Self-organized traffic flow

[Ross Goeres]

A friend of mine passed this along:

This video throws into doubt the value of all those traffic signals...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=RjrEQaG5jPM


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[Jochen Fromm-3]

Great. Clearly an excellent example of self-organization ;-)
One of my colleagues told me that in India it is a duty
to sound one's horn (for example everytime you pass or overtake
another car), while it is strictly forbidden here in Europe to
use the horn except in situations of great danger. Strange.

-J.

[Louis Macovsky, Dynamic BioSystems]

> This video throws into doubt the value of all those traffic signals...

Saves money on paint and labor to keep striping the roads too!  Even health
care costs will be reduced (I was amazed how some pedestrians avoided
getting hit),

.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ross Goeres" <[hidden email]>
To: <friam at redfish.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2006 5:34 AM
Subject: [FRIAM] Self-organized traffic flow

>
> A friend of mine passed this along:
>
> This video throws into doubt the value of all those traffic signals...
>
> http://youtube.com/watch?v=RjrEQaG5jPM
>
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
> http://mail.yahoo.com
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
>

[David Eric Smith]

Hi all,

> > This video throws into doubt the value of all those traffic signals...
>
> Saves money on paint and labor to keep striping the roads too!  Even health
> care costs will be reduced (I was amazed how some pedestrians avoided
> getting hit),
>
I assume this was partly a joke?  

This could be any number of streets in Delhi, or any of many other
large cities.  People get hit all the time.  In only about five car
rides, with government drivers (presumably among the more constrained)
we managed to hit one motorcyclist, and it was not uncommon to see
other such hits (motorcyclists are common, because they have no
credible threat against cars, and thus try to use speed and daring
instead, at least the former of which they don't have).  Such
accidents often don't lead to serious injury, because the traffic has
so many uncertainties it never reaches high speeds in situations like
this.  It's more like death by attrition.  The throughput is
interesting, but the commuter experience is horrendous, and it is hard
to see how drivers survive it.  

And of course mentioning health care costs, the smog is choking to the
point that street vendors have to continually beat if off their wares,
so you can tell what they are selling -- they go through the day with
towels and T-shirts whacking the smog off, between making sales.
Stop-start is what Diesel vehicles do least well, so the jump-brake
style of driving must be contributing a significant percentage to the
large-particle carbon exhaust.

On a lighter note, a place with even more graceful driving (more cars,
distances of feet between all corners of a car and cars around,
arguably a much finer degree of coordination, because most of the
drivers are professionals; a private citizen is considered a menace in
a car) is Manila.  Even slower than India, and even more remarkable
when you realize that this level of traffic coordination is being
achieved by drivers of stick shifts who are using one hand; the other
hand is sending and receiving text messages on cell phones.

I think this looks more like a collision of technology with culture
than a "solution".  A tour de force of human skill and
resourcefulness, but a waste of it too.

But, one could presumably show when lines on a road stop being
meaningful, the same way one can show the emergence of highway traffic
jams, as a function of crowding?

Eric

[Marko Rodriguez]

A simulations of a distributed algorithm for changing traffic lights.

http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~cgershen/sos/SOTL/SOTL.html

This is by Carlos Gershenson of the Free University of Brussels.

Marko.

On Wed, 2006-04-19 at 15:59 -0600, Eric Smith wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> > > This video throws into doubt the value of all those traffic signals...
> >
> > Saves money on paint and labor to keep striping the roads too!  Even health
> > care costs will be reduced (I was amazed how some pedestrians avoided
> > getting hit),
> >
> I assume this was partly a joke?  
>
> This could be any number of streets in Delhi, or any of many other
> large cities.  People get hit all the time.  In only about five car
> rides, with government drivers (presumably among the more constrained)
> we managed to hit one motorcyclist, and it was not uncommon to see
> other such hits (motorcyclists are common, because they have no
> credible threat against cars, and thus try to use speed and daring
> instead, at least the former of which they don't have).  Such
> accidents often don't lead to serious injury, because the traffic has
> so many uncertainties it never reaches high speeds in situations like
> this.  It's more like death by attrition.  The throughput is
> interesting, but the commuter experience is horrendous, and it is hard
> to see how drivers survive it.  
>
> And of course mentioning health care costs, the smog is choking to the
> point that street vendors have to continually beat if off their wares,
> so you can tell what they are selling -- they go through the day with
> towels and T-shirts whacking the smog off, between making sales.
> Stop-start is what Diesel vehicles do least well, so the jump-brake
> style of driving must be contributing a significant percentage to the
> large-particle carbon exhaust.
>
> On a lighter note, a place with even more graceful driving (more cars,
> distances of feet between all corners of a car and cars around,
> arguably a much finer degree of coordination, because most of the
> drivers are professionals; a private citizen is considered a menace in
> a car) is Manila.  Even slower than India, and even more remarkable
> when you realize that this level of traffic coordination is being
> achieved by drivers of stick shifts who are using one hand; the other
> hand is sending and receiving text messages on cell phones.
>
> I think this looks more like a collision of technology with culture
> than a "solution".  A tour de force of human skill and
> resourcefulness, but a waste of it too.
>
> But, one could presumably show when lines on a road stop being
> meaningful, the same way one can show the emergence of highway traffic
> jams, as a function of crowding?
>
> Eric
>
>
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

--
Marko A. Rodriguez
CCS-3 Modeling, Algorithms and Informatics
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Phone [phone]
Fax [phone]
http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~okram

[Louis Macovsky, Dynamic BioSystems]

Yes, I was a bit sarcastic.  However Eric's response suggests a question of
simulation: can someone of this group recommend a paper where an agent-based
model simulates the "emeregence" of rigid rules from lax rules to enforce or
create a new order and thereby creating a "stepped" response rather than a
smooth(ed) response (laws emerging out of apparent disorder creating a new
order or set of rules or system state)?

Lou

----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric Smith" <[hidden email]>
To: "The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group" <Friam at redfish.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2006 2:59 PM
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Self-organized traffic flow


> Hi all,
>
> > > This video throws into doubt the value of all those traffic signals...
> >
> > Saves money on paint and labor to keep striping the roads too!  Even
health

> > care costs will be reduced (I was amazed how some pedestrians avoided
> > getting hit),
> >
> I assume this was partly a joke?
>
> This could be any number of streets in Delhi, or any of many other
> large cities.  People get hit all the time.  In only about five car
> rides, with government drivers (presumably among the more constrained)
> we managed to hit one motorcyclist, and it was not uncommon to see
> other such hits (motorcyclists are common, because they have no
> credible threat against cars, and thus try to use speed and daring
> instead, at least the former of which they don't have).  Such
> accidents often don't lead to serious injury, because the traffic has
> so many uncertainties it never reaches high speeds in situations like
> this.  It's more like death by attrition.  The throughput is
> interesting, but the commuter experience is horrendous, and it is hard
> to see how drivers survive it.
>
> And of course mentioning health care costs, the smog is choking to the
> point that street vendors have to continually beat if off their wares,
> so you can tell what they are selling -- they go through the day with
> towels and T-shirts whacking the smog off, between making sales.
> Stop-start is what Diesel vehicles do least well, so the jump-brake
> style of driving must be contributing a significant percentage to the
> large-particle carbon exhaust.
>
> On a lighter note, a place with even more graceful driving (more cars,
> distances of feet between all corners of a car and cars around,
> arguably a much finer degree of coordination, because most of the
> drivers are professionals; a private citizen is considered a menace in
> a car) is Manila.  Even slower than India, and even more remarkable
> when you realize that this level of traffic coordination is being
> achieved by drivers of stick shifts who are using one hand; the other
> hand is sending and receiving text messages on cell phones.
>
> I think this looks more like a collision of technology with culture
> than a "solution".  A tour de force of human skill and
> resourcefulness, but a waste of it too.
>
> But, one could presumably show when lines on a road stop being
> meaningful, the same way one can show the emergence of highway traffic
> jams, as a function of crowding?
>
> Eric
>
>
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
>

[Jochen Fromm-3]

No, but I wonder if the famous "edge of chaos" has something
to do with the emergence of rigid rules from lax rules, see
http://www.vs.uni-kassel.de/systems/index.php/Edge_of_Chaos
Lax rules are similar to a liquid phase, rigid rules are
similar to a solid phase, and they are connected by
a critical point or a phase transition.

To speak in social terms, if only the interests of the
individual count (the liquid phase with lax rules), we get too
much chaos and anarchy, disorder and disorientation, and no
coherent structure or order can emerge. If only the interests of
the group matter (the solid phase with rigid rules), we got
too much order, stagnation and suppression. A suitable
compromise between the interests of the individual and
the interests of the group can therefore possibly be found
at the "edge of chaos".

Selfish agents and people will recognize the need
for conventions, rules, norms and laws (most) notably
if their personal interests are heavily violated.
People will cry for a law against theft or murder if
it happens to themselves, if their things are robbed
or relatives are murdered. They will appreciate culture
and long for justice and peace after times of trouble, after
"dark ages" with constant conflicts, battles and wars
(the "warring states period" in ancient China, the Middle
Ages in Europe, the Dark Ages in ancient Greece,
the "intermediate periods" in ancient Egypt). In other
words, conflicts, battles and wars will increase the threshold
of constraints and restrictions that people are willing to
accept.

Yet too much order, organization, and stagnation is just
as bad as too much chaos, terror, and anarchy. Too much
tyranny will increase the wish for freedom. The interests
of the individuals can be violated if there is too litte
order and organization (Hobbes' war of everyone against everyone)
or too much order (tyranny and bureaucracy). Rules, norms and
laws will evolve in an oscillating process at this "edge
of chaos" between too much chaos and too much  order, as a
compromise between the interests of the group and the
interests of the individual.

If we consider for example the transition from loosely
coupled tribes to the first cultures and states, we can not
observe a clear self-organization into more and more complexity.
People in the Bronze Age didn't sit together and said "we need
to create a society based on parliamentary democracy". What we
observe is first war, fight and terror. War of everybody
against everybody. After one has won, usually a kingship,
a tyranny or dictatorship is established. That's a transition
from chaos and anarchy to chiefdom and hierarchical order.
Because many people are not satisfied with tyranny or
dictatorship, eventually a revolution breaks free, chaos
prevails, and the same process starts all over again,
as we can observe for example in ancient Egypt with alternating
phases of chiefdoms (the old, middle and new kingdom) and
chaos (in the intermediate periods).

-J.

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf
Of Louis Macovsky, Dynamic BioSystems
Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2006 12:28 AM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Self-organized traffic flow

[...] Eric's response suggests a question of
simulation: can someone of this group recommend a paper where an agent-based
model simulates the "emeregence" of rigid rules from lax rules to enforce or
create a new order and thereby creating a "stepped" response rather than a
smooth(ed) response (laws emerging out of apparent disorder creating a new
order or set of rules or system state)?

Lou

[David Breecker]

Great analysis.  And there's a parallel historical track that's also
revealing:  early on in out social development, formal power initially
accrued to priests, thus forming the rudiments of social hierarchy and
structure (see "The Golden Bough" by James Frazier).

This was in response to the equally terrifying chaos of a world controlled
by gods over whom we (as individuals) had no power.  The priests' claims
that they could intercede on our behalf (and make the rain fall, etc.) won
the day.

Interestingly, I think we see both of these patterns (rules to protect us
from violence, and from existential angst) operating today.
db

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jochen Fromm" <[hidden email]>
To: "'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group'"
<Friam at redfish.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2006 3:00 AM
Subject: [FRIAM] Emergence of rules and evolution of laws

>
> No, but I wonder if the famous "edge of chaos" has something
> to do with the emergence of rigid rules from lax rules, see
> http://www.vs.uni-kassel.de/systems/index.php/Edge_of_Chaos
> Lax rules are similar to a liquid phase, rigid rules are
> similar to a solid phase, and they are connected by
> a critical point or a phase transition.
>
> To speak in social terms, if only the interests of the
> individual count (the liquid phase with lax rules), we get too
> much chaos and anarchy, disorder and disorientation, and no
> coherent structure or order can emerge. If only the interests of
> the group matter (the solid phase with rigid rules), we got
> too much order, stagnation and suppression. A suitable
> compromise between the interests of the individual and
> the interests of the group can therefore possibly be found
> at the "edge of chaos".
>
> Selfish agents and people will recognize the need
> for conventions, rules, norms and laws (most) notably
> if their personal interests are heavily violated.
> People will cry for a law against theft or murder if
> it happens to themselves, if their things are robbed
> or relatives are murdered. They will appreciate culture
> and long for justice and peace after times of trouble, after
> "dark ages" with constant conflicts, battles and wars
> (the "warring states period" in ancient China, the Middle
> Ages in Europe, the Dark Ages in ancient Greece,
> the "intermediate periods" in ancient Egypt). In other
> words, conflicts, battles and wars will increase the threshold
> of constraints and restrictions that people are willing to
> accept.
>
> Yet too much order, organization, and stagnation is just
> as bad as too much chaos, terror, and anarchy. Too much
> tyranny will increase the wish for freedom. The interests
> of the individuals can be violated if there is too litte
> order and organization (Hobbes' war of everyone against everyone)
> or too much order (tyranny and bureaucracy). Rules, norms and
> laws will evolve in an oscillating process at this "edge
> of chaos" between too much chaos and too much  order, as a
> compromise between the interests of the group and the
> interests of the individual.
>
> If we consider for example the transition from loosely
> coupled tribes to the first cultures and states, we can not
> observe a clear self-organization into more and more complexity.
> People in the Bronze Age didn't sit together and said "we need
> to create a society based on parliamentary democracy". What we
> observe is first war, fight and terror. War of everybody
> against everybody. After one has won, usually a kingship,
> a tyranny or dictatorship is established. That's a transition
> from chaos and anarchy to chiefdom and hierarchical order.
> Because many people are not satisfied with tyranny or
> dictatorship, eventually a revolution breaks free, chaos
> prevails, and the same process starts all over again,
> as we can observe for example in ancient Egypt with alternating
> phases of chiefdoms (the old, middle and new kingdom) and
> chaos (in the intermediate periods).
>
> -J.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Friam-bounces at redfish.com [mailto:Friam-bounces at redfish.com] On
> Behalf
> Of Louis Macovsky, Dynamic BioSystems
> Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2006 12:28 AM
> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Self-organized traffic flow
>
> [...] Eric's response suggests a question of
> simulation: can someone of this group recommend a paper where an
> agent-based
> model simulates the "emeregence" of rigid rules from lax rules to enforce
> or
> create a new order and thereby creating a "stepped" response rather than a
> smooth(ed) response (laws emerging out of apparent disorder creating a new
> order or set of rules or system state)?
>
> Lou
>
>
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
>