Science of Complexity

(4 Credits)

Our world is a collection of wondrously complex systems. We may wonder why stock markets suddenly crash or how our bodies work so well for so long. We may wonder why climate changes or how our decisions affect others and the ecology we are part of. We may even wonder why we wonder, i.e., how our brain works. What makes systems complex, and what makes some questions particularly difficult to answer? The science of complexity can illuminate all of these apparently disconnected systems and behaviors. It aims to understand how complex behaviors emerge when relatively simple, single elements are brought together into a collective. In this course, we study the science of complexity through examples from the physical sciences, the social sciences, and the arts. We will learn the tools and concepts needed to extract simple insights about complex systems and will use these concepts and tools to better understand our own absorbing questions about the world around us.