Diversity and Complexity

Scott Page

Published by Princeton University Press 2011

Diversity and Complexity

Scott Page

Volume 2 in the series Primers in Complex Systems

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400835140

Overview
Contents

About this book

This book provides an introduction to the role of diversity in complex adaptive systems. A complex system--such as an economy or a tropical ecosystem--consists of interacting adaptive entities that produce dynamic patterns and structures. Diversity plays a different role in a complex system than it does in an equilibrium system, where it often merely produces variation around the mean for performance measures. In complex adaptive systems, diversity makes fundamental contributions to system performance.

Scott Page gives a concise primer on how diversity happens, how it is maintained, and how it affects complex systems. He explains how diversity underpins system level robustness, allowing for multiple responses to external shocks and internal adaptations; how it provides the seeds for large events by creating outliers that fuel tipping points; and how it drives novelty and innovation. Page looks at the different kinds of diversity--variations within and across types, and distinct community compositions and interaction structures--and covers the evolution of diversity within complex systems and the factors that determine the amount of maintained diversity within a system.

Provides a concise and accessible introduction

Shows how diversity underpins robustness and fuels tipping points

Covers all types of diversity

The essential primer on diversity in complex adaptive systems

Author / Editor information

Scott E. Page is the Leonid Hurwicz Collegiate Professor of Complex Systems, Political Science, and Economics at the University of Michigan and an external faculty member at the Santa Fe Institute. He is the author of The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies (Princeton).

Reviews

"Page engagingly seduces readers into rather deep ideas in complex systems, including sophisticated mathematical formulas, by using a relaxed style with lots of examples. Yet the treatment is rigorous."—Simon A. Levin, Princeton University

"One of the book's many strengths is that it draws upon insights from seemingly disconnected areas of research and shows how they can be viewed within a common framework. Page's style is lively and conversational, making challenging subject matter quite readable, but without any sacrifice of rigor. He manages to convey both the excitement and difficulty of analyzing complex systems and the role of diversity within them."—Rajiv Sethi, Barnard College, Columbia University

"Scott Page effectively illustrates the multiplicity of results from diverse aspects of complex systems. While all too many social scientists have tried to focus on making analysis simple, Page points out that this overlooks the great variety of relevant material in our social worlds. I am looking forward to having my students read it in my graduate seminar and encourage others to do so as well."—Elinor Ostrom, winner of the Nobel Prize in economics

"At once clear and precise, Page not only makes a persuasive case for the advantages of diversity in biological, ecological, and social systems alike, but also provides the reader with the analytical tools necessary to engage real-world debates in a rational, even quantitative manner. The result is a valuable primer on a difficult and important subject."—Duncan J. Watts, author of Small Worlds: The Dynamics of Networks between Order and Randomness

"Scott Page has performed a remarkable work of synthesis. The concepts of diversity and its implications for performance and growth are common to many fields, especially biology and economics. Page has drawn these illustrations together and shown the common elements and how each field illuminates others."—Kenneth J. Arrow, winner of the Nobel Prize in economics

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Prelude: The Meaning of Diversity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. On Diversity and Complexity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	16
2. Measuring Diversity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	54
3. The Creation and Evolution of Diversity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
4. Constraints on Diversity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	127
5. Variation in Complex Systems Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	148
6. Diversity’s Inescapable Benefits I: Averaging Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	167
7. Diversity’s Inescapable Benefits II: Diminishing Returns to Types Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183
8. Diversity’s Impact in Complex Systems Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	196
9. Parting Thoughts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	249
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	257
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	271
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	281

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