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p.432 A particularly useful discussion of complex adaptive systems may be
found in the work by Arthur and colleagues (1997), who identify six properties that characterize any economy: dispersed
interaction, the absence of a global controller, cross-cutting hierarchical organization, continual adaptation, perpetual
novelty, and far-from-equilibrium dynamics. Arthur and colleagues point out that these features apply as well to
any complex adaptive system.
p.432 The study of complex adaptive systems is a study of how complicated
structures and patterns of interaction can arise from disorder through simple but powerful rules that guide change. The essential
elements, in my view, are simply
- Sustained diversity and individuality of components (Gell-Mann 1994)
- Localized interactions among those components
- An autonomous process that selects from among those components, based on
the results of local interactions, a subset for replication or enhancement
p.432-433 Aggregation and hierarchical assembly are
not imposed on complex adaptive systems, but emerge from local interactions through endogenous pattern formation
(Levin and Segel 1985; Murray 1989). Once they arise, however, such patterns of aggregation constrain interactions
between individuals and thereby profoundly influence the system’s further development [for
example, see Kauffman (1993) and Pacala and Levin (1997)].
p.433 Because complex adaptive systems change primarily through the
reinforcement of chance events, such as mutation and environmental variation, operating at local levels, the
potential for alternative developmental pathways is enormous.
p.435 if resilience is a goal, managers must understand the properties that
enable an ecosystem, as a complex adaptive system, to maintain its integrity in the face of changing environmental conditions
and human impacts.
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