Dynamics of Complex Systems by Yaneer Bar-Yam

Posted by Jochen Fromm-3 on
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/Dynamics-of-Complex-Systems-by-Yaneer-Bar-Yam-tp522166p522193.html

 
Complexity is not "dead". Scientists have always
been interested in complex systems, and will always
be. Only the degree increases, the frontier is
shifting. And it is of course inherently difficult
to define complexity precisely (because something
is complex if you cannot describe it in a simple way),
or to grasp it clearly with a formalism.

The "new" sciences of complexity are nothing else
but the exploration of complex systems with computers.
Just as telescopes allow us to recognize large
scale structures, or microcopes and particle
accelerators allow us to resolve tiny structures,
computers allows us to investigate more complex
structures.

The best formalisms here are agents and cellular
automata. The exploration of both are only possible
with fast computers. As you know, the goal is
find simple models with complex results: agent based
models like "the (Iterated) Prisoner's Dilemma",
"the El Farol Model", "the Minority Game", the
"Flocking" or swarm model, the pheronmone (ant)
foraging model, etc.

These models and the different types and forms of
"emergence" play perhaps the rule of fundamental
equations in physics and the natural sciences.
Some of the better books IMHO are (list is not
comprehensive) for..

... Agent based Modelling
Joshua Epstein and Robert Axtell, "Growing Artificial Societies"
Nigel Gilbert and Klaus G. Troitzsch, "Simulation for the Social Scientist"
The MABS (Multi-Agent-Based Simulation) books from Springer's LNAI
Thomas Schelling, "Micromotives and Macrobehavior"
Robert Axelrod, "The Complexity of Cooperation"

... Cellular Automata
Stephen Wolfram, "A New Kind of Science"
Andrew Ilachinski, "Cellular Automata: A Discrete Universe"

-J.