Methods, Models, Simulations and Approaches Towards a General Theory of Change—Proceedings of the Fifth National Conference of the Italian Systems Science

The book contains the Proceedings of the 2010 Conference of the Italian Systems Society, see also www.AIRS.it. Papers will deal with the interdisciplinary study of processes of changing related to a wide variety of specific aspects. Attempts to deal with them, based on generalising approaches used to study the movement of bodies and environmental influence, have included ineffective reductionistic simplifications. Indeed changing also relates, for instance, to processes of acquisition and varying properties such as for software; growing and aging biological systems; learning/cognitive systems; and socio-economic systems growing and developing through innovations. The aim of the book is to present very advanced studies and the generalisation of processes of changing as for processes of emergence. Papers in the book study the problem considering its transdisciplinary nature, i.e., systemic properties studied per se and not within specific disciplinary contexts. The aim of these studies is to outline a transdisciplinary theory of changes in systemic properties. Such a theory should have simultaneous, corresponding and eventually hierarchical disciplinary aspects as expected for a general theory of emergence. Within this transdisciplinary context, specific disciplinary research activities and results are assumed to be mutually represented as within a philosophical and conceptual framework based on the theoretical centrality of the observer. Models and theories will be based on the conceptual inseparability between observer and observer as in constructivism and for logically open systems. Contributions will deal such issues in interdisciplinary ways considering theoretical aspects and applications from Physics, Cognitive Science, Biology, Artificial Intelligence, Economics, Architecture, Philosophy, Music and Social Systems. Opening lecture “Criticality of Criticality in Causal Networks: Information transfer, storage and further issues” by Stuart Kauffman is found at http://www.santafe.edu/about/people/profile/Stuart%20Kauffman.