** this Wednesday** Lecture May 31 12:30p - Carlos Gershenson: A General Methodology for Designing Self-Organizing Systems

[Stephen Guerin]

SPEAKER: Carlos Gershenson
Centrum Leo Apostel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

TITLE: A General Methodology for Designing Self-Organizing Systems

TIME: Wed May 31, 12:30p
LOCATION: 624 Agua Fria Conference Room

Lunch will be available for purchase

ABSTRACT: Our technologies complexify our environments. Thus, new
technologies need to deal with more and more complexity. Several efforts
have been made to deal with this complexity using the concept of
self-organization. However, in order to promote its use and understanding,
we must first have a pragmatic understanding of complexity and
self-organization. This paper presents a conceptual framework for speaking
about self-organizing systems. The aim is to provide a methodology useful
for designing and controlling systems developed to solve complex problems.
First, practical notions of complexity and self-organization are given.
Then, starting from the agent metaphor, a conceptual framework is
presented. This provides formal ways of speaking about "satisfaction" of
elements and systems.

The main premise of the methodology claims that reducing the "friction" or
"interference" of interactions between elements of a system will result in
a higher "satisfaction" of the system, i.e. better performance. The
methodology discusses different ways in which this can be achieved. A case
study on self-organizing traffic lights illustrates the ideas presented in
the paper.

Full paper: http://uk.arxiv.org/abs/nlin.AO/0505009

[Jochen Fromm-3]

 
Is a webcast or video broadcast available for this event ?
Or a Macromedia Flash file (.SWF) for all the FRIAMers which
can not be present physically ? I have heard you can create
Flash files with OpenOffice. Powerpoint slides would be OK, too.

-J.

[Phil Henshaw-2]

Neat, wish I could listen in.  Maybe someone could ask a question for
me.  "Do these methods address the response time limitations for human
responses to change?"


Phil Henshaw                       ????.?? ? `?.????
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
680 Ft. Washington Ave
NY NY 10040                      
tel: [phone]                
e-mail: pfh at synapse9.com          
explorations: www.synapse9.com    

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Friam-bounces at redfish.com
> [mailto:Friam-bounces at redfish.com] On Behalf Of Stephen Guerin
> Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 3:51 AM
> To: friam at redfish.com
> Subject: [FRIAM] ** this Wednesday** Lecture May 31 12:30p -
> Carlos Gershenson: A General Methodology for Designing
> Self-Organizing Systems
>
>
> SPEAKER: Carlos Gershenson
> Centrum Leo Apostel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
>
> TITLE: A General Methodology for Designing Self-Organizing Systems
>
> TIME: Wed May 31, 12:30p
> LOCATION: 624 Agua Fria Conference Room
>
> Lunch will be available for purchase
>
> ABSTRACT: Our technologies complexify our environments. Thus,
> new technologies need to deal with more and more complexity.
> Several efforts have been made to deal with this complexity
> using the concept of self-organization. However, in order to
> promote its use and understanding, we must first have a
> pragmatic understanding of complexity and self-organization.
> This paper presents a conceptual framework for speaking about
> self-organizing systems. The aim is to provide a methodology
> useful for designing and controlling systems developed to
> solve complex problems. First, practical notions of
> complexity and self-organization are given. Then, starting
> from the agent metaphor, a conceptual framework is presented.
> This provides formal ways of speaking about "satisfaction" of
> elements and systems.
>
> The main premise of the methodology claims that reducing the
> "friction" or "interference" of interactions between elements
> of a system will result in a higher "satisfaction" of the
> system, i.e. better performance. The methodology discusses
> different ways in which this can be achieved. A case study on
> self-organizing traffic lights illustrates the ideas
> presented in the paper.
>
> Full paper: http://uk.arxiv.org/abs/nlin.AO/0505009
>
>
> ============================================================
> 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
>
>

[Stephen Guerin]

Jochen,

We'll record Carlos's talk and post to friam.org.

-S

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jochen Fromm [mailto:fromm at vs.uni-kassel.de]
> Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 2:55 AM
> To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group'
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] ** this Wednesday** Lecture May 31
> 12:30p - CarlosGershenson: A General Methodology for
> DesigningSelf-Organizing Systems
>
>  
> Is a webcast or video broadcast available for this event ?
> Or a Macromedia Flash file (.SWF) for all the FRIAMers which
> can not be present physically ? I have heard you can create
> Flash files with OpenOffice. Powerpoint slides would be OK, too.
>
> -J.
>
>
> ============================================================
> 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
>
>

[Carlos Gershenson]

Hi Phil,

> "Do these methods address the response time limitations for human
> responses to change?"

The answer is yes. Self-organizing systems are precisely useful for  
that, since elements of the system try to find solutions to a problem  
by themselves, without human intervention, so they help reduce human-
induced delays. If there's a change in the environment, the elements  
reconfigure to find the solution for the current situation.

Best regards,

     Carlos Gershenson...
     Centrum Leo Apostel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
     Krijgskundestraat 33. B-1160 Brussels, Belgium
     http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~cgershen/

   ?Tendencies tend to change...?

[Phil Henshaw-2]

Well, yes, that's the advantage of creative homeostatic systems like the
global economy.   The question, though, is whether pushing such a system
to grow exponentially toward critical response time failure is dangerous
or not.   I think homeostasis is quite dangerous in collapse, and it
could  easily precipitate a systemic failure in which virtually all
systems fail at once.   Historically the world system has been kind of
loose and with system instability we suffered a bit, changed our model
and kept on growing.   The question that tests our practical knowledge
of nature is whether we can do that indefinitely.  I think we have not
yet looked to see what growth is for in nature, just assumed it was some
kind of divine right or something, and that our remarkable ignorance is
hiding big surprises.

I do systems design too, designs for government competence,
self-correcting health care, etc.  There's most certainly a need.   Are
your models designs for adaptive business systems or something?


Phil Henshaw                       ????.?? ? `?.????
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
680 Ft. Washington Ave
NY NY 10040                      
tel: [phone]                
e-mail: pfh at synapse9.com          
explorations: www.synapse9.com    

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Carlos Gershenson [mailto:cgershen at gmail.com] On Behalf
> Of Carlos Gershenson
> Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2006 8:19 PM
> To: sy at synapse9.com; The Friday Morning Applied Complexity
> Coffee Group
> Cc: stephen.guerin at redfish.com
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] ** this Wednesday** Lecture May 31
> 12:30p - Carlos Gershenson: A General Methodology for
> Designing Self-Organizing Systems
>
>
> Hi Phil,
>
> > "Do these methods address the response time limitations for human
> > responses to change?"
>
> The answer is yes. Self-organizing systems are precisely useful for  
> that, since elements of the system try to find solutions to a
> problem  
> by themselves, without human intervention, so they help reduce human-
> induced delays. If there's a change in the environment, the elements  
> reconfigure to find the solution for the current situation.
>
> Best regards,
>
>      Carlos Gershenson...
>      Centrum Leo Apostel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
>      Krijgskundestraat 33. B-1160 Brussels, Belgium
>      http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~cgershen/
>
>    ?Tendencies tend to change...?
>
>
>