Complex Systems Science: Dreams of Universality, Reality of Interdisciplinarity by Sebastian Grauwin, Guillaume Beslon, Eric Fleury, Sara Franceschelli, Jean-Baptiste Rouquier, and Pablo Jensen.
Abstract:
Using a large database (~ 215 000 records) of relevant articles, we empirically study the “complex systems” field and its claims to find universal principles applying to systems in general. The study of references shared by the papers allows us to obtain a global point of view on the structure of this highly interdisciplinary field. We show that its overall coherence does not arise from a universal theory but instead from computational techniques and fruitful adaptations of the idea of self-organization to specific systems. We also find that communication between different disciplines goes through specific “trading zones”, ie sub-communities that create an interface around specific tools (a DNA microchip) or concepts (a network).
If disciplines don’t understand each other…:
Where do the links come from then? In an illuminating analogy, Peter Galison [32] compares the difficulty of connecting scientifi c disciplines to the difficulty of communicating between diff erent languages. History of language has shown that when two cultures are strongly motivated to communicate – generally for commercial reasons – they develop simpli ed languages that allow for simple forms of interaction. At first, a “foreigner talk” develops, which becomes a “pidgin” when social uses consolidate this language. In rare cases, the “trading zone” stabilizes and the expanded pidgin becomes a creole, initiating the development of an original, autonomous culture. Analogously, biologists may create a simpli ed and partial version of their discipline for interested physicists, which may develop to a full-blown new discipline such as biophysics. Specifi cally, Galison has studied [32] how Monte Carlo simulations developed in the postwar period as a trading language between theorists, experimentalists, instrument makers, chemists and mechanical engineers. Our interest in the concept of a trading zone is to allow us to explore the dynamics of the interdisciplinary interaction instead of ending analysis by reference to a “symbiosis” or “collaboration”.
My interest is in how to leverage “trading zones” for the purpose of indexing and mapping (as in topic maps).
Noting that “trading zones” are subject to emprical discovery and no doubt change over time.
Discovering and capitalizing on such “trading zones” will be a real value-add for users.