Complexity Perspectives in Innovation and Social Change

Complexity Perspectives in Innovation and Social Change PDF Author: David Lane
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1402096631
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 492

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Book Description
Innovation is nowadays a question of life and death for many of the economies of the western world. Yet, due to our generally reductionist scientific paradigm, invention and innovation are rarely studied scientifically. Most work prefers to study its context and its consequences. As a result, we are as a society, lacking the scientific tools to understand, improve or otherwise impact on the processes of invention and innovation. This book delves deeply into that topic, taking the position that the complex systems approach, with its emphasis on ‘emergence’, is better suited than our traditional approach to the phenomenon. In a collection of very coherent papers, which are the result of an EU-funded four year international research team’s effort, it addresses various aspect of the topic from different disciplinary angles. One of the main emphases is the need, in the social sciences, to move away from neo-darwinist ‘population thinking’ to ‘organization thinking’ if we want to understand social evolution. Another main emphasis is on developing a generative approach to invention and innovation, looking in detail at the contexts within which invention and innovation occur, and how these contexts impact on the chances for success or failure. Throughout, the book is infused with interesting new insights, but also presents several well-elaborated case studies that connect the ideas with a substantive body of ‘real world’ information.

Complexity Perspectives in Innovation and Social Change

Complexity Perspectives in Innovation and Social Change PDF Author: David Lane
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1402096631
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 492

Get Book Here

Book Description
Innovation is nowadays a question of life and death for many of the economies of the western world. Yet, due to our generally reductionist scientific paradigm, invention and innovation are rarely studied scientifically. Most work prefers to study its context and its consequences. As a result, we are as a society, lacking the scientific tools to understand, improve or otherwise impact on the processes of invention and innovation. This book delves deeply into that topic, taking the position that the complex systems approach, with its emphasis on ‘emergence’, is better suited than our traditional approach to the phenomenon. In a collection of very coherent papers, which are the result of an EU-funded four year international research team’s effort, it addresses various aspect of the topic from different disciplinary angles. One of the main emphases is the need, in the social sciences, to move away from neo-darwinist ‘population thinking’ to ‘organization thinking’ if we want to understand social evolution. Another main emphasis is on developing a generative approach to invention and innovation, looking in detail at the contexts within which invention and innovation occur, and how these contexts impact on the chances for success or failure. Throughout, the book is infused with interesting new insights, but also presents several well-elaborated case studies that connect the ideas with a substantive body of ‘real world’ information.

Archaeological Theory Today

Archaeological Theory Today PDF Author: Ian Hodder
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 074568100X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
Now in a revised and updated second edition, this volume provides an authoritative account of the current status of archaeological theory, as presented by some of its major exponents and innovators over recent decades. It summarizes the latest developments in the field and looks to its future, exploring some of the cutting-edge ideas at the forefront of the discipline. The volume captures the diversity of contemporary archaeological theory. Some authors argue for an approach close to the natural sciences, others for an engagement with cultural debate about representation of the past. Some minimize the relevance of culture to societal change, while others see it as central; some focus on the contingent and the local, others on long-term evolution. While few practitioners in theoretical archaeology would today argue for a unified disciplinary approach, the authors in this volume increasingly see links and convergences between their perspectives. The volume also reflects archaeology's new openness to external influences, as well as the desire to contribute to wider debates. The contributors examine ways in which archaeological evidence contributes to theories of evolutionary psychology, as well as to the social sciences in general, where theories of social relationships, agency, landscape and identity are informed by the long-term perspective of archaeology. The new edition of Archaeological Theory Today will continue to be essential reading for students and scholars in archaeology and in the social sciences more generally.

Evolutionaries

Evolutionaries PDF Author: Carter Phipps
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062100602
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 291

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Book Description
“Carter Phipps brilliantly expands our understanding of evolution by showing us that a new science is emerging—one that will holistically integrate our understanding of consciousness, cosmology, and evolution.” —Deepak Chopra Blending cutting-edge ideas with incisive spiritual insights, Evolutionaries is the first popular presentation of an emerging school of thought called “evolutionary spirituality.” Carter Phipps, the former executive editor of EnlightenNext magazine, asserts that evolution is not only a scientific but also a spiritual idea in a book whose message has the power to bring new meaning and purpose to life as we know it. Readers will be fascinated and enlightened by Evolutionaries, a book which Deepak Chopra, the world-renowned author of The Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes, Jesus, and Buddha, says “is going to help create a worldview that will influence our vision of the future direction of evolution and also our role in consciously participating in it.”

Spatial analysis and social spaces

Spatial analysis and social spaces PDF Author: Eleftheria Paliou
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110266431
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
In the past decade a range of formal spatial analysis methods has been developed for the study of human engagement, experience and socialisation within the built environment. Many, although not all, of these emanate from the fields of architectural and urban studies, and draw upon social theories of space that lay emphasis on the role of visibility, movement, and accessibility in the built environment. These approaches are now gaining in popularity among researchers of prehistoric and historic built spaces and are given increasingly more weight in the interpretation of past urban environments. Spatial Analysis and Social Spaces brings together contributions from specialists in archaeology, social theory, and urban planning who explore the theoretical and methodological frameworks associated with the application of new and established spatial analysis methods in past built environments. The focus is mainly on more recent computer-based approaches and on techniques such as access analysis, visibility graph analysis, isovist analysis, agent-based models of pedestrian movement, and 3D visibility approaches. The contributors to this volume examine the relationship between space and social life from many different perspectives, and provide illuminating examples from the archaeology of Greece, Italy and Cyprus, in which intra-site analysis offers valuable insights into the built spaces and societies under study.

Les paradoxes de l'économie du savoir

Les paradoxes de l'économie du savoir PDF Author: GUILHON Bernard
Publisher: Lavoisier
ISBN: 2746289024
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
La connaissance joue un rôle fondamental dans l'évolution des sociétés contemporaines, les mécanismes de production, d'appropriation et de dissémination des connaissances se heurtent aujourd'hui aux contraintes de la globalisation. Les fondements et les mécanismes de fonctionnement d'une économie immatérielle se trouvent ainsi remis en cause dans de nombreux domaines (stratégies R&D et d'innovation des agents économiques, gestion de l'environnement, dispositifs de formation, analyse macroéconomique des économies, etc.). Cette remise en cause, dont la lecture se fait à travers l'analyse des stratégies et des comportements des acteurs économiques, suscite la formation de paradoxes, voire de contradictions. Après avoir mis en évidence les repères, les trajectoires et les promesses que dessine l'économie du savoir, cet ouvrage propose d'explorer les singularités de la production et l'usage des connaissances, les processus de qualification et de gestion des ressources cognitives, mais également ceux qui ont trait au fonctionnement des économies.

The Capitalization of Knowledge

The Capitalization of Knowledge PDF Author: Riccardo Viale
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1849807183
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
This book is an authoritative confirmation of the critical role that knowledge plays in economic transformation. It is an indispensable roadmap for new research programmes and a guidepost for policy makers around the world. Calestous Juma, Harvard Kennedy School, US How to use and capitalize knowledge for the benefit of society has become even more urgent in the present financial and economic crisis. This book embraces the tensions inherent in the complex governance of research and innovation. It argues for strategies appropriate to the behaviour of complex adaptive systems in an evolutionary mode, thereby highlighting in a timely manner the necessary fit between organizational forms and the epistemological structure of knowledge in the overall context of a fertile investment climate. Helga Nowotny, European Research Council, WWTF Vienna Science and Technology Fund, Austria In the 21st century, economic and social development depends increasingly on knowledge rather than labour and capital. This book examines how knowledge is exploited through the development of innovations that yield economic and other benefits. The authors, who include leading figures from the field of innovation studies, look in particular at the growing links between universities, government and industry and the evolving triple helix relationship as they attempt to develop more effective means for capitalizing on knowledge. The book will be of considerable interest to policy-makers and to senior managers in industry and universities as well as to innovation scholars. Ben Martin, University of Sussex, UK In recent years, university industry government interactions have come to the forefront as a method of promoting economic growth in increasingly knowledge-based societies. This ground-breaking new volume evaluates the capacity of the triple helix model to represent the recent evolution of local and national systems of innovation. It analyses both the success of the triple helix as a descriptive and empirical model within internationally competitive technology regions as well as its potential as a prescriptive hypothesis for regional or national systems that wish to expand their innovation processes and industrial development. In addition, it examines the legal, economic, administrative, political and cognitive dimensions employed to configure and study, in practical terms, the series of phenomena contained in the triple helix category. This book will have widespread appeal amongst students and scholars of economics, sociology and business administration who specialise in entrepreneurship and innovation. Policy-makers involved in innovation, industrial development and education as well as private firms and institutional agencies will also find the volume of interest.

New Contributions to the Philosophy of History

New Contributions to the Philosophy of History PDF Author: Daniel Little
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9048194105
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
Insights developed in the past two decades by philosophers of the social sciences can serve to enrich the challenging intellectual tasks of conceptualizing, investigating, and representing the human past. Likewise, intimate engagement with the writings of historians can deepen philosophers’ understanding of the task of knowing the past. This volume brings these perspectives together and considers fundamental questions, such as: What is historical causation? What is a large historical structure? How can we best conceptualize “mentalities” and “identities”? What is involved in understanding the subjectivity of historical actors? What is involved in arriving at an economic history of a large region? How are actions and outcomes related? The arguments touch upon a wide range of historical topics -- the Chinese and French Revolutions, the extension of railroads in the nineteenth century, and the development of agriculture in medieval China.

Cellular Automata

Cellular Automata PDF Author: Hiroshi Umeo
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3540799923
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 593

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Book Description
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Cellular Automata for Research and Industry, ACRI 2008, held in Yokohama, Japan, in September 2008. The 43 revised full papers and 22 revised poster papers presented together with 4 invited lectures were carefully reviewed and selected from 78 submissions. The papers focus on challenging problems and new research not only in theoretical but application aspects of cellular automata, including cellular automata tools and computational sciences. The volume also contains 11 extended abstracts dealing with crowds and cellular automata, which were presented during the workshop C&CA 2008. The papers are organized in topical sections on CA theory and implementation, computational theory, physical modeling, urban, environmental and social modeling, pedestrian and traffic flow modeling, crypto and security, system biology, CA-based hardware, as well as crowds and cellular automata.

The Good Ancestor

The Good Ancestor PDF Author: Roman Krznaric
Publisher: The Experiment
ISBN: 1615198334
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
Now in paperback: A call to save ourselves and our planet that gets to the root of the current crisis—society’s extreme short-sightedness

The Connected City

The Connected City PDF Author: Zachary P. Neal
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113623666X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
The Connected City explores how thinking about networks helps make sense of modern cities: what they are, how they work, and where they are headed. Cities and urban life can be examined as networks, and these urban networks can be examined at many different levels. The book focuses on three levels of urban networks: micro, meso, and macro. These levels build upon one another, and require distinctive analytical approaches that make it possible to consider different types of questions. At one extreme, micro-urban networks focus on the networks that exist within cities, like the social relationships among neighbors that generate a sense of community and belonging. At the opposite extreme, macro-urban networks focus on networks between cities, like the web of nonstop airline flights that make face-to-face business meetings possible. This book contains three major sections organized by the level of analysis and scale of network. Throughout these sections, when a new methodological concept is introduced, a separate ‘method note’ provides a brief and accessible introduction to the practical issues of using networks in research. What makes this book unique is that it synthesizes the insights and tools of the multiple scales of urban networks, and integrates the theory and method of network analysis.