Complexity within the “systems thinking” school of thought is very difficult to define. One way to think about it though is as a collection of individual principals or agents that when merged into a group exhibit behaviours and qualities that are much different than each individual component is able to produce or achieve on their own.
The ultimate example of this is humans. We are much more than the collection of cells we are made up of. We possess qualities like consciousness, the ability to think and to love, or even more simply, to run or to climb.
Complex adaptive systems often also have the ability to adapt or change as a response to their environment. The most well known example of this is Darwinian evolution, but cities also exhibit this ability, such as building dykes to offset rising sea levels.
Connections
Scaling Is About How A System Responds To Size
Link Explanation: The current note describes what system thinkers mean when they use the term “complex”, the linked note builds on this to ask what happens to the system and individual parts when it is scaled up