Irreducibility

Irreducibility

• Behaviour of a complex system cannot be predicted or understood by reducing the system to its components
  • To grasp the nature of such systems, one must study context, relationships, and interactions
• Behaviour or properties of a complex system emerge from interactions among its actants
• This means looking at a complex system differently
  • The whole is more than the sum of its parts
  • See Thinking Holistically v Lowest Level of Coherent Granularity (LLCG)
  • See Fractal engagement

Examples

• Consciousness is a complex phenomenon that cannot be explained simply by the sum of the physical processes that occur in the brain
  • Consciousness is emergent, meaning that it arises from the complex interactions of these processes, but it is not reducible to them
• Social groups are more than just the sum of their individual members
  • They have their own collective identities, cultures, and norms
  • These properties cannot be reduced to the individual characteristics of the group members.
• Behaviour of a flock of birds cannot be explained by simply studying the individual birds
  • The birds interact with each other in complex ways to produce their flocking behavior
• Immune system is a complex system that cannot be explained by simply studying the individual cells that make it up
  • Cells interact with each other in complex ways to produce the immune response.
• Economy is a complex system that cannot be explained by simply studying the individual consumers and businesses that make it up
  • Consumers and businesses interact with each other in complex ways to produce the economic system