Complexity reduction

This article explains the general term. To reduce the runtime complexity (tracing back to another problem) in computer science, see Reduction (theoretical computer science) .

Geographic maps illustrate spatial data and complex relationships, making them an example of reducing complexity. The picture shows the Ortelius world map Typvs Orbis Terrarvm from 1570.

Complexity reduction is a selection of the information actually occurring and perceptible in the environment, which is made by living beings as well as occurs in social systems . From a technical point of view, complexity reduction is data preprocessing or filtering.

Background and examples

Without a reduction in complexity (at least in the case of more highly developed living beings that are capable of perceiving many different types of stimuli), on the one hand, overstimulation would occur, so that the information flowing into the living being from the environment could not be processed or no longer meaningfully. On the other hand, it serves to enable or simplify communication .

Living beings and social systems can reduce the complexity of the same facts in different ways .

Complexity reduction is generally associated with loss of information . If the complexity of the system itself is reduced, its adaptability to the complexity of its environment decreases. Often, however, only the complexity of the representation of the system is reduced and the complexity of the system itself is left unchanged. The reduction in complexity is then an irreversible mapping that limits the system understanding of those who use this representation.

In technical systems, complexity is reduced through various types of filters. One example is the digital processing of analog signals: The highest frequency occurring in the analog signal must be below half the sampling frequency. For this reason, the complexity of the analog signal must be correspondingly reduced in the frequency domain with an anti-aliasing filter so that incorrect information does not arise in the receiving processing system.

In social systems, economic indicators are an example of reducing complexity. These indicators are calculated from a set of data that can no longer be recalculated from the indicator. The observation of economic indicators can be used for the feedback control of the complexity reduction. The reduction in complexity is then variable: initially only the economic indicator is observed; If, however, defined abnormalities occur, a decision can be made to bypass the reduction in complexity partially or completely and to analyze the individual data more precisely with greater effort. From a technical point of view, such a variable reduction in complexity corresponds to an adaptive filtering.

Complexity reduction plays a major role in institutional economics . It serves as an explanation for the existence of internal institutions.

See also

• Complex system
• Game complexity
• System properties
• Trust - Social Complexity
• Thorngate's Postulate of Appropriate Complexity
• Systems theory (Luhmann)

literature

• Niklas Luhmann : On the complexity of decision-making situations. ( Sozial-systeme.ch , PDF; 551 kB).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The social systems also include international actors such as states, see Gert Krell : Weltbilder und Weltordnung. Introduction to the theory of international relations. 3rd edition, Baden-Baden 2004, ISBN 3-8329-0347-X , p. 383.