Theoretical Steps Towards Modelling Resilience in Complex Systems

This paper reports on theoretical work aimed at providing a harmonious set of tools for tackling the thorny problem of resilience in complex systems. Specifically, key features of resilience are laid out, and the ramifications on necessary theoretical and implementational machinery are analysed. These ramifications constitute a problem definition that, to the authors’ knowledge, no extant system is sufficiently sophisticated to meet. It is, however, possible to identify existing components that can be combined to provide the necessary expressivity. In particular, theoretical ecology has individual based modelling approaches that are consonant with artificial intelligence techniques in multi-agent systems, and in philosophical logic, channel theory provides a mechanism for modelling both system energy and system information flow. The paper demonstrates that it is possible to integrate these components into a coherent theoretical framework, laying a foundation for implementation and testing.

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