Complexity science is a developing research field that has existed implicitly for many years but has only recently been identified as a means to advance interdisciplinary research.
It encompasses bot
h a general overview as well as research into the connections among influential factors in the fields of biology, physics, chemistry, engineering, behavioral sciences, and other disciplines.
Central to any theory of complexity is the concept of a system of components. The direction taken by most scientific fields, including biology, sociology, chemistry and physics, has been to learn more and more about sub-structures, building blocks, components, and specific forces.
The search [or re-search] for an understanding of “life” applied tools, such as the microscope, developed directly or indirectly for this specific aim.
For the most part, this has meant that we have been “digging” for what is increasingly smaller, and as we “dig” deeper and unwind lateral effects, we widen our knowledge of the structure or function of any specific molecule, process or element. But the temporal, spatial and network interconnections are not always revealed from the understanding we generate from the knowledge of specifics.
Recent progress and the accumulation of information with the aid of powerful new tools had forced us to reassess and modify traditional research approaches. We need to investigate “life” in a more comprehensive manner, at the levels of interconnection, lateralization and networking. In other words, as scientific research into the specificities of science progressed, the more apparent it became that science could not be comprehended without acknowledging its fundamental complexity.
There is no single “definition” of complexity science, and the Center for Complexity Science encourages a broad interpretation of the term.
In the “Forum” you will find descriptions of the field proposed by CCS students and board members. You are invited to make your own suggestions about what constitutes complexity science.
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