Carver Tate

Hello, my name is Carver and I am from New York City. I am currently a graduate student at Georgetown University in the Communication, Culture, and Technology Program. I have not chosen a specific topic for my thesis yet, but my interests include the effects of technology on society (both past and present), the problem of information overload in society and how we might create new ways of processing information to make it more manageable, and developing a more interconnected approach to globalization studies that reflects how each element of globalization effects the other. I see complexity theory relating to each of these interests in different ways. With respect to the effects of technology on society, technological innovation and diffusion has followed the traditional S shaped curve and has been shown to mimic the Kondratiev wave. If these patterns are studied more in-depthly it might be possible to make more accurate projections about whether the rate of technological growth and innovation will remain the same or increase in the future. In terms of information overload, I think complexity theory can offer news ways of classifying how "complex" a given piece of information is and offer the simplest way of navigating it. Visual simulations of complex information can also offer a new and more easily digestible format, the same way a traditional x-y graph makes it easier to see the behavior and draw conclusions about a function. Finally, up until this point globalization studies have focused on specific parts of globalization such as economics or culture, but there has yet to be an approach that tries to see how all aspects of globalization are connected and effect one another. I think complexity theory offers the best method for trying to synthesize these different areas and creating a more holistic approach, viewing globalization as more of a complex adaptive system. I do not come from a math or computer science background, so my knowledge of each area is very limited. I have been brushing up on calculus and differential equations for the past month and hope that I have learned enough to at least be able to speak the language, but any help from my fellow summer programmers would be greatly appreciated. Also, if there is anyone else in my situation (someone coming from more of a social science/cultural background) I would love to speak with you about how you see complexity theory fitting into your area of interest. I look forward to meeting all of you and having an amazing summer. See you in June, - Carver

Also, here is a link to an article I wrote in "Emerging," the Plexus Institute's newsletter.

http://plexusinstitute.org/NewsEvents/show_Emerging.cfm?id=132