Complexity Theory

Backlinks

• [[dynamic-graph-models]]
  • A useful dynamic model is one where the dynamics is fairly simple, and yet interesting global features still manifest themselves (in the spirit of [[complexity-theory]]). The classic example of this is the Preferential Attachment (PA) model, which, by a very simple rich-get-richer adjustment to the Uniform Attachment (UA) model creates a power-law degree distribution. A simple description of these models is, at each time step \(t\), we introduce a new vertex \(v_t\), and we add \(m\) new edges from this new one.11 i.e. each vertex has out-degree \(m\). The probability that an existing vertex has an edge to this vertex is either uniform (UA), or weighted by its current degree (PA),
• [[stewardship-of-global-collective-beahvior]]
  • What’s interesting to me is that they couch all this talk through the lens of [[complexity-theory]]. The idea is that, for instance, once you connect half the world’s population together through the internet, or social media, you’re going to get unaccounted-for emergent behaviour, very much like those studied in complexity science, except usually the subject is natural processes (like swarms of locusts or school of fish). The difference now is that we’re dealing with humans, social interactions.