Further to the discussions on trying to define Complexity perhaps one should first define Complexity Science. I was struck by the analogy with Chemical Engineering (my own training) which is a diverse body of knowledge that allows its practitioners to design, build, operate, control, maintain, trouibleshoot, modify and optimize process plants, safely, for many different industries (food, chemicals, energy, waste management, etc.) along with the parallel activity of performing theoretical and experimental research into the fundamentals of Chemical Engineering topics. Chemical Engineering also appreciates systems and relationships with other professions: Process Control (Automation), Managment Science, Mechanical Engineering, etc. No-one really cares whether a system becomes a chemical engineering system or not and there is no measure of 'chemical engineering'. The body of knowledge is broken down into separate but interlinked subjects many without a unique claim to chemical engineering: thermodynamics, engineering drawing, process control, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, distillation, etc., etc. So Chemical Engineering as taught is defined pretty much by the schools that teach it. This has of course evolved over time to embrace computer modeling, digital process control and other recent innovations such as nanobiotechnology. The American Institute of Chemical Engineering (http://www.aiche.org/) regulates the profession, sets standards in education and ethics for the US (see their Vision and Mission at http://www.aiche.org/About/WhoWeAre/Vision/index.aspx), as do similar organizations for other countries. So Chemical Engineeing is a reflection of how society has organized itself around the term and the body of knowledge and its practioners. (Why does the image of a Klein bottle come to mind?) BTW, univerisity taught Chemical Engineering has been claimed to have a useful half life of only 4 years.
Robert C www.cirrillian.com ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
