Patterns in nature are usually described as "complex" because they are neither perfectly orderly nor totally chaotic. They are composed of complicated and connected structures. Patterns in nature are complex systems with highly ordered dynamic properties. The generation of order in the form of a pattern is an inevitable product of the internal dynamics of the system. In many cases, this complexity results in an emergent behavior or structure that manifests a mega-form of some sort. Ecosystems at all levels are good examples of patterns in nature that are complex systems.

Complexity is the study of how complicated systems generate simple behavior from extremely complicated, apparently chaotic systems. An example is the study of synchronicity in fireflies. Here, many individuals and individual systems conspire to produce a single collective rhythm. The study of complex systems cuts across all traditional disciplines of science, as well as engineering, management, and medicine. It focuses on certain questions about parts, wholes and relationships. Learning about complexity requires that you look at the real patterns in nature and inductively create explanations. Complexity looks for simplicity in the dynamic process of pattern formation and not in the pattern's static structure. The relationships between components in a complex system are generally more important than the components themselves because local rules regarding connectivity generate global order.

A complex system is composed of interconnected components that, as a whole, exhibit one or more properties that are not obvious from an examination of the behaviors of the individual parts. Yet, paradoxically, it is the combined behaviors and interactions of individual components that define behaviors at a system level. The resulting behaviors of the system are called emergent behavior.

While the study of complexity is the study of how complicated natural patterns result from simple behaviors of individuals within a system, chaos is the study of how simple patterns can generate complicated behavior. Chaos theory is involves finding the underlying order in apparently random data. Chaos is a very important concept because it helps us to understand and simplify complex patterns in nature.

A complex system contains the following features:

• Boundaries are difficult to determine.
• Usually open systems that are interacting with their environment.
• Are dynamic -- they change over time.
• Prior states have an influence on present states -- like feedback machines.
• Exhibit emergent phenomena.
• Computer simulation is the tool typically used to study complex systems.
• The system may contain chaotic components.

The two videos below describe the reasons why the study of complex systems is so important

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