#392 Is Society Really Complex? - Mapping the Ontology of Overwhelming Systems
Author: Petter Törnberg
The statement that "society is a complex system" is today uncontroversial, implying that complexity science is poised to revolutionize the social sciences. But while important contributions have been made, it is still frequently ignored or even greeted with hostility in much of the social sciences and humanities. For example, JASSS, an important mainstream complexity journal focusing on social systems, has in total received only a handful citation from social scientists (Squazzoni and Casnici 2013). The relatively few social scientists who have engaged with complexity science have, moreover, commonly criticized its predominant intellectual directions, referring to it as “reductionist” and “simplistic” (Byrne and Callaghan 2014). We here explore this tension with regard to how societal systems are conceptualized and studied.
At bottom lies the frustratingly persistent question of the nature of complexity, which we try to move past by an “Alexandrian solution”: cutting the knot by taking “complexity” to be what mainstream complexity science does. Recognizing that the colloquial meaning of “complexity” is broader, corresponding better to the notion of “overwhelming”, we utilize the common adage “complexity is not complicatedness” to factorize this superclass of overwhelming systems into two basic types of organization: complexity and complicatedness (what Èrdi 2008 calls structural and dynamic complexity).
By seeing these two properties as spanning an imagined plane, we find that examples of systems separate and cluster in a logical manner. This may suggest that our mapping may correspond to a spectrum of types of generative processes, providing a systematic approach for relating system epistemology and ontology. Significantly, societal systems cluster with evolutionary ecosystems in the corner where complexity and complicatedness are combined, hinting at a possible emergent system quality. In reference to the concept of “wicked systems” (Rittel and Webber 1973) we label this quality "wickedness."
#395 Physiological responses of intertidal crabs to environmental gradients on the coast of Chile using an integrated approach with machine learning
Authors: Sebastian Osores, Tania Opitz, Gonzalo A. Ruz and Marco Lardies
The ectothermic organisms distributed along environmental gradients, exhibit phenotypic variation, this is particularly generalized along latitudinal clines, which are linked to gradual changes of many environmental factors. These organisms may exhibit distribution between biogeographic breaks, that contrary to a gradual change, shows abrupt changes in many phenotypic traits. In this sense, physiological traits and their plasticity in environmental gradients play a key role in the distribution patterns, as many of them are related to tolerance levels of organisms to local environmental conditions. As a result of the above, it is not clear what factors (i.e, latitudinal or biogeographic breaks) prevail in the phenotypic configuration, as well as to identify the traits that contribute more to this phenotypic variability in latitudinal gradients. We used three species of intertidal crustaceans Cyclograpsus cinereus (high-intertidal), Petrolisthes violaceus (medium-intertidal) and Petrolisthes tuberculosus (low-intertidal) to evaluate the physiological responses. 30 specimens per species were collected in seven different locations in the Chilean coast (20-41º south latitude). For all the organisms, metabolic rates (14 and 20ºC), critical temperatures, recovery times, and morphometric measurements were determined. Machine learning techniques were used to generate a measure of variable importance (Random Forest). Furthermore, the role of latitude and biogeographical breaks with the average values of physiological traits using a mixed model was evaluated, which was compared with an integrated approach using machine learning (clustering and classification algorithms).
Overall our results show (1) the traits associated with the metabolism and thermal tolerance contribute more to the phenotypic changes between populations, (2) the importance between latitude and biogeographic breaks in the physiological phenotype, is linked closely to the distribution of the populations in the intertidal, (3) the phenotypic plasticity of integrated physiological traits that contribute to the thermal physiology, can provide more accurate predictions in vulnerable species to global warming.
#399 Gravity model of election
Author: Tomasz Gradowski
Election is the key process in democratic societies. However, it is a very complex phenomenon, difficult to study or model. Although we are provided with an empirical data coming from the opinion polls and the general election itself, the voting behavior is rather difficult to explain. Voters' decisions often depend not only on political beliefs, but on factors almost impossible to measure, like emotions or prejudices.
In this paper, we propose a model of elections, based on the Newton’s law of universal gravitation, applied with a great success in such areas as economics, trade or migration. In our model the behavior of voters is determined by the existence of attractive forces generated by the political parties in two-dimensional abstract space of political convictions, taking into account both economic views (ranging from communism and ending up with neo-liberalism) and beliefs on social issues (from anarchism to fascism). The results obtained from the model are compared with the ones of the general elections in Germany and the United Kingdom.
#407 Emergent structures in coupled patterning and morphogenetic processes
Authors: Timothy Rudge, Fernan Federici, Felipe Veloso, Guillermo Yañez Feliu, Isaac Nuñez Quijada
The development of multicellular organisms exemplifies the emergence of complex structure in a growing or proliferating medium. Processes including expansion, diffusion, and bulk motion coupled to the responses of this excitable medium are seen to break symmetry and generate spatio-temporal heterogeneity. The states of these responses themselves regulate expansion and transport processes by way of determining local medium properties. Growth, expansion and bulk motion in particular determine the morphology of the medium domain, which in turn creates boundary conditions for transport operators. We suggest that this coupling of boundary conditions between dynamic medium responses, transport and morphology leads to emergent spatio-temporal order. Within this ordering we include periodic structures, at the microscopic scale cells, and at larger scales correlated response states such as cell-types, tissues and organs.
Here we present a theoretical and computational framework to explore the emergence of structure from the coupling of relatively simple growth and patterning processes. We consider both continuous models in which no periodicity is imposed, and explicitly cellular systems in which periodicity of states is assumed with simple rules for proliferation. We focus in particular on two important aspects of these types of systems: 1. Physical mechanisms that constrain morphological and geometrical responses to the medium states, 2. Types of medium response, with reference to current knowledge about gene regulation and epigenetics. This study thus presents abstracted models for the emergence of structure in morphogenetic systems, which we also analyse with respect to feasible synthetic biology applications aiming to generate emergent structure de novo from simple biological substrates such as bacteria.
#413 The Influence of Epistasis on the Assortativity of Neutral Networks
Authors: David Shorten and Geoff Nitschke
The effects of neutrality on evolvability as well as the evolution of robustness have been widely discussed in the biological literature. Moreover, neutrality has received much attention within the evolutionary computing community. The structure of neutral networks and the resultant effects on evolution are thus topics worthy of consideration. It has recently been shown that the neutral networks induced by the folding of RNA into its secondary structure are assortative. This poster presents results which demonstrate the relationship between epistasis and the assortativity of neutral networks. Specifically, it is shown that, for a generic fitness landscape, low levels of epistatic interaction between alleles implies that the networks must be assortative. Moreover, in the limit of zero epistasis the networks are perfectly assortative. Further results explore the implications of this structure on the evolution of robustness. Previous work has demonstrated the close link between robustness and evolvability and thus the influence of this structure on evolvability is also explored.
Author: Petter Törnberg
The statement that "society is a complex system" is today uncontroversial, implying that complexity science is poised to revolutionize the social sciences. But while important contributions have been made, it is still frequently ignored or even greeted with hostility in much of the social sciences and humanities. For example, JASSS, an important mainstream complexity journal focusing on social systems, has in total received only a handful citation from social scientists (Squazzoni and Casnici 2013). The relatively few social scientists who have engaged with complexity science have, moreover, commonly criticized its predominant intellectual directions, referring to it as “reductionist” and “simplistic” (Byrne and Callaghan 2014). We here explore this tension with regard to how societal systems are conceptualized and studied.
At bottom lies the frustratingly persistent question of the nature of complexity, which we try to move past by an “Alexandrian solution”: cutting the knot by taking “complexity” to be what mainstream complexity science does. Recognizing that the colloquial meaning of “complexity” is broader, corresponding better to the notion of “overwhelming”, we utilize the common adage “complexity is not complicatedness” to factorize this superclass of overwhelming systems into two basic types of organization: complexity and complicatedness (what Èrdi 2008 calls structural and dynamic complexity).
By seeing these two properties as spanning an imagined plane, we find that examples of systems separate and cluster in a logical manner. This may suggest that our mapping may correspond to a spectrum of types of generative processes, providing a systematic approach for relating system epistemology and ontology. Significantly, societal systems cluster with evolutionary ecosystems in the corner where complexity and complicatedness are combined, hinting at a possible emergent system quality. In reference to the concept of “wicked systems” (Rittel and Webber 1973) we label this quality "wickedness."
#395 Physiological responses of intertidal crabs to environmental gradients on the coast of Chile using an integrated approach with machine learning
Authors: Sebastian Osores, Tania Opitz, Gonzalo A. Ruz and Marco Lardies
The ectothermic organisms distributed along environmental gradients, exhibit phenotypic variation, this is particularly generalized along latitudinal clines, which are linked to gradual changes of many environmental factors. These organisms may exhibit distribution between biogeographic breaks, that contrary to a gradual change, shows abrupt changes in many phenotypic traits. In this sense, physiological traits and their plasticity in environmental gradients play a key role in the distribution patterns, as many of them are related to tolerance levels of organisms to local environmental conditions. As a result of the above, it is not clear what factors (i.e, latitudinal or biogeographic breaks) prevail in the phenotypic configuration, as well as to identify the traits that contribute more to this phenotypic variability in latitudinal gradients. We used three species of intertidal crustaceans Cyclograpsus cinereus (high-intertidal), Petrolisthes violaceus (medium-intertidal) and Petrolisthes tuberculosus (low-intertidal) to evaluate the physiological responses. 30 specimens per species were collected in seven different locations in the Chilean coast (20-41º south latitude). For all the organisms, metabolic rates (14 and 20ºC), critical temperatures, recovery times, and morphometric measurements were determined. Machine learning techniques were used to generate a measure of variable importance (Random Forest). Furthermore, the role of latitude and biogeographical breaks with the average values of physiological traits using a mixed model was evaluated, which was compared with an integrated approach using machine learning (clustering and classification algorithms).
Overall our results show (1) the traits associated with the metabolism and thermal tolerance contribute more to the phenotypic changes between populations, (2) the importance between latitude and biogeographic breaks in the physiological phenotype, is linked closely to the distribution of the populations in the intertidal, (3) the phenotypic plasticity of integrated physiological traits that contribute to the thermal physiology, can provide more accurate predictions in vulnerable species to global warming.
#399 Gravity model of election
Author: Tomasz Gradowski
Election is the key process in democratic societies. However, it is a very complex phenomenon, difficult to study or model. Although we are provided with an empirical data coming from the opinion polls and the general election itself, the voting behavior is rather difficult to explain. Voters' decisions often depend not only on political beliefs, but on factors almost impossible to measure, like emotions or prejudices.
In this paper, we propose a model of elections, based on the Newton’s law of universal gravitation, applied with a great success in such areas as economics, trade or migration. In our model the behavior of voters is determined by the existence of attractive forces generated by the political parties in two-dimensional abstract space of political convictions, taking into account both economic views (ranging from communism and ending up with neo-liberalism) and beliefs on social issues (from anarchism to fascism). The results obtained from the model are compared with the ones of the general elections in Germany and the United Kingdom.
#407 Emergent structures in coupled patterning and morphogenetic processes
Authors: Timothy Rudge, Fernan Federici, Felipe Veloso, Guillermo Yañez Feliu, Isaac Nuñez Quijada
The development of multicellular organisms exemplifies the emergence of complex structure in a growing or proliferating medium. Processes including expansion, diffusion, and bulk motion coupled to the responses of this excitable medium are seen to break symmetry and generate spatio-temporal heterogeneity. The states of these responses themselves regulate expansion and transport processes by way of determining local medium properties. Growth, expansion and bulk motion in particular determine the morphology of the medium domain, which in turn creates boundary conditions for transport operators. We suggest that this coupling of boundary conditions between dynamic medium responses, transport and morphology leads to emergent spatio-temporal order. Within this ordering we include periodic structures, at the microscopic scale cells, and at larger scales correlated response states such as cell-types, tissues and organs.
Here we present a theoretical and computational framework to explore the emergence of structure from the coupling of relatively simple growth and patterning processes. We consider both continuous models in which no periodicity is imposed, and explicitly cellular systems in which periodicity of states is assumed with simple rules for proliferation. We focus in particular on two important aspects of these types of systems: 1. Physical mechanisms that constrain morphological and geometrical responses to the medium states, 2. Types of medium response, with reference to current knowledge about gene regulation and epigenetics. This study thus presents abstracted models for the emergence of structure in morphogenetic systems, which we also analyse with respect to feasible synthetic biology applications aiming to generate emergent structure de novo from simple biological substrates such as bacteria.
#413 The Influence of Epistasis on the Assortativity of Neutral Networks
Authors: David Shorten and Geoff Nitschke
The effects of neutrality on evolvability as well as the evolution of robustness have been widely discussed in the biological literature. Moreover, neutrality has received much attention within the evolutionary computing community. The structure of neutral networks and the resultant effects on evolution are thus topics worthy of consideration. It has recently been shown that the neutral networks induced by the folding of RNA into its secondary structure are assortative. This poster presents results which demonstrate the relationship between epistasis and the assortativity of neutral networks. Specifically, it is shown that, for a generic fitness landscape, low levels of epistatic interaction between alleles implies that the networks must be assortative. Moreover, in the limit of zero epistasis the networks are perfectly assortative. Further results explore the implications of this structure on the evolution of robustness. Previous work has demonstrated the close link between robustness and evolvability and thus the influence of this structure on evolvability is also explored.
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