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AbstractAs society moves to a post‐industrial posture, technology rescales human activities into new contexts. A changed context makes meaning different. In that new setting, complexity appears because problems arise scaled outside prevailing disciplines. Without the conventions of established disciplines definitions are lost, and that causes complexity to arise in the equivocation that follows. Rosen suggests that complexity cannot be modelled, precisely because of uncertainty and contradiction, which can be defined away, but only at the loss of complexity. Paradigms work to facilitate modelling with narratives told to make complexity simple enough to model. Complexity disappears into mere complicatedness upon deciding what is significant as opposed to incidental, structural as opposed to dynamical, discontinuous versus continuous and rate‐independent rather than rate‐dependent. With those decisions in hand, one can create and test models to improve the meaning of narratives. Meaning is found in the plan embodied in the Aristotelian formal cause (e.g. DNA) and in the significance of whole structure in the final cause. Aristotle's material cause, the existence of the substance of the whole, is constructed by the interaction of the plan of the formal cause with the Aristotelian efficient cause of the driving gradient (e.g. food, energy). The narrative of the biological or social system moves forward each time an updated material cause forces change on the meaning of the final cause. Narratives can address complexity because they are not about objective reality, but are statements of what is significant. Narratives facilitate commensurate experience as humans construct a post‐industrial society, invoking post‐normal science and post‐modern postures. Transdisciplines face complexity until they self‐consciously develop a new story of their own. The complexity arising from technological rescaling and redefinition of our world can be addressed with sophisticated use of narrative, a central device in systems science. This paper presents a protocol for employing narrative with precision. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

From climate change to species extinction, humanity is confronted with an increasing array of societal and environmental challenges that defy simple quantifiable solutions. Complexity-based ecology provides a new paradigm for ecologists and conservationists keen to embrace the uncertainty that is pressed upon us. This book presents key research papers chosen by some sixty scholars from various continents, across a diverse span of sub-disciplines. The papers are set alongside first person commentary from many of the seminal voices involved, offering unprecedented access to experts' viewpoints. The works assembled also shed light on the process of science in general, showing how the shifting of wider perspectives allows for new ideas to take hold. Ideal for undergraduate and advanced students of ecology and conservation, their educators and those working across allied fields, this is the first book of its kind to focus on complexity-based approaches and provides a benchmark for future collected volumes

Intro -- Contents -- Introduction -- Part I . A Theory for Medium Number Systems -- Chapter 1. Hierarchies -- Chapter 2. The Janus-Faced Holon -- Chapter 3. Scales and Filters -- Chapter 4. Sirens of Certainty -- Part II. Origins of Life as a Complex Medium Number System -- Chapter 5. A Wrinkle in Time: Evolution by Preadaptation -- Chapter 6. Functional and Structural Boundaries -- Chapter 7. The Self-Replicating Hierarchy -- Chapter 8. Scaling Strategies -- Part III. Scale and Complex Systems -- Chapter 9. Identifying the Scale in Community Ecology -- Chapter 10. Hierarchy as a Context for Modeling and Simulation -- Chapter 11. Diversity and Connectedness -- Chapter 12. Scale as an Investigative Tool -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Glossary -- References -- Author Index -- Subject Index.

While environmentalists insist that lower rates of consumption of natural resources are essential for a sustainable future, many economists dismiss the notion that resource limits act to constrain modern, creative societies. The conflict between these views tinges political debate at all levels and hinders our ability to plan for the future. Supply-Side Sustainability offers a fresh approach to this dilemma by integrating ecological and social science approaches in an interdisciplinary treatment of sustainability. Written by two ecologists and an anthropologist, this book disc

Public interest is central to future energy. A transition from fossil to renewable fuels would be likely to involve post-normal science, which is science constrained by uncertainty, urgency, high stakes, and public values. Future energy transformation will involve post-normal science because public interest will be central, and political will may be as limiting as engineering issues. This paper discusses cases of energy transformation in human and insect societies, showing general patterns in resource transitions, and in human responses to them. Understanding these general patterns allows scenarios to be developed describing some consequences of possible energy futures. The costs and benefits of these alternatives will have tangible differences for the interests of people whose lives are affected. Values, uncertainty, urgency, and high stakes all suggest the utility of a post-normal approach to future energy.

Public interest is central to future energy. A transition from fossil to renewable fuels would be likely to involve post-normal science, which is science constrained by uncertainty, urgency, high stakes, and public values. Future energy transformation will involve post-normal science because public interest will be central, and political will may be as limiting as engineering issues. This paper discusses cases of energy transformation in human and insect societies, showing general patterns in resource transitions, and in human responses to them. Understanding these general patterns allows scenarios to be developed describing some consequences of possible energy futures. The costs and benefits of these alternatives will have tangible differences for the interests of people whose lives are affected. Values, uncertainty, urgency, and high stakes all suggest the utility of a post-normal approach to future energy.