Complexity Science – From philosophical foundations to applications in climate and social science
Colloquium Virtual Complexity at C3-UNAM
Universities for Science Consortium
Complexity Science – From philosophical foundations to applications in climate and social science
Karoline Wiesner
University of Potsdam & Complexity Science Hub Vienna
Friday, April 29 at 1:00 PM
Contact: cgg@ unam.mx
Abstract: Many people might not bother to define complexity, thinking that we know it when we see it. Scientists should not afford such luxury. I will provide a compact but comprehensive overview of the different ways that systems can be complex, offering an aggregate definition. I will discuss the role of complexity measures, and why complexity cannot be captured by a single number. This work was done in collaboration with James Ladyman, published with Yale University Press in 2020.
At the other end of the spectrum of complexity science is the application to real-world problems. I will present two examples from recent work. The project 'Aiding the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change using the tools of complexity science' was done in collaboration with the Green Climate Fund, founded by the UN members in 2014. Equally, political systems are more and more focus of computational and mathematical investigations. I will present conceptual work on the stability of democracy, a collaboration with an international and interdisciplinary group of scientists.
Short Bio: Karoline Wiesner is Professor of Complexity Science at the University of Potsdam, Germany, and External Faculty at the Complexity Science Hub Vienna. With a PhD in physics from Uppsala University, Sweden, and postdoctoral research fellowships at the Santa Fe Institute and the University of California, Davis, she joined the faculty at the University of Bristol in 2007. In 2021 she joined the University of Potsdam, Germany, as full professor. Karoline has held Visiting Research Professorships at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and at the Institute for Theoretical Physics at Lund University. Karoline is an internationally recognized expert on applied information theory and on the foundations of complexity science. Her recent book on the subject, published by Yale University Press, was one of Nature's "best science picks" in 2020. Her scholarly work has appeared in Nature Communications, IEEE, and Royal Society journals, as well as journals of physics, chemistry, computer science, and philosophy.
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