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David Fleming
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This discussion of complexity should not be taken as representative of its treatment in the textbooks. Complexity in Lean Logic is taken to be one defining end of the spectrum along which a John Miller and Scott Page’s understanding of complexity is consistent with the present discussion, but they place complication relative to complexity in a way which is almost opposite to the one suggested in Lean Logic: “In a complicated world, the various elements that make up the system maintain a degree of independence from one another. . . . Complexity arises when the dependencies among the elements become important.” John H. Miller and Scott E. Page (2007), Complex Adaptive Systems, p 9. John Holland’s description of complexity in Waldrop (1992), pp 145–147 can be summarised as follows: Complex systems are (amongst other things) systems that respond to events actively—revealing purpose, as distinct from inertia. The many properties of complex systems include four which are especially significant: (1) they consist of many levels of organisation, with parts joining up to create subassemblies or holons at progressively higher orders of complexity; (2) control is widely dispersed throughout all the parts of the system; (3) they act on what they have learned, and this enables them not just to evolve and innovate with the development of new “species”, but also to self-regulate and maintain their stability; (4) they discover, or create, niches in their environment, and they innovate, developing specialised attributes and functions to fill them. “Species” is used here literally (for ecologies) and figuratively (for distinctive cultures, craft and character). system can be placed; the other end of the spectrum is “modularity”. For a more general approach to complexity, (contrasting complexity with simplicity rather than with modularity), readers may refer to sources such as Neil Johnson (2007), Simply Complexity; Melanie Mitchell (2009), Complexity: A Guided Tour; Mitchell M. Waldrop (1992), Complexity; and to teaching and research sources such as the London School of Economics Complexity Research Programme and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Complexity Research Seminar Series.

David Fleming
Dr David Fleming (2 January 1940 – 29 November 2010) was a cultural historian and economist, based in London, England. He was among the first to reveal the possibility of peak oil's approach and invented the influential TEQs scheme, designed to address this and climate change. He was also a pioneer of post-growth economics, and a significant figure in the development of the UK Green Party, the Transition Towns movement and the New Economics Foundation, as well as a Chairman of the Soil Association. His wide-ranging independent analysis culminated in two critically acclaimed books, 'Lean Logic' and 'Surviving the Future', published posthumously in 2016. These in turn inspired the 2020 launches of both BAFTA-winning director Peter Armstrong's feature film about Fleming's perspective and legacy - 'The Sequel: What Will Follow Our Troubled Civilisation?' - and Sterling College's unique 'Surviving the Future: Conversations for Our Time' online courses. For more information on all of the above, including Lean Logic, click the little globe below!

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