Introduction to Nonlinear and General Systems Theory

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Introduction to Nonlinear and General Systems
Theory

• E 124
• W. E. Kastenberg

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Industrial Age Technologies

• Complicated Systems
• Aerospace vehicles
• Chemical plants
• Civil structures
• Environmental media
• Energy plants
• Transportation vehicles

• Context
• Reductionistic
• Deterministic
• Dualistic (objectivist)

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The Newtonian/Cartesian Paradigm

• Atomistic leads to reductionism, separation or
  fragmentation.
• Deterministic leading to cause and effect
  (output is proportional to input).
• Dualistic observation does not affect the system
  being observed, the laws governing a systems
  behavior can be deduced from objective
  empirical observations.

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Ecological and Societal Impact(After
Bateson-1970)

• World population growth.
• Acceleration of technological progress.
• Hubris certain errors in the thinking and
  attitudes of western culture, emanating from the
  industrial revolution (Newtonian/Cartesian
  paradigm).

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Errors in Western Thinking

• Its us against the environment.
• Its us against other men.
• Its the individual (or the individual company,
  or the individual nation) that matters.
• We can have unilateral control over the
  environment and must strive for that control.

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Errors in Western Thinking (Continued)

• We live within an infinitely expanding
  frontier.
• Economic determinism is common sense.
• Technology will do it for us.

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Bateson (Continued)

• if we continue to operate in a Cartesian
  dualism of mind versus matter, we shall probably
  also continue to see the world as God versus man,
  elite versus people, and man versus environment.
  It is doubtful whether a species having both an
  advanced technology and this strange way of
  looking at its world can endure.

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Post-Industrial Age Technologies

• Complicated Systems
• Aerospace vehicles
• Chemical plants
• Civil structures
• Environmental media
• Energy plants
• Transportation vehicles

• Complex Systems
• Biotechnology
• Ecological systems
• Information Technology
• Global climate change
• Nano-technology
• Nuclear waste/weapons

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Post-Industrial Age

• Complex
• Biotechnology
• Information technology
• Global climate change
• Nano-technology
• Nuclear waste

• Context
• Holistic/emergent
• Chaotic
• Subjective

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Complex Systems

• Holism/Emergence the system exhibits properties
  that are not contained the parts alone.
• Chaotic small changes in input can lead to large
  changes in output and/or there may be many
  possible outputs for a given input.
• Subjective some aspects of the system may not be
  describable by objective means.

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Societal Impact (Risk)

• Complicated
• Geographically local
• Observable in real time
• Change is slow and may be reversible

• Complex
• Geographically global
• Imperceptible in real time
• Change is rapid and may be irreversible

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Unprecedented Uncertainty

• Complicated
• Aleatory natural variation in the physical world
• Epistemic lack of knowledge about the physical
  world

• Complex
• Chaotic small changes in input may lead to large
  changes in output
• Indeterminacy many possible outcomes for given
  input (bifurcations)

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Unprecedented Ambiguity

• Ambiguity refers to the variability of
  (legitimate) interpretation based on identical
  observation or data assessments
• Differences in interpreting factual statements
  about the world.
• Differences in applying normative rules to
  evaluate the state of the world.

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What Is a System?

• A set of objects (parts, components or
  subsystems).
• The attributes (or state) of the objects (mass,
  on/off, temperature, charge, etc.).
• A set of relationships between the parts and a
  set of relationships between the attributes.
• (The set of objects defines a boundary around the
  system which may be physical or conceptual).

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Examples of Systems

• The earth as a system.
• The biosphere as an ecological system.
• An industrial system as an ecosystem.
• An organism as a living system.
• An engineered system such as a space shuttle,
  nuclear power plant, computer, robot, chemical
  process plant, civil structure or transportation
  system.

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Earth System


Energy
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General System Theory

• The system cannot be reduced to its parts without
  altering the relationships between its
  components. Or there are properties exhibited by
  the system as a whole, that are not exhibited by
  the parts alone.
• The system has permeable boundaries and is
  continually in a process of exchanging mass,
  energy and information with its environment.

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General System Theory (continued)

• The system is not only a whole, but also a part
  within a larger whole. Hence it is a subsystem
  within a larger system of whose character and
  functioning it is an integral and
  co-determinative component.

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Holons, Holarchy and Emergence

• A holon is an entity that is itself a whole, and
  simultaneously a part of some other whole.
• A holarchy is a hierarchy composed of holons.
• When we say, the whole is greater than the sum
  of its parts, we mean there is an emergent
  property (or quality) that is not exhibited in
  the parts alone.
  
  

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General System Theory (continued)

• The system stabilizes itself through negative
  feedback it will adjust its output to produce
  and sustain a match between the input it receives
  and its programming.
• With positive feedback, a mismatch occurs between
  input and programming, and the system searches
  for a new equilibrium state or it collapses (i.e.
  the system is self organizing).

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General System Theory (continued)

• The systems behavior may be stochastic or
  chaotic, achieving equilibrium through a trial
  and error process.
• The terms goal seeking or self-adapting or
  self-organizing are sometimes used since these
  systems seek homeostasis or equilibrium.

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Physical System Holarchy

• Quarks, bosons, fermions, etc
• Particles (protons, neutrons, etc)
• Atoms
• Molecules
• Matter
• Earth
• Planets, and so on!!!

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Living System Holarchy

• Physical System (atoms, molecules, etc)
• Biological System (genes, nuclei, cells, etc)
• Physiological System (organs, organisms,etc)
• Psychological Systems (children, women, men, etc)
• Sociological Systems (cities, nations, religions,
  etc)

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What do we mean by Global Ethics ?

• Micro-ethics Ethical and moral behavior of
  individuals for professionals there is usually a
  code of professional conduct.
• Meso-ethics This usually refers to ethics at the
  group level, particularly governments and
  businesses.
• Macro-ethics This usually refers to the values
  we as a collective society hold, hence the term
  Global Ethics.

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Micro-ethics

• Ethical and moral behavior of individuals and may
  be
• Rule or principle based.
• Contextual or situational.
• Family values.
• Religious, ethnic or community values.
• Dictated by professional rules of conduct.
• Dictated by law.

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Meso-ethics

• Meso in the middle or intermediate with respect
  to position, time, size or degree.
• Governments national security Economic growth
  and economic competitiveness Assured food
  supply Justice and protection of citizens Etc.
• Businesses obligations to shareholders (profit)
  Obligations to workers (cash flow/payroll)
  Protecting their social franchise Etc.

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Macro-ethics Global Ethics

• This has come to mean protection of our
  commons. Current issues
• Social capital (population growth).
• Biodiversity (extinction of species).
• Soil and food security (hunger/malnutrition).
• Ocean fisheries.
• Global air quality and pollution.
• Global climate change.
• Global freshwater resources.
• Energy resources and global development.

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