Evolution of Complex Systems

1. Evolution of Complex Systems Lecture 10: Technological systems Peter Andras / Bruce Charlton peter.andras@ncl.ac.uk bruce.charlton@ncl.ac.uk

2. Objectives • Writing, books, libraries • Simple and complicated machines • Roads, vehicles, transportation systems • Computers and software • Electronic communication systems

3. Writing - origins • Symbols written on stone, leather, paper • Communication actions changing the environment in a way that can be preserved (e.g., carving symbols into stone, painting symbols on silk) • Objective: storage and preservation of spoken language

4. Extending the reference space • Memory of verbal communications – written records • Stored spoken language extends the reference space for human communications • Writing preserves the communications making possible unaltered reference to them over a long time period • Note: interpretation of written communication may change by referring to a context made of a new set of other communications

5. Grammar • Rules of written language • Restrain the continuations of written communications • Provides a set of communications (statements of grammatical rules) that add meaning to written communications

6. Books • Large amounts of written communications – texts • Have a systematically organized internal referencing structure (i.e., sentences refer to other sentences, chapters, sections) • Have an external referencing structure (i.e., formal references to other books, texts)

7. Libraries • Collection of books • Systematically organized collections • Provide structure to help referencing books

8. Is this a system ? • Are written communications forming a system ? • Are written communications reproducing themselves ? • Is there a specialist language of written communications ?

9. Communications • Communication units: humans, books and texts (extensions of humans, who create the communications contained in them) • Text communications: meaning depends on the referential context, determining the expectations about the communications

10. Referencing • Grammar • Book structure • Library structure

11. Reproduction • Reproduction of written communications happens in the context of society • The written communications are part of the society

12. Specialist language • Written communications have a specialist language: the written language (different from the spoken language in terms of continuation distributions)

13. Communication density boundary • Texts reference texts or human communications (e.g., experimental measurements) • Human communications reference texts regularly (e.g., articles in tabloids) • Written communications form a subsystem of the society, having a density boundary determined by the language of written communications

14. Writing, books and libraries • Written communications are a subsystem of the society, allowing the extension of human communications by serving as memories of them • Texts, books, libraries provide rule sets (institutional framework) for human communications adding meaning to them and providing long term preservation of them

15. Simple machines • E.g., guns • Mechanical components organized in well determined manner that allows systematic interaction between them

16. Complicated machines • E.g., cars • A large set of mechanical, chemical, electronic and other components organized in a systematic manner, allowing them to produce a complicated beahviour

17. Machines • Machines are products of human communications • Human communications act upon the environment, a well determined sequence of such actions leads to the formation of machine components and the assembly of them as machines • Machines are memories of these communications – they also facilitate the reproduction of communications related to them (usage of machines)

18. Machine communications • Machines can produce behaviours (i.e., changing constellation of their components) • Such behaviours may be perceived by humans as communications, which have attached meaning by referring to other communications that determine expectations about machine communications • E.g., the blinking side lights of a car

19. Machine grammars • The communication leading to the production of machines, communication produced by machines, and communications directly facilitated by the usage of machines have sharp continuation distributions • Simple communication grammars, i.e., typically there is one or very few possible communication behaviours that may follow a previous communication behaviour (see possible interactions in mechanical machines)

20. Are the machines systems ? • Do they have a communication density boundary ? • Do they reproduce themselves as communication systems ? • Do they have a specialist language defining their system ?

21. Communications • There are communications between machines (e.g., automated assembly lines) • There are many communications between humans and machines • Machine communications reference human communications for the generation of new communications in the long term

22. Referencing boundary • There is no clear referencing density boundary between machine-machine and machine-human communications • Such boundaries may exist for a short time period and for a physically restricted set of machines (e.g., automated factories needing relatively rare human interventions)

23. Reproduction • Machines are reproduced by the intervention of human communications and by referencing human communications • Self-reproducing robots: reference a finite set of human communications (original design), AI is not able to provide them a self-expanding communication system that could guarantee longer term survival and reproduction in an infinitely complex and varying environment

24. Machines and society • Machines are products of human communications and can be seen as memories of these communications • They produce behaviours that can be seen by humans as communications, and these communications integrate into the society by facilitating the production of further human communications • Machines form extensions of the society, and may form specialist subsystems involving also humans which produce communications for such subsystems

25. Roads • Roman roads constituted a significant component of Roman expansion and of the empire • German and US road system

26. Roads and communications • Roads are the product of human communications constituting actions upon the environment • They provide signals for humans (e.g., road directions) and help the expansion of human communications

27. Postal systems • Transportation on roads of written human communications and other human artefacts • Thurn and Taxis in mid 19th century • Stamps, standard procedures

28. Transportation systems • Rail, ship, airplane • Transport humans, written communications, artefacts, machines • Facilitate the expansion of the system of human communications

29. Language • Road signs • Stamps • Standard procedures

30. Are they systems ? • Is there a communication density boundary ? • Do they reproduce ? • Do they have a defining language ?

31. Roads, transportation and society • Communicate with humans and facilitate human communications as forms of memories of earlier human communications • Reproduction involves humans • Form a part of the society • Transportation systems may form specialist subsystems of the society defined by their specialist language and involving appropriate human communications

32. Computers • 50s room size machines • 70s cupboard / wardrobe size machines • 90s briefcase size machines • Computer behaviour: screen display, printing, writing on the disc, reading key pressing patterns

33. Software • Computer programs written by humans or other computer programs • Instruct the computer to perform behaviours

34. Programming languages • Special communication language with a grammar • Several generations: • Machine language • Structured programming languages • Object oriented languages • Component based languages

35. Software systems • Many programs interacting and communicating with each other • E.g., Windows, Linux

36. Realisation of software systems • Instructions and data • Processor, memory, disk • Bits, flip-flops

37. Are the software systems real systems ? • Do they have a referencing density boundary ? • Do they reproduce ? • Do they have a defining language ?

38. Communications • Communications produced by humans or computers are stored as programs and data • Such communications are received by a computer that produces corresponding behaviour • Computer behaviour is perceived by humans or the computer and provides reference for further human or computer communications

39. Language • Software systems have their own specialist language (e.g., communication behaviours and continuation rules describing the behaviour of the MS Word in terms of effects of hitting key combinations) • Software systems are the products of communications defined by rules of programming languages, these communications are referred by the specialist communications of the software system (i.e., the specialist behaviours are determined by the software code describing the software system)

40. Software systems and social system memory • Software systems are memories of social communications leading to the creation of them • Software systems describe a part of the society and constitute a memory of that

41. Software systems and society – 1 • Large software systems have a dense internal referencing structure, and they also reference human communications (e.g., some programs written by humans, or interactions with humans) • Reproduction involves human communications • There are to some extent self-expanding software systems

42. Software systems and society – 2 • Software systems and computers are extensions of the society and they facilitate the reproduction of the society • Software systems capture a relatively small part of the environment (the part described by their human creators) and they lack the automated expansion to capture more • Reflexive software systems may represent a new level, but so far they are in a very experimental stage

43. Software systems and society – 3 • Software systems form subsystems of the society with the participation of human communications • They are similar to the system of written communications, with the difference that they produce a wider variety of behaviours, allowing a wide range of human communications to be produced with reference to software system communications

44. Software systems and society – 4 • The communication subsystems of software systems sit on the top of the communication subsystems defined by computer programming languages • A personally used software defines a small social subsystem containing communications between the human user and the computer running the software

45. Software systems and society – 5 • Software systems as memories are similar to written and material memories of human communications • Software systems have the additional feature that they can communicate between them • Software systems may constitute the root of the system of communications between memories of human communications

46. Telegraph and telephone • Telegraph: 19th century • Telephone: 20th century • Machine systems providing transportation for human communications over large physical distances

47. Radio and TV • Electronic communication systems allowing broadcasting of human communications

48. Fax, e-mail and data communications • Advanced forms of electronic communications • Allow transmission of a wide range of human communications

49. Mobile telephony • 1G – 70-80s • 2G – 90s • 3G – after 2000

50. Specialist language • Special signals transmitted between machines • Machines communicate with humans and transmit human communications