Unified Theory

Posted by Jochen Fromm-3 on Jun 06, 2006; 10:18am
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/FW-SFI-Seminar-Complexity-Parallel-Computation-and-Statistical-Physics-tp521927p521941.html


Where is the difference between steps, "depth" and time,
if "the depth of a system" is simply defined in terms of the
number of parallel computational steps needed to simulate it ?
Depth seems to be just another word for (virtual) time.

Much more interesting is the question if there is a unified
theory for complex systems in terms of agents and multi-agent
systems. In psychology and sociology we have a patchwork of
theories, which arises from the complexity of the research object.
A complex system is often described by several theories and
multiple models, depending on the particular perspective. We
have the psychology of Sigmund Freud, of C.G. Jung, of Skinner,
of William James, etc. In sociology we have the sociology of
Durkheim, of Weber, of Luhmann, a few smaller theories like role
theory and "rational choice theory" and a lot of vague theories
like Giddens "theory of structuration".

These theories can be correlated to one another if we
place them in a grid or coordinate system with two axes:
* historical vs. regular behavior (exceptional vs. expected events)
* micro vs. macro behavior (low-level vs high-level patterns)

The behavior of a complex system depends neither solely on
individual events and accidents nor on universal laws.
Both sites play an important role, historical accidents (see
for example the principles "sensitivity to initial conditions",
butterfly effect, frozen accidents, path dependence) and
regular laws. Likewise, the behavior of complex systems
depends neither solely on individual microscopic actions nor
on macroscopic structures, institutions and organizations.
Both layers are important (see for example the principles emergence,
swarm intelligence, self-organization).

The most interesting behavior occurs in the center or at the
middle, if microscopic actions have a strong effect on macroscopic
behavior and vice versa, or if historical accidents become global
patterns. An ideal theory would combine both aspects, historical and
regular behavior, micro and macro behavior by defining universal
"laws of history" or "theories of emergence". Do you think it is
possible to discover or formulate such a unified theory? Or at
least a unifying principle, such as evolution in Biology ?
Probably evolution is again the unifying principle here..

-J.

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen Guerin
Sent: Monday, June 05, 2006 9:10 PM
To: friam at redfish.com
Subject: [FRIAM] FW: SFI Seminar: Complexity, Parallel Computation,and
Statistical Physics

Has anyone seen any papers on logical depth in the context of agent-based
modeling? I know we could talk about n agents * t steps * a rough
description of agent and environment complexity, but I was wondering if
anyone's done some more formal work...

-Steve