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Organized complexity. This week’s discussion. Papers: Lazebnik , Y [2002]. "Can a biologist fix a radio?--Or, what I learned while studying apoptosis". Cancer Cell, 2(3):179-182. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2011
Informatics and computing
Organized complexity
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2011
Informatics and computing
Papers:
Lazebnik, Y [2002]. "Can a biologist fix a radio?--Or, what I learned while studying apoptosis". Cancer Cell, 2(3):179-182.
Simon, H.A. [1962]. "The Architecture of Complexity". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 106: pp. 467-482.
Klir, G.J. [2001]. Facets of systems Science. Springer. Chapters: 3, 8, and 11.
This week’s discussion
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2011
Informatics and computing
Systems movement
Roots: Mathematics Computer Technology Systems Thinking
Cybernetics Functional equivalence Communication and information Complexity Interdisciplinary outlook Bio-inspired mathematics and computing Computing/Mechanism-inspired biology and social
science
1965: Society for the Advancement of General Systems Theory
Ludwig von Bertalanffy
Anatol Rapoport
RalphGerard
KennethBoulding
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2011
Informatics and computing
Warren Weaver’s classes of systems and problems
Organized simplicity Classical mathematical tools Calculus and differential equations Problems with a very small number of
components With perfectly predicted behavior Deterministic
Disorganized complexity Statistical tools Very large number of components High degree of unpredictability Randomness
Organized complexity Sizable number of components which are
interrelated into an organic whole Study of organization Systems where whole is more than sum of parts Need for new mathematical and computational
tools
Organizedsimplicity
Disorganized complexity
Organized Complexity
Complexity
Rand
omne
ss
Weaver, W (1948) Science and Complexity, American Scientist, 36: 536 (1948).
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2011
Informatics and computing
Examples
Organizedsimplicity
Disorganized complexity
Organized Complexity
Complexity
Rand
omne
ss
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2011
Informatics and computing
From systems science to informatics
organized complexity study of organization
“Whole is more than sum of parts” Systemhood properties Holism vs. Reductionism
Need for new mathematical and computational tools Massive combinatorial searches Problems that can only be tackled with computers Computer as lab
Understanding function Of wholes
Systems biology Evolutionary thinking
Systems thinking Emergence: How do elements combine to form
new unities?
Organizedsimplicity
Disorganized complexity
Organized Complexity
Complexity
Rand
omne
ss
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2011
Informatics and computing
Models of organized complexity Systemhood properties
Search for a language of generalized circuits Isomorphy of concepts, laws and models Minimize duplication of efforts across fields Unity of science
Not mathematics. Kenneth Boulding: “in a sense, because mathematics contains all theories it contains
none; it is the language of theory, but it does not give us the content” “body of systematic theoretical construction which will discuss general
relationships of the empirical World”. “somewhere between the specific that has no meaning and the general
that has no content there must be, for each purpose an at each level of abstraction, an optimum degree of generality”.
Empirical and problem-driven Other relevant areas
Cybernetics and Information theory (Shannon and Weaver) Mathematical theories of control and generalized circuits Optimal scheduling and resource allocation (operations research)
Ludwig von Bertalanffy
KennethBoulding
Boulding's 1st Law: "Anything that exists is possible."
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2011
Informatics and computing
“Two-dimensional science”
Science in the post-industrial age Industrial society
One-dimensional science Organized simplicity and disorganized complexity Thinghood-driven, reductionist
Information society Two-dimensional science
Thinghood and systemhood Integration of empirical science with general systems Problem-driven, understanding function Understanding of levels of generality
Historical sequence of societies: Pre-industrial: “extractive” industries, manual labor, mining, low energy
density Industrial: large-scale production, machine technology Information: computational technology and trades, information
processing, services Man -> machine -> computer George Klir
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2011
Informatics and computing
Stepping back a bit: information, what is it?
SIGN
Thin
g
ICON
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2011
Informatics and computing
Stepping back a bit: information, what is it?
“Information is that which reduces uncertainty”. (Claude Shannon)“Information is that which changes us”. (Gregory Bateson)“Information is a semantic chameleon”. (Rene Thom)
The word information derives from the Latin informare in + formare = give form, shape, or character to. It is therefore to be the formative principle of, or to imbue with some specific character or quality.
From: Von Bayer, H.C. [2004]. Information: The New Language of Science. Harvard University Press., Chapter 3, pp 20-21.\
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2011
Informatics and computing
Systems science: cross-disciplinary
For hundreds of years, the word information has been used to signify knowledge and related terms such as meaning, instruction, communication, representation, signs, symbols, etc. “the action of informing; formation or molding of the mind or character,
training, instruction, teaching; communication of instructive knowledge”. Oxford English Dictionary
Two of the most outstanding achievements of science in the XX century Invention of Digital Computers and Information Technology Birth of Molecular Biology
Resulted in the generation of vast amounts of data and information and new understandings of the concept of information itself
Modern science is unraveling the nature of information in numerous areas such as communication theory, biology, neuroscience, cognitive science, and education, among others.
Organization very tied to idea of information Essential for systems approaches Cf. Rosen’s comments on energy vs. communication
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2011
Informatics and computing
Information as representation
We often presume that such and such information is simply a factual representation of reality but representation of reality to whom? The act of representing something as a piece of knowledge demands
the existence of a separation between the thing being represented and the representation of the thing for somebody – between the known and the knower.
This is a form of communication: the representation of an object communicates the existence of the
(known) object to the knower that recognizes the representation.
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2011
Informatics and computing
Information as representation
Signs are objects whose function is to be about other things Objects whose function is reference rather than presence. Do not deliver things but a sense or knowledge of things – a message.
Example: Road Signs Not a distant thing; but about distant things
For information to work There has to be a system of signs Recognizable by the relevant group of people (drivers!)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2011
Informatics and computing
Information as relation
The central structure of information is a relation among signs, objects or things, and agents capable of understanding (or
decoding) the signs. Agents are informed by a Sign about some Thing.
sign
agentsthing
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2011
Informatics and computing
Information as relation
The information relation is a sign system Semiotics is the discipline that studies sign systems
sign
agentsthing
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2011
Informatics and computing
Playing with sign systems Language and sign systems surround us
We are often not aware we use them We notice them when an object oscillates between sign and thing
Reverts from reference to presence Playing with reference in sign systems is common in Art
“beware: Cliff”Or“beware: low gravity”?
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2011
Informatics and computing
Playing with sign systems
Symbols are used as pictorial objects to draw the picture of Kitty: presence
But within the silhouette of Kitty there is also a tale of cats: reference
K itty O I am my own way of being in view and yet invisible at once Hearing everything you see I see all of whatever you can have heard even inside the deep silences of black silhouettes like these images of furry surfaces darkly playing cat and mouse with your doubts about whether other minds can ever be drawn from hiding and made to be heard in inferred language I can speak only in your voice Are you done with my shadow That thread of dark word can all run out now and end our tale
by John Hollander. Kitty, Black domestic shorthair
Paul van Ostayen – Boem Paukeslag
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2011
Informatics and computing
The name of the rose
Movie version of the Umberto Eco’s book An old manuscript, the message,
is literarily dangerous Becomes literally poisonous reference and presence become
very intertwined indeed!
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2011
Informatics and computing
Play on reference
The accepted meaning of the symbols conflicts with the object
Highlights how arbitrary symbols are
The Key of Dreams, 1930, Rene Maggritte
“This is not a pipe”
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2011
Informatics and computing
When is an object a sign or a thing?
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2011
Informatics and computing
Semiotics and informatics
Semantics the content or meaning of the Sign of a Thing for an
Agent Relations between signs and objects for an agent the study of meaning.
Syntax the characteristics of signs and symbols devoid of
meaning Relations among signs such as their rules of
operation, production, storage, and manipulation. Pragmatics
the context of signs and repercussions of sign-systems in an environment
it studies how context influences the interpretation of signs and how well a signs-system represents some aspect of the environment
info
rmati
on
infr
om
ati
cs
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2011
Informatics and computing
(Peirce’s) Typology of Signs
Icons are direct representations of objects. Similar to the thing they represent. Pictorial road signs, scale models, computer icons.
A footprint on the sand is an icon of a foot. Common in computer interface (watch the evil metaphore!)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2011
Informatics and computing
(Peirce’s) Typology of Signs
Indices are indirect representations of objects, but necessarily related. Smoke is an index of fire, the bell is an index of the tolling
stroke a footprint is an index of a person.
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2011
Informatics and computing
(Peirce’s) Typology of Signs
Symbols are arbitrary representations of objects Require exclusively a social convention to be understood Convention establishes a code, agreed by a group of agents,
for understanding (decoding) the information contained in symbols.
Smoke is an index of fire, but if we agree on an appropriate code (e.g. Morse code) we can use smoke signals to communicate symbolically.
Internally consistent coding + indices: ~ non-arbitrary symbols
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2011
Informatics and computing
(Peirce’s) Typology of Signs
Icons are direct representations of objects. Similar to the thing they represent. Pictorial road signs, scale models, computer icons.
A footprint on the sand is an icon of a foot. Indices are indirect representations of objects, but necessarily
related. Smoke is an index of fire, the bell is an index of the tolling
stroke a footprint is an index of a person.
Symbols are arbitrary representations of objects Require exclusively a social convention to be understood
Convention establishes a code, agreed by a group of agents, for understanding (decoding) the information contained in symbols.
Smoke is an index of fire, but if we agree on an appropriate code (e.g. Morse code) we can use smoke signals to communicate symbolically.
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2011
Informatics and computing
Readings for this class
Aleksander, I. [2002]. “Understanding Information Bit by Bit”. In: It must be beautiful : great equations of modern science. G. Farmelo (Ed.), Granta, London.
Rosvall, M and Bergstrom, C (2007) Maps of random walks on complex networks reveal community structure. PNAS January 29, 2008 vol. 105 no. 4 1118-1123