[P2P-F] Fwd: UPDATE: Complexity, Emergence and Systemic Change

Wed Mar 22 07:46:11 CET 2017

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Kenneth McLeod <kenneth.mcleod at uts.edu.au>
Date: Wed, Mar 22, 2017 at 7:43 AM
Subject: UPDATE: Complexity, Emergence and Systemic Change
To: kenneth.mcleod at uts.edu.au

Anthropocene Transition Project
Complexity, Emergence and Systemic Change
------------------------------

It seems we have several people interested in doing the Santa Fe
Institute's *Introduction to Complexity* free online course and
participating in our own *face-to-face seminars* to explore the content in
the context of social and cultural change in the Anthropocene Transition.

Here is the link for the course:  https://www.complexityexplorer.org/
courses/74-introduction-to-complexity-spring-2017

The course starts on 10th April and runs for 11 weeks, though you can
extend it over a longer period if you wish (the course materials remain on
line for some time to allow participants to proceed at their own pace).
You can, of course, cherry-pick the course by doing just the units that
interest you and skimming over the others.

Suggested dates for our own seminars are:

   - *Monday 8th May*

- *Monday 5th June*

   - *Monday 3rd July*

All at 6pm at the Business School.  At this stage these dates are
provisional.  If you want to participate but one or more of these dates are
impossible for you, please let me know right away. At our third seminar
we'll decide on the next step.

*ACTION REQUIRED:*

   - *If you have already enrolled for the Santa Fe course or plan to do
   so, please let me know now.*

   - *Check the proposed dates for our seminars and confirm that you are
   available. If some dates don't suit some I'll run an online poll to find
   the best fit.*

*Advance notice:*  Next year the Macquarie University Big History Institute
is planning a major conference on Complexity. Watch for further updates.

Below is the first email about this proposal for your reference. Also
attached is Thomas Homer Dixon's paper in case you missed it the first time
and sociologist Brian Castellani's excellent overview. Here's Castellani's
complexity map to induce you to read the article!

Cheers, Ken

------------------------------

Dear ATP participants,

At one of our ATP forums last year *Annie Kia* from the Lock the Gate
Alliance explained how LTG's brilliantly successful community engagement
strategy was informed by complexity theory. Following the forum a number of
participants raised the idea of an on-going inquiry into complexity and
social/cultural change. This idea has been raised with me on several
occasions since.

It seems to me that for an inquiry of this kind to be useful the
participants would need at least a basic shared understanding of some of
the key concepts in complexity science. Some ATP participants are very
familiar with this field of scholarship. Others have only the most general
understanding.

*So here's an idea on which I'd like your feedback...*

The Santa Fe Institute in the USA is a world leader in complexity science
research and education. The institute runs an extensive education program
from undergraduate to professional development levels. One of its most
popular online courses (MOOCs) is *Introduction to Complexity*.

*In this popular introductory course, you'll learn about the tools used by
scientists to understand complex systems. The topics you'll learn about
include dynamics, chaos, fractals, information theory, self-organization,
agent-based modeling, and networks. You’ll also get a sense of how these
topics fit together to help explain how complexity arises and evolves in
nature, society, and technology. There are no prerequisites. You don't need
a science or maths background to take this introductory course; it simply
requires an interest in the field and the willingness to participate in a
hands-on approach to the subject.* (From the SFI website)

The next offering of this free course is from *10th April to 30 June* and
is run by *Professor Melanie Mitchell*, author of *Complexity: A Guided
Tour* (2009).

You can see Professor Mitchell's introduction to the course here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKzXvxZN-OE&feature=youtu.be

*Do we have any ATP participants interested in enrolling in this course and
meeting a few times while it is running to review the content and discuss
its relevance within the context of the Anthropocene Transition?*

After the completion of the course these participants might form the core
of an inquiry group to further explore the implications of complexity
theory for approaches to social/cultural transformation.

If you're interested in this subject I'm sure you'll find much of value in
the attached talk by Canadian political scientist *Thomas Homer Dixon*.

I'll look forward to receiving your thoughts on this or any similar
suggestions.

Best wishes,  Ken

-- 

------------------------------
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-- 
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