tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post6689136453477379882..comments2024-03-23T04:01:39.348-04:00Comments on Understanding Society: Unintended consequencesDan Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15953897221283103880noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-18272237588293948132009-02-13T22:42:00.000-05:002009-02-13T22:42:00.000-05:00This is a good question -- probably worth a postin...This is a good question -- probably worth a posting at some point in the future. I suppose that the main point of complexity theory is this: a system involving multiple causal forces that interact with each other (especially in non-linear ways) is mathematically intractable; so we can't predict future states of the system even if we know what some of the exogenous causal forces are. The non-linearity part entails that there may be large results caused by small changes; the interactive causal part entails that the results of A&B may be very different from the results of A and the results of B. <BR/><BR/>It is sometimes argued that the Chernobyl nuclear accident occurred because the highly skilled engineers who were shutting the plant down overestimated their ability to "steer" the process. <BR/><BR/>The big question here is whether social phenomena constitute a "complex system" in the technical sense, or merely a complicated and causally dense system with seriously probabilistic causal relations.Dan Littlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15953897221283103880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-20892895263269613972009-01-17T06:12:00.000-05:002009-01-17T06:12:00.000-05:00What are your views on complexity theory? The law ...What are your views on complexity theory? The law of unintended consequences is always raised when complexity theorists are trying to explain why the social sciences needs to incorporate complexity theory more...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com