Measuring complexity in organisms and organizations.
combinability
diversity
entropy
flexibility
system
uncertainty
Journal
Royal Society open science
ISSN: 2054-5703
Titre abrégé: R Soc Open Sci
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101647528
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
17 Mar 2021
17 Mar 2021
Historique:
entrez:
7
5
2021
pubmed:
8
5
2021
medline:
8
5
2021
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
While there is no consensus about the definition of complexity, it is widely accepted that the ability to produce uncertainty is the most prominent characteristic of complex systems. We introduce new metrics that purport to quantify the complexity of living organisms and social organizations based on their levels of uncertainty. We consider three major dimensions regarding complexity: diversity based on the number of system elements and the number of categories of these elements; flexibility which bears upon variations in the elements; and combinability which refers to the patterns of connection between elements. These three dimensions are quantified using Shannon's uncertainty formula, and they can be integrated to provide a tripartite complexity index. We provide a calculation example that illustrates the use of these indices for comparing the complexity of different social systems. These indices distinguish themselves by a theoretical basis grounded on the amount of uncertainty, and the requirement that several aspects of the systems be accounted for to compare their degree of complexity. We expect that these new complexity indices will encourage research programmes aiming to compare the complexity levels of systems belonging to different realms.
Identifiants
pubmed: 33959307
doi: 10.1098/rsos.200895
pii: rsos200895
pmc: PMC8074971
doi:
Banques de données
figshare
['10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5330180']
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Pagination
200895Informations de copyright
© 2021 The Authors.
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