New England Complex Systems Institute

CONTACT:

238 Main Street Suite 319
Cambridge, MA 02142
617.547.4100
www.necsi.org

Yaneer Bar- Yam, President

DESCRIPTION:

This is relatively abstruse philanthropy, but it nicely illustrates a far range of philanthropic activity that is strategically powerful but not widely known, and therefore highly attractive for certain kinds of donors. Some background information might be helpful: The fundamental assumption of science is that the world is a coherent whole—a “universe.” A basic problem, however, is that all the academic disciplines, taken together, are not mutually coherent—each has its own language and talks to itself. Together, they describe the world in separate parts and languages. No single discipline studies either the world, or scientific scholarship, as a whole. This has been called the “multiversity” of modern scholarship, studying the world as if it were a “multiverse”—a term coined by Henry Adams in the late 19th century, which he used pejoratively, signifying a world empty of ultimate meaning and moral significance. We know from practical experience, however, that the world is not divided into the separate parts described by academic disciplines. We know many practical problems in which things are mixed up, not readily, coherently, understood or solved in conventional terms. These may be subjects for complex systems analysis. “Complex systems” are identifiable phenomena in which the separately understood parts are shown by mathematical modeling to be related in orderly ways, so that they can be dealt with in orderly terms. As NECSI says, “complex systems science uses mathematical modeling to study how the [various] parts of a system give rise to its collective behavior.” Their interdisciplinary research combines physical, biological and social sciences, engineering, management, and medicine, to solve problems in areas usually seen as outside the realms of science, such as health care, education, ethnic violence, and international development. NECSI was founded in 1996 by scholars and scientists in Greater Boston and New England research institutions, to promote international study of complex systems. They felt they had to create a new institution in order to work outside conventional academic boundaries and to coordinate multidisciplinary research efforts. NECSI works closely with faculty at MIT, Harvard and Brandeis Universities, and many other institutions nationally and abroad. Its members include leaders in the scientific establishment and a number of Nobel Laureates, and they have research contracts with leading government and private institutions. To promote the field in general, NECSI sponsors web resources, classes, seminars, conferences and programs on four continents, as well as post-doc fellowships and student scholarships. Its main event is an annual International Conference on Complex Systems, which convenes leading authorities in the field. If you would like to be involved in groundbreaking, fundamental, research and inquiry, here is a great opportunity.

(2007: CULTURE: Education: Informal: General)