We develop a unifying approach for complexity measures, based on the principle that complexity requires interactions at different scales of description. Complex systems are more than the sum of their ...

In a recent study in Physical Review Letters, SFI Complexity Postdoctoral Fellow Aanjaneya Kumar and colleagues show that the ...

The adoption and diffusion of new technologies, including those associated with energy distribution and management, requires a deep appreciation of the properties and diversity of social systems.

The Santa Fe Institute is an independent, nonprofit research and education center that leads global research in complexity science. SFI scientists seek the shared patterns and regularities across ...

Themes are institute-wide research topics that draw together large networks of researchers from the extended SFI network and beyond. Over the course of several years, researchers rigorously engage ...

Polygyny is thought to be more prevalent where male wealth inequality is greater; however, the decline of polygyny in most of the world occurred with the emergence of capital-intensive farming with ...

We present a technique for analyzing experimental time series that provides detection of nonlinearity in data dynamics and identification and quantification of underlying chaotic dynamics. It is based ...

The SFI Press endeavors to make available the best of complexity science quickly and affordably, to provide a distillation of discussions, debates, and meetings across a wide range of topics. To ...

How do human groups maintain a high level of cooperation despite a low level of genetic relatedness among group members? We suggest that many humans have a predisposition to punish those who violate ...

Complex Systems Summer School (CSSS) offers an intensive four-week introduction to complex behavior in mathematical, physical, living, and social systems. CSSS brings together graduate students, ...

The Santa Fe Institute was founded in 1984 by a group of scientists frustrated with the narrow disciplinary confines of academia. They wanted to tackle big questions that spanned different fields, and ...

The rise of the state is a key marker in the evolution of human society. States typically emerged when one chiefdom achieved a greater and more effective level of organization than a competing set of ...