Thought Experiments in Complexity Science Research
People can manage those problems whose solutions they are able to emulate in mind. Different functional intelligences allow emulating different types of solutions. This process was named “Thought Experiment” and has be come a popular domain through Albert Einstein’s work.
Thought Experiment – Gedankenexperiment: Albert Einstein, one of the greatest minds of the 20th century, forever changed the landscape of science by introducing revolutionary concepts that shook our understanding of the physical world. One of Einstein’s most defining qualities was his remarkable ability to conceptualize complex scientific ideas by imagining real-life scenarios. He called these scenarios Gedankenexperiments,which is German for thought experiments. (Ali Sundermier) – Nikola Tesla’s researches and developments are also paradigmatic examples of this approach to science and problem solving.
The unicist approach was developed to build structural solutions in adaptive environments. This requires emulating reality in mind.
This emulation is materialized in the building of a model that has to be homologous to the real world. This model must allow envisioning a specific functional reality and also experiencing it.
The unicist approach to the emulation of reality is homologous to the thought experimental approach.
The unicist approach implies an action-reflection-action process that requires finding the root causes of facts and emulating in mind the solutions that upgrade the previous stage.
Unicist reflection requires the use of destructive tests to define the limits of the validity of knowledge or solutions. The unicist destructive tests are based on self-criticism, which fosters personal improvement, and includes a spontaneous amending attitude and the capacity of laughing at oneself.
The unicist reflection process is a sort of thought experiment, that basically deals with finding or managing the root causes of real problems and the root drivers of real solutions. This reflection process is a destructive and non-destructive tests driven process.
The unicist approach, that is homologous to the processes used by Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, integrates the development of destructive and non-destructive tests with the unicist reverse engineering method and the unicist reflection methodology to develop solutions.
This needs to be sustained by a solution thinking focus that uses an ontological approach to apprehend the concepts involved.
Peter Belohlavek
NOTE: The Unicist Research Institute has been, since 1976, the pioneer in complexity science research to deal with adaptive entities and became a private global decentralized leading research organization in the field of adaptive systems and environments. It was one of the precursors of the Industry 4.0 concept