Author : Mark Buchanan
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Page : 244 pages
File Size : 48,60 MB
Release : 2002
Category : Causality (Physics).
ISBN : 9780393041538
Nexus is an exciting introduction to the hidden geometry that weaves our lives so inextricably together."--BOOK JACKET.
Author : Mark Buchanan
Publisher : W. W. Norton
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 48,84 MB
Release : 2003-06-17
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780393324426
As Chaos explained the science of disorder, Nexus reveals the new science of connection and the odd logic of six degrees of separation. "If you ever wanted to know how many links connect you and the Pope, or why when the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank sneezes the global economy catches cold, read this book," writes John L. Casti (Santa Fe Institute). This "cogent and engaging" (Nature) work presents the fundamental principles of the emerging field of "small-worlds" theory—the idea that a hidden pattern is the key to how networks interact and exchange information, whether that network is the information highway or the firing of neurons in the brain. Mathematicians, physicists, computer scientists, and social scientists are working to decipher this complex organizational system, for it may yield a blueprint of dynamic interactions within our physical as well as social worlds. Highlighting groundbreaking research behind network theory, "Mark Buchanan's graceful, lucid, nontechnical and entertaining prose" (Mark Granovetter) documents the mounting support among various disciplines for the small-worlds idea and demonstrates its practical applications to diverse problems—from the volatile global economy or the Human Genome Project to the spread of infectious disease or ecological damage. Nexus is an exciting introduction to the hidden geometry that weaves our lives so inextricably together.
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Publisher : IOS Press
Page : 6097 pages
File Size : 27,37 MB
Release :
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Author : J. Goldstein
Publisher : Springer
Page : 322 pages
File Size : 14,62 MB
Release : 2010-06-07
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0230107710
The authors present a new approach to leadership based on findings from complexity science. Integrating real case studies with rigorous research results, they explore the biggest challenges being faced in fast-paced organizations, and provide a host of concrete tools for leading during critical periods.
Author : Paul T. Jaeger
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 406 pages
File Size : 46,93 MB
Release : 2010-04-05
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 1136970797
The authors present a multi-level theory of "Information Worlds" to investigate the ways in which information creates the social worlds of people. Building upon the foundational works of Library and Information Studies (LIS) scholar and theorist Elfreda Chatman and philosopher Jurgen Habermas, as well as from theory and research from a wide range of other fields, the theory of information worlds can serve as a theoretical driver both in LIS studies and across other disciplines that study information issues, enriching and expanding our understanding of the multi-layered role of information in society. Testing their theory through application to a variety of real-world issues, Burnett and Jaeger tackle the topics of libraries and information provision, the value assigned to information by differing social groups, information access and exchange, international information policies, the role of information in democracy, and technological change. Information Worlds provides a framework for empirical investigations into the fascinating and very real social dimensions of information.
Author : C Murray
Publisher : Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited
Page : 261 pages
File Size : 29,24 MB
Release : 2010-12-01
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 1869790871
A futurist’s vision for a strong, economically successful and positive New Zealand The future is coming. The question is: are we ready? New Zealand Unleashed is a look at what sort of society New Zealand will need to be to best tackle an unpredictable future. It is about how New Zealand can thrive on the uncertainty of the future, rather than fear and resist it. In this book Steven Carden doesn't outline what New Zealand should do, rather he argues how New Zealand should be.To accomplish that, he examines aspects of biology, physics, psychology, New Zealand's history, business and education. New Zealand Unleashed is divided into four parts: Part One - The End of Certainty - Why does the pace of change seem so rampant today, the future so uncertain, and why does that unnerve us so much? Part Two - How to Build a Successful Society - Given that uncertainty and complexity is an increasing fact of life, what are the three key traits that successful societies use to deal with it? Part Three - New Zealand's DNA - Has New Zealand exhibited these three key traits in the past, and what does it tell us about our ability to cope with change and uncertainty in the future? Part Four - A Few Ideas for a More Adaptive New Zealand - How can New Zealand nurture these three key traits to help build a stronger country in the future?
Author : Brent Davis
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 210 pages
File Size : 12,50 MB
Release : 2014-06-03
Category : Education
ISBN : 1134815859
This book explores the contributions, actual and potential, of complexity thinking to educational research and practice. While its focus is on the theoretical premises and the methodology, not specific applications, the aim is pragmatic--to present complexity thinking as an important and appropriate attitude for educators and educational researchers. Part I is concerned with global issues around complexity thinking, as read through an educational lens. Part II cites a diversity of practices and studies that are either explicitly informed by or that might be aligned with complexity research, and offers focused and practiced advice for structuring projects in ways that are consistent with complexity thinking. Complexity thinking offers a powerful alternative to the linear, reductionist approaches to inquiry that have dominated the sciences for hundreds of years and educational research for more than a century. It has captured the attention of many researchers whose studies reach across traditional disciplinary boundaries to investigate phenomena such as: How does the brain work? What is consciousness? What is intelligence? What is the role of emergent technologies in shaping personalities and possibilities? How do social collectives work? What is knowledge? Complexity research posits that a deep similarity among these phenomena is that each points toward some sort of system that learns. The authors’ intent is not to offer a complete account of the relevance of complexity thinking to education, not to prescribe and delimit, but to challenge readers to examine their own assumptions and theoretical commitments--whether anchored by commonsense, classical thought or any of the posts (such as postmodernism, poststructuralism, postcolonialism, postpositivism, postformalism, postepistemology) that mark the edges of current discursive possibility. Complexity and Education is THE introduction to the emerging field of complexity thinking for the education community. It is specifically relevant for educational researchers, graduate students, and inquiry-oriented teacher practitioners.
Author : Gonzalo Castañeda
Publisher : CEEY
Page : 1032 pages
File Size : 25,64 MB
Release : 2020-08-04
Category : Mathematics
ISBN : 607803653X
With the recent developments in computing technologies and the thriving research scene in Complexity Science, economists and other social scientists have become aware of a more flexible and promising alternative for modelling socioeconomic systems; one that, in contrast with neoclassical economics, advocates for the realism of the assumptions, the importance of context and culture, the heterogeneity of agents (individuals or organizations), and the bounded rationality of individuals who behave and learn in multifaceted ways in uncertain environments. The book synthesizes an extensive body of work in the field of social complexity and constructs a unifying framework that allows developing concrete applications to important socioeconomic problems. This one-of-a-kind textbook provides a comprehensive panorama for advanced undergraduates and graduate students who want to become familiar with a wide range of issues related to social complexity. It is also a pioneering text that can support professors who wish to learn techniques and produce research in this novel field. Con los desarrollos recientes en las tecnologías de la computación y el floreciente dinamismo de las ciencias de la complejidad, economistas y otros científicos sociales tienen a su alcance una flexible y prometedora alternativa para la modelación de los sistemas socioeconómicos. Esta metodología, en contraste con la economía neoclásica, aboga por el realismo de los supuestos, la importancia del contexto y la cultura, la heterogeneidad de los agentes (individuos y organizaciones), y la racionalidad acotada de las personas que se comportan y aprenden de maneras muy diversas en entorno con incertidumbre. El libro sintetiza la extensa literatura que existe sobre la complejidad social, y construye un enfoque unificador que permite elaborar aplicaciones concretas con las que abordar importantes problemas socioeconómicos. Se trata de un texto singular dado que presenta un panorama comprensivo del campo de estudio, por lo que puede resultar de sumo interés para estudiante de licenciatura avanzados, y alumnos de posgrado que desean adentrarse en el tema. Asimismo, se trata de un texto pionero de gran utilidad para profesores y analistas interesados en aprender algunas de las técnicas del paradigma de la complejidad social para, de esta forma, aplicarlas en sus tareas de investigación.
Author : James Merrill
Publisher : Knopf
Page : 216 pages
File Size : 11,78 MB
Release : 2018-04-03
Category : Poetry
ISBN : 0525520244
For the first time in a stand-alone edition, the acclaimed poet's classic poem about his communication with Ephraim, a guiding spirit in the Other World, is here introduced and annotated by poet and Merrill scholar Stephen Yenser. "The Book of Ephraim," which first appeared as the final poem in James Merrill's Pulitzer-winning volume Divine Comedies (1976), tells the story of how he and his partner David Jackson (JM and DJ as they came to be known) embarked on their experiments with the Ouija board and how they conversed after a fashion with great writers and thinkers of the past, especially in regard to the state of the increasingly imperiled planet Earth. One of the most ambitious long poems in in English in the twentieth century, originally conceived as complete in itself, it was to become the first part of Merrill's epic The Changing Light at Sandover (1982), the multiple prize-winning volume still in print. Merrill's "supreme tribute to the web of the world and the convergence of means and meanings everywhere within it" is introduced and annotated by one of his literary executors, Stephen Yenser, in a volume that will gratify veteran readers and entice new ones.
Author : Jordi Bascompte Sacrets
Publisher : Universitat de València
Page : 199 pages
File Size : 27,33 MB
Release : 2012-07
Category : Science
ISBN : 8437089409
Les espècies evolucionen, canvien amb el pas del temps i així ho va constatar i argumentar Charles Darwin. El que té entre les mans és una obra que intenta integrar dues grans visions de l?evolució que sovint es presenten enfrontades. D?una banda, la visió que emfatitza la contingència, els accidents congelats i la irreversibilitat, i determina una ciència eminentment històrica. De l?altra, la visió més racio¬nal, basada en la comprensió dels processos d?auto¬organització semblants als d?altres sistemes físics allunyats de l?equilibri termodinàmic, i que determina una ciència estructuralista. El resultat és una visió més rica i plural del fenomen evolutiu, en la qual es posen en evidència els paradigmes clàssics. Una revisió acurada de la visió més ortodoxa de l?evolució a la recerca d?explicacions teòriques que van més enllà dels límits de la biologia.
