In a series of books and papers Andreas Wagner has explored the basis of the robustness of living organisms: his discoveries have been breaking new ground. In books like Robustness and evolvability of living systems (2005), and The arrival of the fittest (2015), he has shown how living organisms depend for their survival on genetic and metabolic networks which possess modularity and distributed robustness. Continue reading
As Dr Nick Winder has pointed out, since the 1970s we have found ourselves more and more having to comprehend and deal with recursive, open, non-stationary and evolving entities that we have come to call systems or “systems of systems.” Continue reading
The old saw says “many a true word is spoken in jest.” and this has been proven by Terry Pratchett who wrote the following in one of his witty Disc World novels:
“First thoughts are everyday thoughts. Everyone has those. Second thoughts are the thoughts you think about the way you think. People who enjoy thinking have those. Third thoughts are thoughts that watch the world and think all by them selves. They’re rare and often troublesome. Listening to them is part of witchcraft.” (A Hat full of sky, 2004, Disc World novel #32, footnote 2, p. 74). Continue reading
By Graham Harris
It is always instructive to take a step back from the coalface occasionally and to take a look at the history of particular disciplines. More often than not it is possible to see that certain sets of ideas became the bedrock of our thinking – and that others did not. Continue reading
By Graham Harris
When we try to manage systems of systems with both “hard” engineered aspects and “soft” living components we often have problems in achieving desired outcomes, in obtaining evidence of system change and in getting our act together in the first place – just think of the ongoing debates about climate change! After at least two decades we are still arguing about the predictions of global warming, what the goal might be and the best way to go about emissions control. In such debates science, politics, values and beliefs are completely intertwined. Continue reading
By Graham Harris
Welcome to a new SMART blog topic – all about systems: about what they are, and the ways we think about them, value them, construct them in our minds and in real life, and (try to) manage them. Continue reading