A simple guide to chaos and complexity
Open accessAbstract
The concepts of complexity and chaos are being invoked with increasing frequency in the health sciences literature. However, the concepts underpinning these concepts are foreign to many health scientists and there is some looseness in how they have been translated from their origins in mathematics and physics, which is leading to confusion and error in their application. Nonetheless, used carefully, “complexity science” has the potential to invigorate many areas of health science and may lead to important practical outcomes; but if it is to do so, we need the discipline that comes from a proper and responsible usage of its concepts. Hopefully, this glossary will go some way towards achieving that objective.
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The existence of a superordinate Markov blanket organization is intimately connected to the idea of an order parameter in complexity theory.
“The first is that the existence of a superordinate Markov blanket organization, which is intimately connected to the idea of an order parameter in complexity theory [47].”
From The Markov blankets of life: autonomy, active inference and the free energy principle (2018) · cites this paper as [47]
The paper defines an order parameter as a macroscopic feature reflecting how a system’s parts act collectively (Critical phenomena; page unavailable), and describes higher levels of organization emerging from interactions among subunits (Chaos versus complexity; page unavailable). It does not discuss Markov blankets or connect a superordinate Markov blanket organization to an order parameter. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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- Authors
- Rickles, D., Hawe, P., & Shiell, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Calgary (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Rickles, Dean
- Venue
- Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Published
- 2007-10-12
- Volume
- 61
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 933-937
- ISSN
- 0141-7681 (ISSN-L)
- 0143-005X
- 1470-2738
- PMC
- PMC2465602
- OpenAlex
- W2123363929
- Cited by
- 438
- References
- 70
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 38 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 53 · 2020: 46 · 2019: 38 · 2018: 30 · 2017: 25 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 0.41
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Calgary
- Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computational Theory and Mathematics › Chaos, Complexity, and Education
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Statistical and Nonlinear Physics › Complex Systems and Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Complex Systems and Decision Making
- Keywords
- chaos theory, complexity science, health sciences, terminology, conceptual confusion, nonlinear dynamics
- MeSH terms
- Models, Theoretical, Terminology as Topic, Systems Theory, Nonlinear Dynamics
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