Some time ago, I gave the talk for one of our occasional ‘men’s breakfasts’ at church. I spoke on the topic of ‘Connections and Complexity’, looking at how complexity arises in systems of many interconnected elements, even where those individual elements are fairly simple. I looked at a few different complex systems that are of interest to me, and then looked at how some of the aspects we see in such complex connected systems have lessons for another complex connected ‘system’ – that of human community and relationships.
While what I ultimately shared was in some way ‘connected’ to my original ideas for my breakfast talk, things changed a lot as I thought, researched and prepared – I guess this is not unusual. And in fact a number of somewhat new things struck me in preparation. One of them in particular I’d like to share on this blog.
One of the connected systems I looked at was that of multiple massive bodies – such as suns and planets – interacting through gravity. In general a system of many such bodies is an example of the n-body problem in Physics, which does not yield an exact mathematical formula to describe the motion. The planetary motion in such a many body system does not in general repeat itself and is often chaotic.
Our solar system, however, is a more specialized case of the n-body problem, with the sun much more massive than any other planets in the system. Hence the motion of each planet is dominated by its interaction with the sun, with the gravitational forces of the other planets acting as perturbations on the nearly elliptical orbit of each planet around the sun.
One of the other connected systems I looked at was the neural network, commonly used in modern artificial intelligence systems and inspired by the connected nature of neurons within the brain. In a neural network each artificial ‘neuron’ provides a simple mechanism of taking multiple inputs each multiplied by its own weighting, adding these together and then passing the result through an ‘activation function’ to yield an output. A connected system of many such artificial neurons is then trained by adjusting the weightings such that the neural network gives results that closely match the data on which the network is being trained. Such systems have proved to be remarkably good at some of the analyses which the human brain is good at but which other computational models can struggle with, for example image recognition. The power of neural networks comes from the multiple neurons all working in a collaborative way, with each contributing their own element – for example identifying a particular feature of an image – to enable the overall system to perform its broader task.
The solar system and the neural network represent two contrasting examples of the complex interconnected system. In the solar system, the one body (the sun) has a far more significant influence than any of the other bodies. This inequity in influence leads to greater stability and predictability than we would see with a system of bodies of similar masses. Such long term stability is necessary to create conditions in which life can thrive. On the other hand the neural network is an example of a system where each element plays just as significant a role as the others. The system collectively gives rise to features which no individual element could provide on its own in surprising and creative ways. But such systems can be much more unpredictable and chaotic.
In a similar way, we see contexts within human community where one relationship is much more significant than the others. A parent (or parents) often play the role of the ‘sun’ to their children, especially when they are younger. The parent provides boundaries and stability and ensures the child is safe while they grow and develop, and that one strong relationship is necessarily much more significant to the child than any other.
We also see many situations where people interact and work together with each contributing their own skills and experience to provide something collectively which no individual could achieve on their own. The well balanced business or sports team would be examples of such an equitable collaborative community.
And I believe that we need both types of interconnected relationships. We seem to be wired in such a way that we will not thrive if either is missing. To flourish and develop, to be able to use our gifts and skills, we need the collaborative communities in which we feel we are making a significant and valuable contribution and where together with others we can produce something creative and special as well as learning from the different skills and experience that those others also bring. And to have stability and safety there is also the need for a different type of figure that can set the rules and boundaries within which we must all keep. Our governments take on this role in the national sphere – without them there would be anarchy which few would welcome.
But in both of these types of connected ensembles of people we face troubles. In the collaborative community there is the risk of a few people dominating in a way which diminishes or loses the talents and gifts that others would otherwise have brought to the table – with those who dominate feeling that their gifts, contributions, insights and beliefs are more important than others. And for the rule and boundary setters there is the danger of tyranny, corruption and incompetence. We often despair of and deride our leaders, and this may well be at least partly justified.
You see, in the solar system, it isn’t just one of the typical planets that primarily defines the orbits of the others, but something different altogether, a sun, that stands out alone within the solar system. But within our human hierarchies our leaders are just ordinary people like the rest of us, they may have greater skills and experience in some areas, but they will equally fall short of the people they govern in other ways.
So I think we were made to have a ‘sun’ who is different than us, one who is suited and worthy to be the be that ‘other’ figure, defining the boundaries, acting as the centre around which life should revolve. As Psalm 84 says, “For the Lord God is our sun and our shield” (NLT). Any human falls woefully short in this role.
The Bible also affirms the need for that other type of collaborative community. It uses the metaphor of the body to describe the church, with each person having their different roles and gifts, working together to build each other up, but with Christ – not any human leader – as the head, our sun.
This is not a proof that God exists, or that the Christian faith is true. But I find that what is says, about our relationships with God and with each other, rings true and correlates well with our need for these two types of relationship in a way that other philosophies and ideologies struggle to do. If you have any thoughts or comments to add to what I’ve said, please do contribute to the discussion!
Lloyd about life 