COMPLICATED VERSUS COMPLEX
Charles François (2004). COMPLICATED VERSUS COMPLEX, International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics, 2(1): 567.
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 567 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Methodology or model |
T.F.H. Allen writes: “Complexity needs to be parsed into two parts:
1) Complicatedness, and
2) Complexity of organization
- “In hierarchical terms, complicated systems are strongly horizontally differenciated to make a flat hierarchy . Such systems exhibit complicated behavior
- “As systems differentiate horizontally, they tend to differentiate vertically also, developing new levels of organization by an elaboration of organization”(1998, p. 5)
Good examples of this process are the emergence of a social phase in the amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum , or the present globalization process in the man-planet system.
Allen adds: “In contrast to horizontal differentiation , increased vertical differentiation makes system behavior simpler by collapsing degrees of freedom , against the constraints coming from the upper levels ”(Ibid)