THE BOOK IS OUT!!!


Oct 10, 2018

Hot from the printer press:

 

“Introduction to the Theory of Complex Systems”

 

 

We proudly announce: The new student textbook by Stefan Thurner, Rudolf Hanel, and Peter Klimek has just appeared at Oxford University Press!

“This book will surely become a standard text for anyone who wants to seriously understand complexity no matter what their background or stage of career. It is written from a physicist’s perspective, stressing mechanism, underlying principles and mathematical rigour, yet is eminently readable and pedagogical.”

 

Geoffrey West, Santa Fe Institute

Time for an overview

 

The three researchers, all of them members of the Hub, noticed a lack of a simple, hence comprehensive overview of the field when they were teaching beginners classes. “The existing introductions to complex systems, network theory, agent-based models et cetera – although some of them classics – represent 20th century knowledge,” says Stefan. Hence, since the turn of the millennium complexity science has been prospering and progressing, not least due to the exponential rise of data gathering devices and thus: data.

 

“Most students entering science today will later work as data analysts,” says Peter, who noticed a constant rise in the number of students from different disciplines in their “Introduction to complex systems” class. “Our textbook not only gives an overview, but also provides the up-to-date mathematical knowledge to deal with data, in particular with complex systems,” he adds.

 

Understanding complex systems

 

“Practically all areas of life on this planet are constantly confronted with complex systems, be it ecosystems, societies, traffic, financial markets, opinion formation and spreading, or the internet and social media,” reads the summary of the book.

 

What are complex systems? Up to now, definitions were not standardized. For their book the authors attempt to define them as systems with many interacting agents that change their properties while – and because – they are interacting. For instance, a tax changes the economy, that changes the income, that changes the spending of the people, that changes the economy; or the Internet prospers by being used what prompts inventions that change the Internet use–and at some point society as whole…

 

Complexity used to be a tough nut to crack for scientists. But Big Data changes the picture. For the first time in history complex systems can be approached empirically: With data, physicists are able to develop and test models, pursue experiments, verify or falsify their hypotheses – with the aim to predict and eventually manage complex systems.

 

Data made the field so interesting for physicists. “We are the folks that keep on trying until we have a solution,” Stefan claims. “Physicists explained gases, opened up fields like astronomy or chemistry; now physicists are up to understand the much more complicated world of complexity.”

“Complexity until now has been lacking a strong theoretical underpinning. Now it has one. This book is a tour de force. Excellent!”

 

Brian Arthur, Santa Fe Institute

Complex systems work like algorithms

 

The usual analytical equations that we know from physics don’t apply for these constantly changing, interacting, evolving systems. “Complex systems don’t work like trajectoriers of cannonballs or the movement of planets,” Rudi exemplifies. “That’s why we need new mathematical and statistical tools.”

 

For their book, Stefan, Rudi and Peter scrolled through literally thousands of articles – the work of a whole generation of complexity scientists. “Many of them tell the same story over and over again, without even knowing it,” Peter recalls. The book is the effort to connect the many loose ends and to build what the three authors call a “coherent framework” to approach complex systems. “They work like adaptive algorithms,” says Rudi. “We present a simple, comprehensive definition that describes almost all complex systems.”

 

In practice this simple definition is just a starting point, as a complex system can be very specific. “99 percent of our work is to find out which of the specific properties are relevant to describe and manage a given complex system,” Stefan points out. “But our claim is that the underlying assumption – the basic notion of a complex system as an algorithm – remains always the same.”

 

No unified theory. Yet…

 

Doesn’t this sound a bit like a “unified theory” for complex systems? The researchers show a broad smile (they are physicists, after all…).

 

Stefan: “Maybe it is too early to call it a unified theory, yet to a certain extend it is. We have lots of pieces. It is as if you were looking at a fragmentary mosaic: You can see already how the whole looks like. This is where we are now.”

 

One of the masterminds of the Santa Fe Institute, Brian Arthur, for his part thinks they are on the right track. “Complexity until now has been lacking a strong theoretical underpinning. Now it has one,” he stated after having read the “Introduction to the Theory of Complex Systems” by Stefan Thurner, Rudolf Hanel and Peter Klimek. “This book is a tour de force. Excellent!”

 

 

 

[ p.s.: Find HERE the review of the book by Santa Fe Institute from Oct. 26, 2018. ]


Spotlight

Nov 30, 2023

From Inequality to Instability

Unkategorisiert

Dec 6, 2023

From Leafy Woods to Data Forests

Press

Forscher sagt: „2024 wird das System in den USA möglicherweise zusammenbrechen“


Die Presse, Nov 14, 2023

Publication

A. Nerpel, A. Käsbohrer, C. Walzer, A. Desvars-Larrive

Data on SARS-CoV-2 events in animals: Mind the gap!

One Health 17 (2023) 100653 DOI: 10.1016/j.onehlt.2023.100653

Publication

P. Klimek, A. Aykac, S. Thurner

Forensic analysis of the Turkey 2023 presidential election reveals extreme vote swings in remote areas

PLoS ONE 18(11) (2023) e0293239

Publication

M. Pangallo, A. Aleta, et al.

The unequal effects of the health-economy tradeoff during the COVID-19 pandemic

Nature Human Behaviour (2023) DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01747-x

Press

Wissenschaft kritisiert fehlenden Datenzugang


ORF, Dec 4, 2023

Research News

Dec 6, 2023

A better way of measuring homophily

Press

Why reports that Western civilisation will soon collapse are premature


New Scientist, Dec 5, 2023

Research News

Dec 6, 2023

A better way of measuring homophily

Unkategorisiert

Dec 6, 2023

From Leafy Woods to Data Forests

Spotlight

Nov 30, 2023

From Inequality to Instability

Research News

Nov 28, 2023

Proposals for an Efficient and Effective Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence in Europe

Research News

Nov 27, 2023

India's Rice Export Restrictions Echo in West Asia and Africa

Research News

Nov 23, 2023

Study Identifies Numerous Connections in Cybercrime Cases

Press

Nov 17, 2023

Invitation to media chat by Supply Chain Intelligence Institute Austria (ASCII)

Research News

Nov 15, 2023

Data Gap in SARS-CoV-2 Cases in Animals

News

Nov 14, 2023

FTX Collapse: New Method for Assessing the Solvency of Cryptocurrency Exchanges

People

Nov 10, 2023

Double Honors for CSH Researchers

News

Nov 13, 2023

New scientific methods for analyzing criminal careers

Press

Why reports that Western civilisation will soon collapse are premature


New Scientist, Dec 5, 2023

Press

Best ideas books of 2023


The Guardian, Dec 5, 2023

Press

Wissenschaft kritisiert fehlenden Datenzugang


ORF, Dec 4, 2023

Press

Forscher sagt: „2024 wird das System in den USA möglicherweise zusammenbrechen“


Die Presse, Nov 14, 2023

Press

Klima und Geschichte


Die Presse, Nov 4, 2023

Press

Daten mit Gewicht: Analysen von Lieferketten zeigen auch Steuerlücken


Die Presse, Oct 20, 2023

Press

Krypto-Forscher über DeFi: “Würde von De-facto-Centralized-Finance sprechen”


brutkasten, Oct 27, 2023

Press

Scientists say Western sanctions against China ‘toothless’ without better supply chain data


South China Morning Post, Oct 20, 2023

Press

Climate change has toppled some civilizations but not others. Why?


Grist, Oct 16, 2023

Press

Chinas E-Autos kommen, und Europa darf nicht naiv sein


Der Standard, Oct 9, 2023

Publication

P. Klimek, A. Aykac, S. Thurner

Forensic analysis of the Turkey 2023 presidential election reveals extreme vote swings in remote areas

PLoS ONE 18(11) (2023) e0293239

Publication

M. Pangallo, A. Aleta, et al.

The unequal effects of the health-economy tradeoff during the COVID-19 pandemic

Nature Human Behaviour (2023) DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01747-x

Publication

A. Nerpel, A. Käsbohrer, C. Walzer, A. Desvars-Larrive

Data on SARS-CoV-2 events in animals: Mind the gap!

One Health 17 (2023) 100653 DOI: 10.1016/j.onehlt.2023.100653

Publication

G. Heiler, T. Pham, J. Korbel, J. Wachs, S. Thurner

A large-scale empirical investigation of specialization in criminal career

Scientific Reports 13 (2023) 17160

Publication

A. Pichler, C. Diem, et al.

Building an alliance to map global supply networks: New firm-level data can inform policy-making

Science 382(6668) (2023) 270-272.

Publication

R. Prieto-Curiel, G. M. Capedelli, A. Hope

Reducing cartel recruitment is the only way to lower violence in Mexico

Science 381(6664) (2023) 1312-1316

Publication

B. Méro, A. Borsos, et al.

A High-Resolution, Data-Driven Agent-Based Model of the Housing Market

Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control (2023) 104738

Publication

S. Juhász, G. Pintér, et al.

Amenity complexity and urban locations of socio-economic mixing

EPJ Data Science 12 (2023) 34

Publication

R. Hanel, S. Thurner

Equivalence of information production and generalised entropies in complex processes

PLOS ONE 18(9) (2023) e0290695

Publication

K. Frenken, F. Neffke, A. van Dam

Capabilities, institutions and regional economic development: a proposed synthesis

Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society (2023) rsad021

Publication

G. Orlandi, D. Hoyer, et al.

Structural-demographic analysis of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912) collapse in China

PLoS ONE 18(8) (2023) e0289748

Publication

N. Kushwaha, E.D. Lee

Discovering the mesoscale for chains of conflict

PNAS Nexus 2(7) (2023) pgad228