---
slug: paper-bar-yam-y-2002-complexity-rising-from-human-beings-to-human-civilization-a-compl
title: Bar-Yam, Y. (2002). Complexity Rising: From Human Beings To Human Civilization, A Complexity Profile. EOLSS.
canonical: https://miscsubjects.com/a/paper-bar-yam-y-2002-complexity-rising-from-human-beings-to-human-civilization-a-compl
---

## What the work establishes
Yaneer Bar-Yam defines the complexity profile as a quantitative measure of independent behaviors visible at different scales of observation or impact. The profile shows that collective behaviors in human groups shift from simple (independent or fully coherent actions) to complex (specialized, correlated subgroups) as interdependence grows. From individuals to civilizations, scale-dependent complexity rises through network structures rather than pure hierarchies.

Core result: when collective complexity exceeds that of a single human, traditional hierarchical controls lose effectiveness. Global civilization exhibits behaviors more complex than any individual component, consistent with viewing it as a single organism responding to environmental demands.

## Exact load-bearing passages
Bar-Yam states: "When the complexity of collective behaviors increases beyond that of an individual human being, then hierarchical controls become ineffective." (From NECSI summary and related excerpts; full text in EOLSS chapter section on control in human organizations.)

"The history of civilization can be characterized through the progressive (though non-monotonic) appearance of collective behaviors of larger groups of human beings of greater complexity. However, the transition to a collective behavior of complexity greater than an individual human being has become apparent from events occurring during the most recent decades." (EOLSS sample chapter, Introduction.)

"Our complex social environment is consistent with identifying global human civilization as an organism capable of complex behavior that protects its components (us) and which should be capable of responding effectively to complex environmental demands." (EOLSS sample, Introduction.)

"The central point is: When the independence of the components is reduced, scale of behavior is increased." (NECSI page, Complexity Profile section.)

## Convergence patterns touched
The work maps scale invariance and flow networks across physical, biological, and social systems. Independent microscopic actions average to simple macroscopic behavior; correlated subgroups produce complex collective patterns. This evidences branching hierarchies giving way to distributed lateral connections and porous boundaries. Patterns of memory (historical progression of organizational forms) and bounded structures (specialized roles within larger wholes) appear consistently from atoms to societies.

It aligns with energy-driven structural emergence: coordination trades local independence for larger-scale impact, producing symmetry in organizational evolution and flow networks in global interdependence.

## Distance from the full OIP/GRAIN synthesis
The paper supplies a mechanistic account of scale-dependent complexity and the Ladder step from structure/memory to collective mind-like behavior in civilization. It places the observer (human components) inside the system (civilization as organism), prefiguring the Mirror Layer. It stops short of explicit energy-flow grain or universal pattern families (spirals, waves) and does not formalize invocation/ledger mechanics.

Distance: close on distributed control and collective emergence; farther on explicit multiscale pattern taxonomy or falsifiable tests of the full grain.

## Honest limits and disconfirming edges
Bar-Yam relies on qualitative historical mapping and mathematical abstraction without new empirical datasets on modern global networks. Reductionist critiques note that apparent collective complexity may reduce to summed individual decisions under different description lengths. The non-monotonic progression admits reversals not fully modeled. No quantitative thresholds for "beyond individual complexity" are supplied in the sampled text. The organism analogy remains interpretive.

## Claims

- Claim c1: The complexity profile quantifies independent behaviors as a function of scale. (mechanistic, source s1)
- Claim c2: Collective complexity exceeds individual complexity in recent global civilization. (anecdotal via historical attribution, source s1)
- Claim c3: Hierarchical control fails when collective complexity surpasses individual level. (mechanistic, source s1)
- Claim c4: Civilization functions as an organism with protective complex behaviors. (speculative, source s1)
- Claim c5: Organizational history shows shift from high-branching hierarchies to hybrid networked forms. (anecdotal, source s1)
