20 NOV 2018 by ideonexus
Seeing Organizations as Biological Systems
There’s a continuing struggle between complexity and robustness in both evolution and human design. A kind of survival imperative, whether in biology, engineering, or business requires that simple, fragile systems become more robust. But the mechanisms to increase robustness will in turn make the system considerably more complex. Furthermore, that additional complexity brings with it its own unanticipated failure modes, which are corrected over time with additional robust mechanisms, which ... 1 
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notes- Other takeaways: Resilience, rather than efficiency. Holism, rather than reductionism. Plurality, rather than universality. Pragmatism, rather than intellectualism Experimentation, rather than deduction Indirect, rather than direct approaches
04 NOV 2018 by ideonexus
Complexity in Systems
On the far left are fixed systems that remain unchanging.hand, a screen that is full of random static would be completely The relationships between their elements are always the chaotic, with the color of a dot at one moment having nothing same. The black, unchanging TV screen is a good image for this kind of system.
To the right of fixed systems in the chart are periodic ones. Periodic systems are simple systems that repeat the same patterns endlessly. The simple two-building version of the... 1 notes
notes31 OCT 2018 by ideonexus
Bumper Sticker Computer Science
A few of my favorites, not found in the linked article:
"There are two ways of constructing software. One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies. The other is to make it so complex that there are no obvious deficiencies." C.A.R. Hoare
"The purpose of software engineering is to control complexity, not to create it." Dr. Pamela Zave
"The most important single aspect of software development is to be clear about what you are trying to build." Bjarne Stroustrup
"T... 1 notes
notes11 JUL 2017 by ideonexus
Engineering New Ways to Think About Things
One cluster looks, for example, for new ways of representing and understanding complex systems. A second cluster aims for more access to knowledge by undoing contemporary media’s restrictions (such as the restriction of the screen, which produces, with its peek-a-boo access to complexity, impenetrable forms of knowledge such as the trillions of lines of code, written on screens and then stared at on screens). A third cluster explores new forms of representing time, and a fourth one more eff...
1 10 MAR 2017 by ideonexus
Gamification Hand Mechanic
Mr. Hedges realizes that this technique could neatly simulate the complexity of the Iowa caucuses. He creates a deck of cards to represent Democratic and Republican candidates and all of the different kinds of factions and perspectives that might influence how voters behave in their individual caucus sites. He has one of his classes play a Democratic caucus and the other play a Republican one. The game he creates is played over three turns (coffee hour, early evening, evening). Players are as...Folksonomies: education gamification
Folksonomies: education gamification
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notes24 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
Energy Needed to Power Civilization
The numerical results of my calculations show that the quantities of energy required for permanent survival and communication are surprisingly modest. For a society with the same complexity as the present human society on Earth, starting from the present time and continuing forever, the total reserve of energy required is about equal to the energy now radiated by the Sun in eight hours. The total energy reserve contained in the Sun would be sufficient to support forever a society with a compl... 1 notes
notesThere is an overabundance of energy in the universe.
24 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
Q
The hypothesis of {108} abstraction says that every living creature is characterized by a number Q which is a measure of the complexity of the creature. To measure Q, we do not need to know anything about the internal structure of the creature. Q can be measured by observing from the outside the behavior of the creature and its interaction with its environment. Q is simply the quantity of entropy produced by the creature's metabolism during the time it takes to perform an elementary respons...Folksonomies: complexity quantification
Folksonomies: complexity quantification
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notes26 FEB 2014 by ideonexus
Science is Growing Bigger and Bigger
The history of physics is littered with unrealized grand experiments: old blueprints buried in file drawers, half-built machinery packed in crates, excavated earth filled with pooling rainwater—the detritus of Big Science. As the frontier of human knowledge pushes forward, so, too, does the cost and the complexity of further exploration. Telescopes grow larger. Space is probed at greater depths. Atomic particles are smashed more forcefully. Many scientific questions now demand resources tha... 1 notes
notesAnd in order to keep expanding it is requiring more and more collaboration between countries and more resources to build more and more epic experiments.
11 FEB 2014 by ideonexus
Curse of the Gifted: Personal Account
I am miles away from Eric or Linus, but the "curse of the gifted" is very real.
Thankfully I wasn't smart or gifted enough that I could ride it for long, but when it comes to math and problem-solving I rode it well into my high school years. I never learned to do algebra "by the book," because I didn't need to. Or maybe because I wasn't smart enough to.
The math teacher would teach "3x 6 = 9." Basic algebraic problem-solving says you subtract the 6 from both sides, then divide by 3. So "3...
2 A reply to the article, personal anecdote.
24 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
The Universe Holds the Meaning we Give It
Things happen because the laws of nature say they will—because they are the consequences of the state of the universe and the path of its evolution. Life on Earth doesn’t arise in fulfillment of a grand scheme but as a by-product of the increase of entropy in an environment very far from equilibrium. Our impressive brains don’t develop because life is guided toward greater levels of complexity and intelligence but from the mechanical interactions between genes, organisms, and their surr...Sean Carroll argues that our existence and our intelligence is the product of nature's algorithms. Life holds the meaning we give it.
