Complex Adaptive Systems and Governing Complexity
27:00–30:05
Complex Adaptive Systems are interesting in that they have feedback loops. These feedback loops allow them to control entities with in the system. Feedback Loops help the guide systems behaviors. At the core feedback loops are the idea of how a change in one part can have a ripple effect to the source to increase the effect or decrease the effect. In nature you’re either going to have a positive feedback loop an increase in abundance or decrease for regulation. At times these loops can become so extreme they are called as a “vicious cycle”. “Vicious cycles” are what happen when polar ice caps melt. As ice caps melt they allow for more heat to be absorbed by the dark water below them. This increases the rate at which ice caps melt, and sea levels rise.
“There is no particular animal or plant that I can point too, but they are the key players in this. Animals and Plants are evolved to take advantage of their ecosystems, and so feedback loops are a important concept to mimic in the real world. Anything with a exponential growth curve that has a effect on complex systems like AI should be viewed in the lens of complex systems and feedback loops. We therefore need “Virtuous Cycles” on the other hand to allow for sustainable development. With feedback loops you realize that the sun is really the source of all energy, and that should be central to how we think about energy distribution. We can use our understanding of feedback loops to change the way we solve issues of consequence. This requires a new approach to science, and one that will look holistic yet focused. We have many languages in the way we approach problems, but that’s all changing with the rate of interconnectedness of the planet.” — Suryaa Murali (assignment for other class)
“Today, it is much more obvious that most of our problems — climate change, poverty, obesity and chronic disease, or modern terrorism — cannot be solved simply with more resources and greater control. That is because they are the result of complex adaptive systems that are often the result of the tools used to solve problems in the past, such as endlessly increasing productivity and attempts to control things. This is where second-order cybernetics comes into play — the cybernetics of self-adaptive complex systems, where the observer is also part of the system itself. As Kevin Slavin says in Design as Participation, “You’re Not Stuck In Traffic — You Are Traffic.””
This idea of a second order cybernetics is super crucial as a solution to most of our grand challenges.
54:27 -55:21
History of Cybernetics:
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