Complexity and Limits to Change

Sunday, February 17, 2013
Room 203 (Hynes Convention Center)
Folmer Bokma , Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
Biological organisms are constantly under selection to improve the efficiency with which they function, and a common way to achieve this is via improved organization of its body, that is, complexity. This complexity, however, may make it harder for populations and species to adapt to a changing environment, and it might explain stasis. I ask whether this is the reason why environmental change leads to widespread extinction, and to what extent the same principle applies to human organizations.