Collaboration in Science: Happier People ↔ Better Research 2023-06-08T17:42:40.516Z

Comment by nadinespy on Complex systems research as a field (and its relevance to AI Alignment) · 2023-12-04T18:07:00.547Z · LW · GW

This is a shorter 30-min intro to complexity science by David Krakauer that I really liked: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBkFu1g5PlE&t=358s

It's true that the way some people define and talk about complex systems can be frustratingly vague and non-informative, and I agree that Krakauer's way of talking about it gives a big picture idea that, in my view, has some appeal/informativeness.

What I'd really like to see a lot more is explicit model comparison where problems are seen from the complex systems lens vs. from other lenses. Yes, there are single examples where economics complexity is contrasted with traditional economics, but I'm thinking about something way more comprehensive and systematic here, i.e., taking a problem that can be approached with various methodologies, all implemented within the same computational environment, and investigating what answers each of those give, ideally with a clear idea of what constitutes a "better" answer compared to another. This would be probably also quite a research (software) engineering task.