Complexity Explorer Santa Few Institute

Introduction to Complexity (2018-2019)

Lead instructor:

This course is no longer in session.

10.1 Welcome to the last Unit! » Welcome to the last unit from Instructor Santiago Guisasola

Hey everybody,

I hope you are having a great week. We are now in the tenth week of Intro to Complexity, with the final corresponding unit on scaling. 

Scaling is an interesting thing, and involves a lot of exponential and logarithmic behavior. These are not only the famous sources of many "cool spirals" in nature, but they describe many other patterns in the world. 

For example, if an ant falls from a height ten times its own, it will be just fine. If we fall from a height ten times our own, we will be badly hurt. Similarly, we have all heard that ants are "super strong" because thay can lift several times their own body weight. Once we view these sitautions through the eyes of scaling, they make much more sense. 

This unit should give you a good idea of how all of this works.

Have a great rest of the week, and please let me know if you have any questions.

Best,
Santiago