“Complex systems (…) are not ‘run’ by anyone in particular, but are instead controlled by countless individual interactions that occur inside the system” (BENYUS, p. 253; added emphasis)
A complex system is defined by being a decentralized system: its information is not sent out from a central hub1, but rather is composed out of many localized information hubs.
In this sense, it is not centralized, but it’s not completely decentralized as well: it isn’t a cacophony in which every single component is indistinguishable with respect to the whole system. Although qualitatively different and, thus, not comparable per se, they all play some role in the system’s dynamics2.
For instance, in an ecosystem, some species will play the role of “opportunists”, such as bacteria, while others will play a role of “-selectors”3, such as trees – species with faster and slower metabolic rates, with different roles within the same ecosystem, acting in their own will and, in so doing, maintaining the system’s dynamics.
References
- BENYUS, Janine. Biomimicry: Innovation inspired by nature. 1997.
Footnotes
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E.g. a Star Graph. ↩
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In the case of ecosystems, Ecosystems need opportunists, i.e. species which seek “quick resources”. ↩
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Related to the logistic equation . -selectors are species whose reproduction aims to maximize offspring life expectancy (higher carrying capacity ). On the other side, -selectors (e.g. bacteria) are species which maximize offspring, but at the cost of lower life expectancy. ↩