Organization and Pedagogy of Complexity deals with real systems, their architecture, and speaks of those who design, develop and maintain them.
After a summary of the architecture proposed by Daniel Krob, president of CESAMES in Paris, France, the book focuses on the sensor and effector equipment that routes and converts the system's information to the place where it is processed. These are the equivalent of the system's sense organs. It also analyzes the roots of complexity from the perspective of combinatorics: in real systems, everything comes down to cases and/or configurations being validated in greater or lesser numbers, but which must be kept under control.
This book presents two case studies, giving a global vision of complexity. Finally, it presents a prospective approach that brings the engineering of artificial systems closer to that of biological systems, based on first-hand information provided by Philippe Kourilsky, Emeritus Professor at the Collège de France.
Table of Contents:
Preface ix
Part 1 The Organic Component of Systems 1
Introduction to Part 1 3
Chapter 1 Elements of Systemics: Systems Architecture 5
1.1 Introduction 5
1.2 Systemic definition of a system 7
1.2.1 From real systems to formal systems 7
1.2.2 Definition of a system 7
1.2.3 Integration of systems 9
1.3 Organization of a systemic model 12
1.3.1 Architectural visions of a system 12
1.3.2 Properties of a system 17
1.3.3 Descriptions of a system 18
1.3.4 Reference framework for system analysis 20
1.4 Architecture of a system 22
1.4.1 Systemic perspective of the systems architecture process 22
1.4.2 Architectural perspectives of the systems architecture process 23
1.5 In conclusion 25
Chapter 2 Natural Functions 29
2.1 The notion of energetic transducers, revisited 29
2.2 Some fundamental transducers 34
2.2.1 Example of an adder circuit with CMOS technology 40
Chapter 3 Emergent Properties: System Integration 47
3.1 Integration 47
3.2 The stack structure and its constructive logic 54
3.2.1 Correctly interpreting events 59
3.2.2 The epistemological lesson of the computer stack 61
3.3 Milestones from the history of computer stack development 67
3.3.1 Digression on interface engineering costs 69
3.3.2 Observing the nano-world 74
3.4 Moore's "law": a structure for integration 77
Part 2 A Complex World 87
Introduction to Part 2 89
Chapter 4 Phenomenology of Complexity 91
4.1 Drive and control in a complex environment 92
4.2 Communicating in a complex environment 93
4.3 The four dimensions of complexity 96
4.4 Measuring complexity 98
4.4.1 On Richard Feynman's intuition 100
4.5 Counting 102
Chapter 5 The Roots of Complexity: Inaccessible Numbers 105
5.1 The provenance of inaccessible numbers 105
5.2 Typology of inaccessible numbers 107
5.2.1 Quantum interlude: statistical physics 114
5.3 Familiar numbers 116
5.4 The library of Babel 120
5.5 Inaccessible numbers of the third infinity: information sciences 122
5.5.1 The numbers of software engineers 123
5.5.2 The numbers of the genome 127
Chapter 6 Walking through Complexity 133
6.1 The example of the computer stack 133
6.1.1 Chance and inaccessible numbers 139
6.2 The organized objects of the 3rd infinity 145
6.2.1 Engineering hazard 146
6.3 Facing the immensity of the infinitely complex 155
6.4 Testimonials: another look at the interface stack 163
6.4.1 Harthong, Feynman, von Neumann and Turing 163
6.4.2 Internal language, external language, according to von Neumann 168
6.4.3 Imbrication of stack languages 170
Part 3 Examples of Systemics and Complexity 179
Introduction to Part 3 181
Chapter 7 Systemic Aspects of the French Electrical System 183
7.1 Growth: the "life" of an electrical system and its end 187
7.2 Interoperability and cooperation 195
7.3 Resilience 199
7.4 Computerization and organization 204
7.5 Future problems 210
7.5.1 Renewable energy and the optimization of the network at the European level 211
7.5.2 Domestic photovoltaics 214
7.5.3 Europeanizing the network: the problem of governance 214
7.6 Conclusion 217
Chapter 8 Systemic Aspects of Project Systems 221
8.1 The science of projects 221
8.2 Control 224
8.2.1 Project size 224
8.2.2 The dynamics of relations: pairings 228
8.2.3 Human complexity 229
8.3 Volume of information exchanges in projects 232
8.3.1 Interoperability {U, S, E} 232
8.3.2 Detecting, monitoring and fixing errors 238
8.3.3 The systemic lesson of projects 246
Conclusion 249
List of Acronyms 273
References 279
Index 281
About the Author :
Jacques Printz is an Associate Professor at the Université Catholique de Lille (Chair of "Ethics, Technology and Humanism") and a member of the ETHICS laboratory, France. He is also an Emeritus Professor of the Cnam, France, where he was Chair of Software Engineering until 2009.
