Systems Thinking – Complex Adaptive Systems

The term complex adaptive systems, or complexity science, is often used to describe the loosely organized academic field that has grown up around the study of such systems. Complexity science is not a single theory—it encompasses more than one theoretical framework and is highly interdisciplinary, seeking the answers to some fundamental questions about living, adaptable, changeable systems. The study of CAS focuses on complex, emergent and macroscopic properties of the system. John H. Holland said that CAS “are systems that have a large numbers of components, often called agents, that interact and adapt or learn.”

In these complex adaptive systems no one is in control, no one has complete information, patterns of order emerge through self-organization between agents. Individual cells self-organize to form differentiated body organs, ants interact and self-organize to form colonies, and people interact to form social networks. These patterns of global organization emerge out of a dynamic between order and chaos that we are only just beginning to understand but as we do we are finding that these apparently very dissimilar systems share fundamental commonalities.

The aim of this course is to give a comprehensive, clear and accessible outline to the new area of complex adaptive systems that is finding application in many areas. We will be covering all the main topics within this domain, as we start by talking about adaptation itself where we will be discussing cybernetics and looking at how systems regulate themselves to respond to change.

• This course is intended for a broad group of people but will be particularly relevant for those with a background in math or science