Worlds Hidden in Plain Sight: The Evolving Idea of Complexity at the Santa Fe Institute, 1984–2019 (Compass)

The Properties of Complex Systems We have few general design principles for adaptive components (cells, organisms, nations) in isolation or in the aggregate where new unforeseen properties emerge. Components typically have high failure rates in all tasks and accomplish their objectives through statistical averaging and approximation across multiple

Of course, gifting a daughter or sister not only signaled the conquering ruler’s superiority, it also had the advantage of turning the conquered into long-term clients, at least as long as the marriage lasted. Trying to avoid client status, four of the societies (Egypt, Hawai’i, Aztec, and Inca) eventually opted for royal incest.

When Donald Trump claimed that he used his own money to finance his primary campaign, he was really declaring, to the chagrin of his party leadership, that he was not to be part of Washington’s massive network of intertwining patron–client relationships.

The patron–client relationship always starts with a gift, and we know that there is no such thing as a free gift. If someone gives us a gift, then we are obliged to give something or do something in return. The gift giver becomes the patron of the gift receiver, who becomes the client.

When we do, we assume the politicians are clients in a patron–client relationship, and we assume their obligations will cloud their impartial judgment.

As recipients of US foreign aid, it was in their best interest to appear to be supporting the US in its war effort.

To win a war, it helps to have three things: more troops than the enemy, intelligence about the enemy’s plans, and superior technology. Alliance-building and patron–client relations helped leaders amass more troops and often learn about the enemy’s plans—and this is true whether a society is preindustrial, industrial, or postindustrial.

Perhaps the greatest “phase transition” in our thinking that such an approach could engender is the maturation in our willingness to live with relatively high levels of uncertainty in the domains of complex phenomena—and thus give up on ideas like complete “cures,” the elimination of “risk,” the design of perfect “stability,” and achieving total “s

Prices arise from the countless acts of many individuals attempting to trade in various goods. They are an emergent phenomenon.