Showing papers on "Complex adaptive system published in 1996"

Sustainability: A Systems Approach

Abstract: * Introduction * General Systems Theory * Complex Adaptive SysteMs. Environmental Factors * Ecosystem Economics * Integrating Economic and Environmental Factors * Economic Policy Instruments * Discounting and Investment * The Levels of Sustainability * Financing the Transition to Sustainability * Economic Development and the Environment * Sociocultural Factors * A Systems Approach to Managing Sustainability * Assessing Sustainability * Conclusions and Recommendations

Catching Ourselves in the Act: Situated Activity, Interactive Emergence, Evolution, and Human Thought

Abstract: From the Publisher: "Catching Ourselves in the Act is no less than an attempt to explain intelligence. Delightful how the author dismantles traditional views in psychology, artificial intelligence, ethology, and philosophy. But he goes beyond criticism by providing alternative explanations, drawing on recent work in situated robotics. A masterpiece in combining detailed analysis with grand theorizing. A must for any cognitive scientist." -- Rolf Pfeifer, AI Laboratory, Computer Science Department, University of Zurich Catching Ourselves in the Act uses situated robotics, ethology, and developmental psychology to erect a new framework for explaining human behavior. Rejecting the cognitive science orthodoxy that formal task-descriptions and their implementation are fundamental to an explanation of mind, Horst Hendriks-Jansen argues for an alternative model based on the notion of interactive emergence. Situated activity and interactive emergence are concepts that derive from the new discipline of autonomous agent research. Hendriks-Jansen puts these notions on a firm philosophical basis and uses them to anchor a "genetic" or "historical" explanation of mental phenomena in species-typical activity patterns that have been selected by a cultural environment of artifacts, language, and intentional scaffolding by adults. Situated robotics, allied with techniques and principles from ethology, allows the testing of hypotheses framed in terms of natural kinds that can be grounded through the theory of natural selection. This approach negotiates the "nature versus nurture" dispute in a radically new way. Catching Ourselves in the Act provides a thorough overview of autonomous agent research in America and Europe, focusing in particular on work by such eminent researchers as Rodney Brooks, Pattie Maes, Maja Mataric, and Rolf Pfeifer. It reassesses the basic principles of artificial life and explores the repercussions of autonomous agent research for human psychology and the philosophy of mind, as well as its affinities with the "contextual revolution" in sociology and anthropology. A Bradford Book. Complex Adaptive Systems

Artificial Life V: Proceedings of the Fifth International Workshop on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems May 16-18, 1996, Nara,

Abstract: From the Publisher: May 16-18, 1996 · Nara, Japan Despite all the successes in computer engineering, adaptive computation, bottom-up AI, and robotics, Artificial Life must not become simply a one-way bridge, borrowing biological principles to enhance our engineering efforts in the construction of life-as-it-could-be. We must ensure that we give back to biology in kind, by developing tools and methods that will be of real value in the effort to understand life-as-it-is. Artificial Life V marks a decade since Christopher Langton organized the first workshop on artificial life -- a decade characterized by the exploration of new possibilities and techniques as researchers have sought to understand, through synthetic experiments, the organizing principles underlying the dynamics (usually the nonlinear dynamics) of living systems. In addition to presenting the latest work in the field, Artificial Life V includes a retrospective and prospective look at both artificial and natural life with the aim of refining the methods and approaches discovered so far into viable, practical tools for the pursuit of science and engineering goals. Complex Adaptive Systems series

Land Warfare and Complexity, Part I: Mathematical Background and Technical Sourcebook

Abstract: : The purpose of this paper is to provide the theoretical framework and mathematical background necessary to understand and discuss the various ideas of nonlinear dynamics and complex system theory to plant seeds for a later more detailed discussion (provided in Part II of this report) of how these ideas might apply to land warfare issues. This paper is also intended to be a general technical sourcebook of information. The main idea put forth in this paper is that significant new insights into the fundamental processes of land warfare can be obtained by viewing land warfare as a complex adaptive system. That is to say, by viewing a military "conflict" as a nonlinear dynamical system composed of many interacting semi-autonomous and hierarchically organized agents continuously adapting to a changing environment.

Complexity Theory as a Paradigm for the Dynamical Law-and-Society System: A Wake-up Call for Legal Reductionism and the Modern Administrative State

Abstract: This article is the first in my series of articles exploring the application of complex adaptive systems (CAS) theory to legal systems. It builds the basic model of CAS and maps it onto legal systems, offering some suggestions for what it means in terms of legal institution and instrument design.

Land Warfare and Complexity, Part II: An Assessment of the Applicability of Nonlinear Dynamics and Complex Systems Theory to the Study of Land Warfare

Abstract: : The Commanding General, Marine Corps Combat Development Command (MCCDC) asked the Center for Naval Analyses to assess the general applicability of the new science to land warfare. "New Sciences" is a catch-all phrase that refers to the tools and methodologies used in nonlinear dynamics and complex systems theory to study physical dynamical systems exhibiting a "complicated dynamics." This report concludes that the concepts, ideas, theories, tools and general methodologies of nonlinear dynamics and complex systems theory show enormous, almost unlimited, potential for not just providing better solutions for certain existing problems of land combat, but for fundamentally altering our general understanding of the basic processes of war, at all levels. Indeed, the new sciences' greatest legacy may, in the end, prove to be not just a set of creative answers to old questions but and entirely new set of questions to be asked of what really happens on the battlefield The central thesis of this paper is that land combat is a complex adaptive system. That is to say, that land combat is essentially a nonlinear dynamical system composed of many interacting semi-autonomous and hierarchically organized agents continuously adapting to a changing environment.

The Fitness of Law: Using Complexity Theory to Describe the Evolution of Law and Society and Its Practical Meaning for Democracy

Abstract: This article is the second in my series of articles exploring the application of complex adaptive systems (CAS) theory to legal systems. Building on the model outlined in the first installment (in the Duke Law Journal), this work develops an evolutionary theory of legal systems as CAS. It suggests that long-term fitness of the legal system will require use of innovative, adaptive legal institutions and instruments.

Modeling and Supporting Task-Oriented Group Processes: Purposeful Complex Adaptive Systems and Evolutionary Systems Design

Abstract: Evolutionary Systems Design (ESD) is a universal general problem solving, formal modeling, design framework for purposeful complex adaptive systems (PCAS) and processes, i.e., task-oriented group processes. These processes constitute policy making, group decision, negotiation, and multiagent problem solving with human and/or artificial agents. ESD is also a framework for computer group support systems (GSS) that support these processes. The ESD general framework can be applied to define and solve specific problems. In this article the ESD framework is presented and illustrated by example. The article provides background for ESD computer implementations discussed in two other related articles (Lewis and Shakun 1996; Bui and Shakun 1996).

Symbionticism and Complex Adaptive Systems I: Implications of Having Symbiosis Occur in Nature.

Abstract: Over the past several years, there has been an increasing interest in the biological phenomena of symbiosis by those in complex adaptive systems and evolutionary computation. We describe in this paper some of the caveats involved in modeling or using biological symbiosis as a computational metaphor. We specifically consider some of the common philosophical viewpoints on symbiosis and comment on the appropriateness of these viewpoints for use in complex adaptive systems and evolutionary computation.

CAFE/spl acute/: a Complex Adaptive Financial Environment

Abstract: Describes the Complex Adaptive Financial Environment (CAFE/spl acute/), a simulator for complex adaptive systems implemented in Java. CAFE/spl acute/'s object-oriented design makes it suitable for many types of simulation. We give an example of a market simulation where food is traded for gold and explore the effects of adding several kinds of speculators to the system. This paper describes the software structure and design of CAFE/spl acute/, building upon the object-oriented and distributed features of the Java programming language. Although the primary application for this system is in the computational finance area, we envision a much more general usage.

An initial exploration of the relevance of complexity theory to group research and practice

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to describe some findings from an ongoing investigation of naturally occurring groups and to discuss them utilizing concepts from complexity theory. The paper proposes that groups meet the criteria outlined by complexity theorists for designation as complex adaptive systems. Research evidence from an ongoing investigation of group dynamics and development is provided to support this conclusion. The paper concludes that integrating concepts from complexity theory and group development theory provides a different way of thinking about groups, group research, and group consultation and intervention.

The emergence of entrepreneurship in eastern europe: a self‐organizing perspective

Abstract: This paper looks at some of the difficulties that may inhibit the spread of entrepreneurial systems in the former Communist Bloc nations of Eastern Europe. The lack of a generally accepted model of entrepreneurship, even among Western academics and practitioners, is noted. Finally, a framework based on the idea of complex adaptive systems is suggested that might provide some guidance for building entrepreneurship in these emerging nations.

The root ideas in dealing with change.

Abstract: Is there a prototype for dealing with change, a fixed and reliable strategy? Although the answer to this question is no, there are certain fundamental ideas that can help us think about our situations. These ideas come from a wide variety of sources, including: theories dealing with chaos and complexity; systems thinking and complex adaptive systems theory; family dynamics, and organizational development. None of these are simple ideas, easily implemented to make us masters of change. But we have to start somewhere, and the best place might well be a quick discussion of some of these fundamental ideas,

A Complex Dragon in a Chaotic Sea: New Science for USMC Information Age Decisionmakers.

Abstract: : This paper explores the applicability of the 'new sciences' of nonlinear dynamics, deterministic chaos, and complex adaptive systems to the analysis and design of military decisionmaking processes for the information age. It begins with a review of Newtonian scientific concepts that created a worldview of system behavior still dominant today. The emergence and tenets of the new sciences are then developed with emphasis on nonlinear systems and their unique characteristics. A model of the military decisionmaking process associated with military command and control is then presented in terms of an information feedback system. This model shows the nonlinearity of such systems and the impact of their chaotic and complex attributes. Finally, the United States Marine Corps' information age concept of advanced warfighting, 'Sea Dragon,' proves well suited for a decisionmaking process designed with new science principles in mind.

Warfare as a complex adaptive system

Abstract: Nations have traditionally made war the way they make wealth. Throughout history, technology has played a key role in warfare and significantly impacted the way nations think about, plan and execute war. Examining the issues of precision strike and modern warfare in the information age we begin to understand that precision alone is not enough. Taking war a piece at a time is no longer adequate. If the warfighter is to truly understand the battlespace in the fast moving and dynamic environment that future warfare promises to be, then we must change our thinking. We must begin to look at warfare as a complex adaptive system. The new science of chaos offers insight and possibility. This paper gives a brief historic overview of warfare and cites key technological and scientific developments. We examine the impact of precision on the modern battlefield with its accompanying moral and financial implications. It looks at these developments in the context of warfare as a complex adaptive system and discuss the potential impact of chaos theory on future war as we go beyond information warfare.