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The Paradigm of Complexity is centred in the rich conceptual basis of the non-linear science – the science of turbulence and chaos, emergence and fractals, self-organisation and criticality: the science of complexity.
The word “complexity” originates from the Latin word “complexus” which means “totality”; the science of complexity explores totality (the wholeness) of dynamics – forces, energies, substances and forms, permeating the whole universe and connecting everything that exists in a whirling web of dynamic interrelationships and interactions. Different are the scales of manifestation of this web – micro and macro, organic and inorganic, animate and inanimate, natural and simulated, individual and social, plant-like, animal and human. However different the scales of the web, the dynamics at each scale exhibit similar characteristics and regularities. The study of these characteristics and regularities forms the conceptual basis of the paradigm of complexity.
The most significant characteristic of the complexly interwoven dynamics is their capacity to give birth to emergent phenomena. This characteristic is vital for any form of life; whatever resists emergence is condemned to death.
Every emergent phenomenon implies changes in the dynamics, where it occurs. When the changes in the dynamics characterise with directedness, dynamic stability and continuity, the dynamics become self-organising. Self-organisation can be of evolutionary or transformative character.