About complexity and knowledge How order leads to chaos !

2. About complexity and knowledge How order leads to chaos ! Prof dr Walter Baets Euromed Marseille, Ecole de Management The Nyenrode Institute for Knowledge Management and Virtual Education

3. Flatland: Edwin Abbott, 1884 A. Square meets the third dimension

4. Wanderer, your footprints are the path, and nothing more; Wanderer, there is no path, it is created as you walk. By walking, you make the path before you, and when you look behind you see the path which after you will not be trod again. Wanderer, there is no path, but the ripples on the waters Antonio Machado, Chant XXIX Proverbios y cantares, Campos de Castilla, 1917

5. A very great musician came and stayed in our house, He made one big mistake … He was determined to teach me music and consequently, no learning took place. Nevertheless, I did casually pick up from him a certain amount of stolen knowledge Rabindranath Tagore

6. Sometimes small differences in the initial conditions generate very large differences in the final phenomena. A slight error in the former could produce a tremendous error in the latter. Prediction becomes impossible; we have accidental phenomena. Poincaré in 1903

7. Taylor’s view on the brain The computer: attempt to automate human thinking Manipulating symbols Modeling the brain Represent the world Simulate interaction of neurons Intelligence = problem solving Intelligence = learning 0-1 Logic and mathematics Approximations, statistics Rationalist, reductionistIdealized, holistic Became the way of building computers Became the way of looking at minds

8. I IT Interior-Individual Intentional Exterior-Individual Behavioral World of: sensation, impulses, emotion, concepts, vision World of: atoms, molecules, neuronal organisms, neocortex Truthfulness Truth Functional fit Justness World of: societies, division of labour, groups, families, tribes, nation/state, agrarian, industrial and informational World of: magic, mythic, values Exterior-Collective Social Interior-collective Cultural WE ITS Ken Wilber: A Brief History of Everything

9. Complexity Theory

10. Sensitivity to initial conditions (Lorenz) Xn+1 = a * Xn * (1 - Xn) 0.294 1.4 0.3 0.7

11. Cobweb Diagrams (Attractors/Period Doubling) Xn+1 =  * Xn * (1 - Xn) (stepfunction) dX / dt =  X (1 - X)(continuous function) • On the diagrams one gets: • Parabolic curve • Diagonal line Xn+1 = Xn • Line connecting iterations

12. Lorenz curve (Butterfly effect) Lorenz (1964) was finally able to materialize Poincaré’s claim Lorenz weather forecasting model dX / dt = B ( Y - X ) dY / dt = - XZ + rX - Y dZ / dt = XY - bZ

13. Ilya Prigogine • Non-linear dynamic models (initial state, • period doubling,….) • Irriversibility of time principle • Behaviour far away from equilibrium (entropy) • A complex system = chaos + order • Knowledge is built from the bottom up

14. Why can chaos not be avoided ? • Social systems are always dynamic and • non-linear • Measurement can never be correct • Management is always a discontinuous • approximation of a continuous • phenomenon

15. Francesco Varela • Self-creation and self-organization of systems and structures (autopoièse) • Organization as a neural network • The embodied mind • Enacted cognition • Subject-object division is clearly artificial • How do artificial networks operate (Holland)

16. Knowledge and learning

17. OADI-cycle/Individual learning ASSESS Environmental response OBSERVE DESIGN IMPLEMENT ENVIRONMENT Single-loop learning Individual double-loop learning Individual action INDIVIDUAL MENTAL MODEL & FRAMEWORKS Organizational double-loop learning ORGANIZATIONAL ROUTINES & SHARED MENTAL MODELS Organizational action

18. Inter-Action EXPERIENCES Contextual Inter-Action CONTEXTUAL KNOWLEDGE INDIVIDUAL MENTAL MODEL & TACIT KNOWLEDGE • Real life • Databases • Procedures • Simulators • Executive seminars • Concepts • Theory SHARING AND COMMUNICATION Contextualization SHARED MENTAL MODEL & KNOWLEDGE REPOSITORY The Hybrid Business School

19. IT for the Corporate Knowledge Approach Structuring CASE BASED REASONING SYSTEM Advising Consultation ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS & OTHER A.I. TECHNIQUES Rules • DATA BASES • LEARNING ENVIRONMENT • SIMULATORS • EXPERT SYSTEMS • COMPUTER BASED TEACHING • VIDEO-CONFERENCING Sharing and Communicating the Emergent Learning Material Expertise COMMUNICATION PLATFORM / NEURAL NETWORKS IT for the Hybrid Business School

20. Innovation as learning Emotions Facts Internal External EXPERIENCES CONTEXTUAL KNOWLEDGE INDIVIDUAL MENTAL MODEL Emotions Individuals with characteristics (agents) Individual Collective SHARED MENTAL MODELS Emotions Interaction

21. Your knowledge infrastructure Your knowledge infrastructure Your knowledge infrastructure Ownership (search/learn principles) Remains with those that use it Those that want to learn decide what to learn Just-in-time, just-enough Culture Turn XYZ into a learning culture (via projects) Rewarding Learning platform Provide an ICT infrastructure that allows full access and sharing facilities • Content • What knowledge • to share: • explicit • implicit • learned

22. Learning platform and search/learn principles The knowledge net Explicit knowledge (database) Open learning platform Collaborative tools Dedicated search engines Accessibility for all Open to connect ‘any’ application Solution for e-learning Implicit knowledge (case base) Case based reasoning system Cases stored in an adapted way A methodology for case analysis and storage Corporate knowledge repository Notion Search engine The user with its learning agenda Learned knowledge (case base) Explicit knowledge that is enhanced via experience Using the same methodology for implicit knowledge Interviews with key knowledge owners

23. A TYPICAL MANAGEMENT DIPLOMA COURSE 3O % SELF-STUDY (learning-by-doing) 2O % WORKSHOPS 50 % PROJECT WORK INTERNET INTRANET SKILLS/ ACTIVITIES HYPERTEXT DATABASE C A S E S PC CD ROM CONCEPTS LEARNING/DATABASE SOFTWARE WWW site + other knowledge applications BOOKS EXECUTIVE COURSES

24. For a 18-24 months period Workshops: 200 study hours Innovative projects: 700 study hours Virtual grouplearning: 600 study hours

25. Some interesting technologies Artificial Neural Networks Genetic Algorithms Genetic Programming Fuzzy Logic Artificial life/Agent simulations Negotiating Agents Semantic Search Engines Case Based Reasoning Language technologies Machine learning technologies Conversational technologies

26. Ownership learn/search Learning Agenda (Pers. Development) platform ICT culture content Methodology Outcomes (company-specific) Actions The Hybrid Business School White Paper (Board approval) E-learning view Building Blocks Brainstorm 4 Action plans (Board approval) 4 Brainstorms • Project team • Notion • MD/HRM • Line mgt • IT • Marketing/R&D Hyper linked Knowledge platform Explicit knowledge Infrastructure (Plan) learner + learning agenda Search engine Implicit knowledge Skills Activities Hyper linked IT/Application plan Architecture cases Practices Concepts

27. Some statements Knowledge products can easily be copied (pharma example); Information even faster Is legal protection possible in the knowledge economy? (patents) Protection on HIV drugs: ethics against law (South Africa) Mobile phones: money is not made on the hardware, but on the services What is a company’s value added: is it learning or repetition (can it be machine replaced ?) Information against faster learning based innovation

28. I IT Interior-Individual Intentional Exterior-Individual Behavioral World of: sensation, impulses, emotion, concepts, vision World of: atoms, molecules, neuronal organisms, neocortex Truthfulness Truth Functional fit Justness World of: societies, division of labour, groups, families, tribes, nation/state, agrarian, industrial and informational World of: magic, mythic, values Exterior-Collective Social Interior-collective Cultural WE ITS Ken Wilber: A Brief History of Everything