Design Elements of Complex Systems

"Avi Ma'ayan takes us on an intriguing journey into the inner workings of various complex systems and speculates on the forces and design elements shaping their structure and behaviour. With wide-reaching examples from fields spanning sociology to biology, this book will appeal to anyone intrigued by how we, and the world we live in grows, develops and ultimately...becomes more complex." Insight Editing London "Different schools of thought representing diverse areas of scientific research, such as computer science, sociology, mathematics, physics, economics, and biology, are all placing increasing focus on one concept: complexity. Intriguingly, many common design elements have emerged among these different fields of science. Models of complex systems that capture system structure and dynamics are commonly explained by a few governing principles, such as survival of the fittest, rich-get-richer, or duplication-divergence; but in fact, there are many more forces and design elements acting in concert to shape the structure and behavior of many different types of complex systems. These forces and design elements work in parallel or, sometimes, counteract one another to produce the final behavior of the system, and these interactions manifest as continuous changes, all in one general direction of growth, improved fitness, and increased complexity." Excerpt from the book