Perspectives on a Hyperconnected World

The World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Complex Systems advocates for a shift from reductionist thinking to complexity science to address 'grand challenges' like climate change and financial instability. The document explains that complex systems are characterized by non-linearity and emergent behavior, where the whole is more than the sum of its parts. It emphasizes the need for 'resilient adaptive systems' that can recover from unexpected events through redundancy and co-evolution. The authors call for interdisciplinary collaboration and the integration of 'Big Data' to create governance structures capable of managing the unpredictable dynamics of a hyperconnected world.

• Complexity science differs from traditional reductionist science by focusing on how interacting elements form a coherent whole rather than breaking a system down into its smallest components.
• Global governance is hindered by a mismatch between disciplinary organizational structures and the non-disciplinary nature of world challenges, as well as a dangerous reliance on the assumption of linearity.
• Non-linearity in complex systems creates feedback loops that lead to unpredictable and disproportionate outcomes, such as the 2010 'flash crash' of the DOW or the Arab Spring.
• Resilience is defined as the ability of a complex system's functions to recover to their original level or evolve into modified functions following a major shock.
• To achieve global resilience, governance systems must prioritize building local resilience first, as recovery processes work from the bottom up on varying time scales.
• The availability of 'Big Data' from techno-socio-economic-environmental systems is increasing the practical importance of complexity science by allowing the calibration and validation of social system models.

APA

Barabasi, A.-L., Bly, A., Boch, W., Gharajedaghi, J., Gosselin, D. P., Guterl, F., Helbing, D., Heylighen, F., Kitano, H., Smith, C. H. L., Al Mansoori, A. O., Mitleton-Kelly, E., Sanders, T. I., Saraph, A., Vasbinder, J. W., West, G. B., & Wouters, A. (2013). Perspectives on a Hyperconnected World. World Economic Forum. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GAC_PerspectivesHyperconnectedWorld_ExecutiveSummary_2013.pdf

Chicago

Barabasi, Albert-Laszlo, Adam Bly, Wolfgang Boch, Jamshid Gharajedaghi, Derrick P. Gosselin, Fred Guterl, Dirk Helbing, et al. Perspectives on a Hyperconnected World. World Economic Forum, 2013. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GAC_PerspectivesHyperconnectedWorld_ExecutiveSummary_2013.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{barabasi2013perspectives, author = {Barabasi, Albert-Laszlo and Bly, Adam and Boch, Wolfgang and Gharajedaghi, Jamshid and Gosselin, Derrick P. and Guterl, Fred and Helbing, Dirk and Heylighen, Francis and Kitano, Hiroaki and Smith, Christopher H. Llewellyn and Al Mansoori, Ahmed Obaid and Mitleton-Kelly, Evangelia and Sanders, T. Irene and Saraph, Anupam and Vasbinder, Jan Wouter and West, Geoffrey B. and Wouters, Alain}, title = {{Perspectives on a Hyperconnected World}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2013}, month = jan, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GAC_PerspectivesHyperconnectedWorld_ExecutiveSummary_2013.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }