Complex Adaptive Systems

[Info-Mac]

Download: http://archive.info-mac.org/sci/complex ... ystems.hqx

These simulations explore a variety of complex adaptive systems.
Psychology, computer science, economics, biology, and neuroscience
depend upon a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that govern
adaptive systems. A common feature of these systems is that organized
behavior emerges from the interactions of many simple parts. Ants
organize to build colonies, neurons organize to produce adaptive human
behavior, and businesses organize to create economies. To address the
essential question of "What are the properties of complex adaptive
systems?," simulations case studies of several systems are explored:
chaotic growth in animal populations, human learning, cooperation and
competition within social groups, genetic algorithms, leaf formation in
pine cones, and the evolution of artificial life. The central idea
running through all of the simulations is that widely different systems
(businesses, ant colonies, brains) share fundamental commonalities.