p.2 A complex system is one in which the interactions between the constituents
of the system and the interaction between the system and its environment are such that the system as a whole cannot be fully
understood solely by analyzing its micro components. The relationships among the components are not fixed but continually
shifting over time.
p.5 Reductionist approaches are inherently flawed for the
analysis of complex systems. The behavior of a complex system cannot be deduced from even the most exhaustive formulation
of its micro foundations, since complex phenomena are much more than the simple sum of their parts. A complex system cannot
be "reduced" to a simpler one, unless it was not really complex to begin with. The "true nature" of complex systems
cannot be revealed in terms of a smaller number of logical principles. Realistic models of complex systems must "conserve"
their complexity and must be as complex as the system they model.
p.5 The study of complex systems has uncovered a fundamental flaw in
the highly-successful time-tested analytical method of reductionism. A complex system is constituted not by the sum
of its components but by the changing relationships among them. By "cutting up" a complex system, reductionism destroys
what it seeks to understand.
p.6 A complex system cannot be reduced to a collection of
its basic constituents, not because the system is not constituted by them but because the critical relational
information gets lost in the process.
p.6 Complexity results from the changing interactions between the
components of a system and is manifested at the level of the system itself. Due to their complex patterns of interaction,
complex characteristics "emerge" through interaction within the system.
p.11 As stated complexity is the result of a rich interaction of simple
elements, which respond to the limited information with which each of them is presented. Complexity emerges as a result
of the pattern of interactions between the elements.
p.21 Scientists have recently discovered that the goal of science can no
longer be accurate prediction, but only increased comprehension and greater explanatory power [Hacking, 1990].
