# Complexity Science- 7 Complex Adaptive Systems

A brief overview to the area of complex adaptive systems and cybernetics.

For full courses, transcriptions and downloads please see: http://www.complexityacademy.io

Transcription:

Complex adaptive systems are systems composed of multiple diverse elements that are cable of adaptation and thus can evolve over time to exhibit highly complex behavior. But lets start from the beginning by talking a bit about adaptation.

Adaptation is a process or capability through which systems can change in response to some event within their environment. In order for this to happen there needs to be some control or regulatory mechanism within the system.

Cybernetics is the area that deals with a systems regulatory mechanism through what are called feedback loops, whereby the actions of a system generates some change in its environment and that change in tern feeds back to effect the system itself.

A classical example given of this is a thermostat that regulates the temperature of a house, the system consists of a central controller where the desired temperature is set, a heater that creates an action that changes the state of the environment, and a sensor to feed back information about the environment to the controller.

Wherever we have this basic degree of interaction and interdependence between elements, we can us the model of an adaptive system and feedback loops to describe its dynamics and thus we can model economies, society and ecosystems in this way.

The different ways in…

- Kind: Short
- Year: 2014
- Runtime: 4 min
- By: Complexity Academy
- Genres: Science
- Archive: [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Complexity_Science-_7_Complex_Adaptive_Systems.webm)
- Licence or status: [CC BY 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0) (as the archive states it)
- Credit: Complexity Academy
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/commons/57997674?play=1)