Lensing: It is All About Perspective

Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) are difficult to understand and predict. Certain CAS phenomena can only be observed at certain abstraction levels – e.g., swarm dynamics cannot be analysed by only tracking one individual. In most current systems the “right” abstraction levels for each question asked, or each problem solved, are determined at design time. Yet, in adaptive self-integrating systems the abstraction level must be determined dynamically, depending on the questions encountered and the system context. This position paper aims to set-up the basis for a research initiative in this direction. It proposes the concept of ‘lensing’ to tune a system’s observation granularity in terms of spatial and temporal scope, and information detail. It further introduces lens efficacy and efficiency to evaluate a lens’ ability to answer specific questions–a critical process for self-aware systems performing lensing at runtime. Finally, the paper illustrates the criticality of lensing in answering different kinds of questions via several examples of collective movement systems, including a Game of Life (GoL) Glider simulation.