0. 1 Sociologists in Complexity Science The first example comes from the new science of networks (Barabási 2003). By now, most readers are familiar with the phenomena known as six-degrees of separation—the idea that, because most large networks are comprised of a significant number of non-random weak-ties, the nodes (e. g. , people, companies, etc.

Sociology and Complexity Science

Sociology and Complexity Science PDF Author: Brian Castellani
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3540884629
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 292

Get Book Here

Book Description
By now, most academics have heard something about the new science of complexity. In a manner reminiscent of Einstein and the last hundred years of physics, complexity science has captured the public imagination. ® One can go to Amazon. com and purchase books on complexification (Casti 1994), emergence (Holland 1998), small worlds (Barabási 2003), the web of life (Capra 1996), fuzzy thinking (Kosko 1993), global c- plexity (Urry 2003) and the business of long-tails (Anderson 2006). Even television has incorporated the topics of complexity science. Crime shows ® ® such as 24 or CSI typically feature investigators using the latest advances in computational modeling to “simulate scenarios” or “data mine” all p- sible suspects—all of which is done before the crime takes place. The ® World Wide Web is another example. A simple search on Google. Com using the phrase “complexity science” gets close to a million hits! C- plexity science is ubiquitous. What most scholars do not realize, however, is the remarkable role sociologists are playing in this new science. C- sider the following examples. 0. 1 Sociologists in Complexity Science The first example comes from the new science of networks (Barabási 2003). By now, most readers are familiar with the phenomena known as six-degrees of separation—the idea that, because most large networks are comprised of a significant number of non-random weak-ties, the nodes (e. g. , people, companies, etc.

Complexity Science and World Affairs

Complexity Science and World Affairs PDF Author: Walter C. Clemens Jr.
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 1438449011
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
Applies complexity science to the study of international politics. Why did some countries transition peacefully from communist rule to political freedom and market economies, while others did not? Why did the United States enjoy a brief moment as the sole remaining superpower, and then lose power and influence across the board? What are the prospects for China, the main challenger to American hegemony? In Complexity Science and World Affairs, Walter C. Clemens Jr. demonstrates how the basic concepts of complexity science can broaden and deepen the insights gained by other approaches to the study of world affairs. He argues that societal fitness—the ability of a social system to cope with complex challenges and opportunities—hinges heavily on the values and way of life of each society, and serves to explain why some societies gain and others lose. Applying theory to several rich case studies, including political developments across post–Soviet Eurasia and the United States, Clemens shows that complexity science offers a powerful set of tools for advancing the study of international relations, comparative government, and, more broadly, the social sciences. “Clemens has written an outstanding book—the culmination of a half?century’s experience in and analysis of world affairs [It is] bound to interest not only political and other social scientists but all thoughtful persons concerned with understanding and perhaps improving the human condition.” — from the Foreword by Stuart A. Kauffman “This breakthrough book provides a new, promising general paradigm exploring and explaining the complexity of world politics. For scholars and analysts pushing the boundaries of our field, this is a must-read volume.” — Jacek Kugler, Claremont Graduate University “Complexity can be overwhelming and complexity science can be daunting, and, yet, in Walter Clemens’s skilled hands both become accessible, understandable, and useful tools for both scholars and practitioners. Once again, Clemens has shown that sophisticated academic theorizing only benefits from clarity, elegance, and wit. The book is ideal for graduate and undergraduate students as a supplementary text in international relations or comparative politics.” — Alexander Motyl, Rutgers University–Newark “Clemens offers a fresh, even startling, paradigm and process for analyzing the seemingly unpredictable relations within and among human societies. With impressive clarity he proposes that ‘the capacity to cope with complexity’ has become a key determinant of success in our intricately interrelated world. Careful study of this capacity in specific contexts can lead to revealing analyses in comparative politics and international relations. A provocative and stimulating treatise!” — S. Frederick Starr, Johns Hopkins University “Walt Clemens’s provocative new book can be appreciated at several levels: as an analytical framework in international relations—complexity science—that offers a compelling alternative to realism and neoliberalism; as an incisive critique of the ‘fitness’ of the supposedly most developed societies to deal with our complex world; and as a humanistic value-set that provides better standards for assessing governments than do GDP, trade levels, or military spending. Clemens skillfully integrates theory and practice to explore US ‘hyperpower,’ the two Koreas, China, and other states from new angles, and with consistent objectivity. IR specialists should find this book exciting, while IR and international studies students will be challenged by the new paradigm it presents.” — Mel Gurtov, Portland State University “Clemens proposes a powerful new way of looking at international relations and politics, and offers a productive method for assessing the fitness of societies in the early twenty-first century.” — Guntis Šmidchens, University of Washington, Seattle “You don’t have to be a political scientist to wonder why some states succeed and others do not, why some societies flourish while others suffer stagnation and conflict. Employing the relatively new tool of complexity science, Walter Clemens evaluates the ‘fitness’ of states and societies, i.e. their ability to cope with complex challenges and opportunities. He does so in a way that is erudite—how many studies quote Walt Whitman and Karl Marx in the same chapter?—yet clear and accessible. Clemens challenges both existing political science paradigms and policy perspectives. This is a stimulating, rich volume that can be read and re-read with profit and appreciation for its breadth and depth and most of all for its insistence that we see the world, and the states in it, in all their complexity.” — Ronald H. Linden, University of Pittsburgh

Think Complexity

Think Complexity PDF Author: Allen B. Downey
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
ISBN: 1449331696
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 159

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Book Description
Expand your Python skills by working with data structures and algorithms in a refreshing context—through an eye-opening exploration of complexity science. Whether you’re an intermediate-level Python programmer or a student of computational modeling, you’ll delve into examples of complex systems through a series of exercises, case studies, and easy-to-understand explanations. You’ll work with graphs, algorithm analysis, scale-free networks, and cellular automata, using advanced features that make Python such a powerful language. Ideal as a text for courses on Python programming and algorithms, Think Complexity will also help self-learners gain valuable experience with topics and ideas they might not encounter otherwise. Work with NumPy arrays and SciPy methods, basic signal processing and Fast Fourier Transform, and hash tables Study abstract models of complex physical systems, including power laws, fractals and pink noise, and Turing machines Get starter code and solutions to help you re-implement and extend original experiments in complexity Explore the philosophy of science, including the nature of scientific laws, theory choice, realism and instrumentalism, and other topics Examine case studies of complex systems submitted by students and readers

Complexity Science: An Introduction

Complexity Science: An Introduction PDF Author: Mark A Peletier
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9813239611
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 428

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Book Description
This book on complexity science comprises a collection of chapters on methods and principles from a wide variety of disciplinary fields — from physics and chemistry to biology and the social sciences.In this two-part volume, the first part is a collection of chapters introducing different aspects in a coherent fashion, and providing a common basis and the founding principles of the different complexity science approaches; the next provides deeper discussions of the different methods of use in complexity science, with interesting illustrative applications.The fundamental topics deal with self-organization, pattern formation, forecasting uncertainties, synchronization and revolutionary change, self-adapting and self-correcting systems, and complex networks. Examples are taken from biology, chemistry, engineering, epidemiology, robotics, economics, sociology, and neurology.

Complexity Theory and the Social Sciences

Complexity Theory and the Social Sciences PDF Author: David Byrne
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134714742
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
Chaos and complexity are the new buzz words in both science and contemporary society. The ideas they represent have enormous implications for the way we understand and engage with the world. Complexity Theory and the Social Sciences introduces students to the central ideas which surround the chaos/complexity theories. It discusses key concepts before using them as a way of investigating the nature of social research. By applying them to such familiar topics as urban studies, education and health, David Byrne allows readers new to the subject to appreciate the contribution which complexity theory can make to social research and to illuminating the crucial social issues of our day.

Complexity, Science and Society

Complexity, Science and Society PDF Author: Jan Bogg
Publisher: Radcliffe Publishing
ISBN: 184619203X
Category : Complexity (Philosophy)
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
Complexity is a new interdisciplinary approach to science and society that challenges traditional academic divisions, frameworks and paradigms. This book helps the expert, student or policy practitioner have a better understanding of the enormous potential of complexity, and how it relates to their particular area of interest or expertise.

Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems Science

Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems Science PDF Author:
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9780387758886
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 10398

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Book Description
This encyclopedia provides an authoritative single source for understanding and applying the concepts of complexity theory together with the tools and measures for analyzing complex systems in all fields of science and engineering. It links fundamental concepts of mathematics and computational sciences to applications in the physical sciences, engineering, biomedicine, economics and the social sciences.

Complexity

Complexity PDF Author: M. Mitchell Waldrop
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 150405914X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 492

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Book Description
“If you liked Chaos, you’ll love Complexity. Waldrop creates the most exciting intellectual adventure story of the year” (The Washington Post). In a rarified world of scientific research, a revolution has been brewing. Its activists are not anarchists, but rather Nobel Laureates in physics and economics and pony-tailed graduates, mathematicians, and computer scientists from all over the world. They have formed an iconoclastic think-tank and their radical idea is to create a new science: complexity. They want to know how a primordial soup of simple molecules managed to turn itself into the first living cell—and what the origin of life some four billion years ago can tell us about the process of technological innovation today. This book is their story—the story of how they have tried to forge what they like to call the science of the twenty-first century. “Lucidly shows physicists, biologists, computer scientists and economists swapping metaphors and reveling in the sense that epochal discoveries are just around the corner . . . [Waldrop] has a special talent for relaying the exhilaration of moments of intellectual insight.” —The New York Times Book Review “Where I enjoyed the book was when it dove into the actual question of complexity, talking about complex systems in economics, biology, genetics, computer modeling, and so on. Snippets of rare beauty here and there almost took your breath away.” —Medium “[Waldrop] provides a good grounding of what may indeed be the first flowering of a new science.” —Publishers Weekly

The Complex Alternative

The Complex Alternative PDF Author: David C. Krakauer
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781947864405
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


Models of Science Dynamics

Models of Science Dynamics PDF Author: Andrea Scharnhorst
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642230687
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
Models of Science Dynamics aims to capture the structure and evolution of science, the emerging arena in which scholars, science and the communication of science become themselves the basic objects of research. In order to capture the essence of phenomena as diverse as the structure of co-authorship networks or the evolution of citation diffusion patterns, such models can be represented by conceptual models based on historical and ethnographic observations, mathematical descriptions of measurable phenomena, or computational algorithms. Despite its evident importance, the mathematical modeling of science still lacks a unifying framework and a comprehensive study of the topic. This volume fills this gap, reviewing and describing major threads in the mathematical modeling of science dynamics for a wider academic and professional audience. The model classes presented cover stochastic and statistical models, system-dynamics approaches, agent-based simulations, population-dynamics models, and complex-network models. The book comprises an introduction and a foundational chapter that defines and operationalizes terminology used in the study of science, as well as a review chapter that discusses the history of mathematical approaches to modeling science from an algorithmic-historiography perspective. It concludes with a survey of remaining challenges for future science models and their relevance for science and science policy.