Complexity Digest 2009.16

2009/07/31

Editor-in-Chief: Carlos Gershenson
Founding Editor: Gottfried Mayer

For individual e-mail subscriptions go to Subscriptions.
Previous issue 2009.15 | Next issue 2009.17

Content

  1. Connections, Science
    1. Scale-Free Networks: A Decade and Beyond, Science
    2. Revisiting the Foundations of Network Analysis, Science
  2. Disentangling the Web of Life, Science
    1. A General Framework for Analyzing Sustainability of Social-Ecological Systems, Science
  3. Economic Networks: The New Challenges, Science
    1. Predicting the Behavior of Techno-Social Systems, Science
    2. Managing Complexity in Socio-Economic Systems, European Review
  4. Multiscale mobility networks and the large scale spreading of infectious diseases, arXiv
    1. Common group dynamic drives modern epidemics across social, financial and biological domains, arXiv
    2. 2009 Swine-Origin Influenza A (H1N1) Resembles Previous Influenza Isolates, PLoS ONE
  5. Kary Mullis' next-gen cure for killer infections, TED.com
    1. Gordon Brown: Wiring a web for global good, TED.com
    2. Inspiring non-scientists, Nature
  6. Interactions Between Social and Biological Thinking: The Case of Lamarck, Perspectives on Science
  7. Symmetry at the Foundation of Science and Nature, Symmetry
  8. Towards a Better Understanding of Diversity, Diversity
  9. Reflecting the impossible, Nature
  10. Identification of a Topological Characteristic Responsible for the Biological Robustness of Regulatory Networks, PLoS Comput Biol
    1. Emergent Network Structure, Evolvable Robustness, And Nonlinear Effects Of Point Mutations In An Artificial Genome Model, Advances in Complex Systems (ACS)
  11. Observational and Model Evidence for Positive Low-Level Cloud Feedback, Science
    1. A viscosity-enhanced mechanism for biogenic ocean mixing, Nature
    2. How to Cope with Climate's Complexity?, European Review
  12. A Quest for Cosmic Karma, Science
  13. Why 'there's never just one', Nature
  14. Physics and Five Problems in the Philosophy of Mind, Arxiv
  15. Can We Reinvent the Internet?, Science
  16. Cooperative behaviour in complex systems, Arxiv (PhD thesis)
    1. Looking For Evidence Of Differentiation And Cooperation: Natural Measures For The Study Of Evolution Of Multicellularity, Advances in Complex Systems (ACS)
  17. Wind power: High hopes, Nature
  18. On filamental cellular automata, arXiv
    1. Dragon-Kings, Black Swans and the Prediction of Crises, Arxiv
  19. Book Announcements
    1. The Scientific Way of Warfare: Order and Chaos on the Battlefields of Modernity, Columbia University Press
    2. Freaks of Nature: What Anomalies Tell Us About Development and Evolution, Oxford University Press
    3. Seasons of Life: The Biological Rhythms That Enable Living Things to Thrive and Survive, Yale University Press
    4. The Buzz about Bees: Biology of a Superorganism, Springer
    5. The Art of Strategy: A Game Theorist's Guide to Success in Business and Life, W.W. Norton & Co.
    6. RANDOMNICITY: Rules and Randomness in the Realm of the Infinite, Imperial College Press
    7. The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self, Basic Books
    8. Wave Rider: Leadership for High Performance in a Self-Organizing World, Berrett-Koehler Publishers
    9. Long-Range Futures Research: An Application of Complexity Science, BookSurge Publishing
  20. Links & Snippets
    1. Other Publications
    2. Conference Announcements
    3. Webcast Announcements
    4. Other Announcements

  1. Connections, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. ...
    Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
    â€"Martin Luther King Jr.

    From chaos comes complexity. From the movement of molecules within our cells to communication across an entire planet, we are part of networks. This special section shows how scientists are pushing network analysis to its limits across disciplinary fields.

    1. Scale-Free Networks: A Decade and Beyond, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: For decades, we tacitly assumed that the components of such complex systems as the cell, the society, or the Internet are randomly wired together. In the past decade, an avalanche of research has shown that many real networks, independent of their age, function, and scope, converge to similar architectures, a universality that allowed researchers from different disciplines to embrace network theory as a common paradigm. The decade-old discovery of scale-free networks was one of those events that had helped catalyze the emergence of network science, a new research field with its distinct set of challenges and accomplishments.

    2. Revisiting the Foundations of Network Analysis, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: Network analysis has emerged as a powerful way of studying phenomena as diverse as interpersonal interaction, connections among neurons, and the structure of the Internet. Appropriate use of network analysis depends, however, on choosing the right network representation for the problem at hand.

  2. Disentangling the Web of Life, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Biodiversity research typically focuses on species richness and has often neglected interactions, either by assuming that such interactions are homogeneously distributed or by addressing only the interactions between a pair of species or a few species at a time. In contrast, a network approach provides a powerful representation of the ecological interactions among species and highlights their global interdependence. Understanding how the responses of pairwise interactions scale to entire assemblages remains one of the great challenges that must be met as society faces global ecosystem change.

    1. A General Framework for Analyzing Sustainability of Social-Ecological Systems, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: A major problem worldwide is the potential loss of fisheries, forests, and water resources. Understanding of the processes that lead to improvements in or deterioration of natural resources is limited, because scientific disciplines use different concepts and languages to describe and explain complex social-ecological systems (SESs). (...) A general framework is used to identify 10 subsystem variables that affect the likelihood of self-organization in efforts to achieve a sustainable SES.

  3. Economic Networks: The New Challenges, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: The current economic crisis illustrates a critical need for new and fundamental understanding of the structure and dynamics of economic networks. Economic systems are increasingly built on interdependencies, implemented through trans-national credit and investment networks, trade relations, or supply chains that have proven difficult to predict and control. We need, therefore, an approach that stresses the systemic complexity of economic networks and that can be used to revise and extend established paradigms in economic theory. This will facilitate the design of policies that reduce conflicts between individual interests and global efficiency, as well as reduce the risk of global failure by making economic networks more robust.
    • Source: Economic Networks: The New Challenges, Frank Schweitzer, Giorgio Fagiolo, Didier Sornette, Fernando Vega-Redondo, Alessandro Vespignani, Douglas R. White, DOI: 10.1126/science.1173644, Science Vol. 325. no. 5939, pp. 422 - 425, 2009/07/24

    1. Predicting the Behavior of Techno-Social Systems, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: We live in an increasingly interconnected world of techno-social systems, in which infrastructures composed of different technological layers are interoperating within the social component that drives their use and development. Examples are provided by the Internet, the World Wide Web, WiFi communication technologies, and transportation and mobility infrastructures. The multiscale nature and complexity of these networks are crucial features in understanding and managing the networks. The accessibility of new data and the advances in the theory and modeling of complex networks are providing an integrated framework that brings us closer to achieving true predictive power of the behavior of techno-social systems.

    2. Managing Complexity in Socio-Economic Systems, European Review Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: This contribution summarizes some typical features of complex systems such as non-linear interactions, chaotic dynamics, the butterfly effect, phase transitions, self-organized criticality, cascading effects, and power laws. These imply sometimes quite unexpected, counter-intuitive, or even paradoxical behaviors of socio-economic systems. A typical example is the faster-is-slower effect. Due to their tendency of self-organization, complex systems are often hard to control. Instead of trying to control their behavior, it would often be better to pursue the approach of guided self-organization, i.e. to use the driving forces of the system rather than to fight against them.

  4. Multiscale mobility networks and the large scale spreading of infectious diseases, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: Among the realistic ingredients to be considered in the computational modeling of infectious diseases, human mobility represents a crucial challenge both on the theoretical side and in view of the limited availability of empirical data. In order to study the interplay between small-scale commuting flows and long-range airline traffic in shaping the spatio-temporal pattern of a global epidemic we i) analyze mobility data from 29 countries around the world and find a gravity model able to provide a global description of commuting patterns up to 300 kms; ii) integrate in a worldwide structured metapopulation epidemic model a time-scale separation technique for evaluating the force of infection due to multiscale mobility processes in the disease dynamics.

    1. Common group dynamic drives modern epidemics across social, financial and biological domains, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: We show that qualitatively different epidemic-like processes from distinct societal domains (finance, social and commercial blockbusters, epidemiology) can be quantitatively understood using the same unifying conceptual framework taking into account the interplay between the timescales of the grouping and fragmentation of social groups together with typical epidemic transmission processes. (...) Our results reveal a new minimally-invasive dynamical method for controlling such outbreaks, help fill a gap in existing epidemiological theory, and offer a new understanding of complex system response functions.

    2. 2009 Swine-Origin Influenza A (H1N1) Resembles Previous Influenza Isolates, PLoS ONE Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: [...] We conducted a comprehensive computational search of all available sequences of the surface proteins of H1N1 swine influenza isolates and found that a similar strain to S-OIV appeared in Thailand in 2000. The earlier isolates caused infections in pigs but only one sequenced human case, A/Thailand/271/2005 (H1N1). [...] Differences between the Thai cases and S-OIV may help shed light on the ability of the current outbreak strain to spread rapidly among humans.

  5. Kary Mullis' next-gen cure for killer infections, TED.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

    About this talk: Drug-resistant bacteria kills, even in top hospitals. But now tough infections like staph and anthrax may be in for a surprise. Nobel-winning chemist Kary Mullis, who watched a friend die when powerful antibiotics failed, unveils a radical new cure that shows extraordinary promise.

    1. Gordon Brown: Wiring a web for global good, TED.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

      About this talk: We're at a unique moment in history, says UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown: we can use today's interconnectedness to develop our shared global ethic -- and work together to confront the challenges of poverty, security, climate change and the economy.

    2. Inspiring non-scientists, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: A conference that charges ÂŁ4,500 (US$7,440) to attendees, attracts sponsorship from the likes of Nokia and GE, and stuffs 600 participants into a stiflingly hot Oxford theatre (as happened last week) had better deliver. And if what you want is to find yourself in intelligent and engaging company, to be addressed comprehensibly by achievers about their ideas across a diverse range of interests, if you have the money, and if the organizers think you're interesting enough to attend, TED conferences do indeed deliver. (...) Scientists wishing to inspire non-scientists should look at a few of these talks online and learn a thing or two.

  6. Interactions Between Social and Biological Thinking: The Case of Lamarck, Perspectives on Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Lamarck's perspective on change within the organic world, in particular his conception of “la marche de la nature,” (‘transformism’, ‘evolution’), crystallized during the last decade of the 18th century and the early years of the 19th. I argue that it should be viewed as resulting in part from interactions with, and transfers from, the social thoughtâ€"modes of thinking, ways of conceptualizing, models, metaphors and analogiesâ€"of the decades before the French revolution and of the revolutionary decade itself. Moreover, Lamarck's involvement with the new institutional frameworks initiated during the revolutionary period had brought him into direct contacts with the then prevalent modes of discourse on things social.

  7. Symmetry at the Foundation of Science and Nature, Symmetry Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Science rests firmly on the foundation of symmetry. By means of science, we view Nature through symmetry spectacles and understand nature in the language of symmetry. Symmetry manifests itself at the foundation of science in (at least) seven forms. These are: (1) reproducibility, (2) predictability, (3) reduction, (4) symmetry of evolution, (5) symmetry of states, (6) gauge symmetry and (7) symmetry at the foundation of quantum theory.Science would not be science without reproducibility and predictability, and science has very successfully operated by reduction (although holistic considerations are becoming more and more necessary).

  8. Towards a Better Understanding of Diversity, Diversity Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: When we look at Planet Earth, its material and organisms, a prominent feature is the diversity of these components and the mechanisms underlying their functions. Biodiversity, which includes the diversity of the living organisms, their genes and the biomes, is a fascinating product of millions of years of evolution. Biodiversity is not static but in continuous change. In addition to the intrinsic natural causes, the biodiversity on Earth is increasingly challenged by human interference. The exact impact of human interference on the Earth�s diversity may not be realised until it is too late to save critical species.

  9. Reflecting the impossible, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt:
    M. C. ESCHER'S CIRCLE LIMIT IV Š 2009 THE M. C. ESCHER CO., THE NETHERLANDS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. HTTP://WWW.MCESCHER.COM
    Two artists embody the saying that mathematics and art are so far apart they are practically neighbours â€" Leonardo da Vinci (1452â€"1519) and Maurits Cornelius Escher (1898â€"1972). Whereas Da Vinci searched for the possible, generating functional designs such as his flying machines, Escher searched for the impossible, creating images by distorting nature's rules. Escher's techniques are explored in the retrospective exhibition Virtual Worlds: M. C. Escher and Paradox, now showing at the Portland Art Museum in Oregon.

  10. Identification of a Topological Characteristic Responsible for the Biological Robustness of Regulatory Networks, PLoS Comput Biol Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: Attribution of biological robustness to the specific structural properties of a regulatory network is an important yet unsolved problem in systems biology. It is widely believed that the topological characteristics of a biological control network largely determine its dynamic behavior, yet the actual mechanism is still poorly understood. Here, we define a novel structural feature of biological networks, termed ‘regulation entropy’, to quantitatively assess the influence of network topology on the robustness of the systems.

    1. Emergent Network Structure, Evolvable Robustness, And Nonlinear Effects Of Point Mutations In An Artificial Genome Model, Advances in Complex Systems (ACS) Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: Genetic regulation is a key component in development, but a clear understanding of the structure and dynamics of genetic networks is not yet at hand. We investigate these properties within an artificial genome model. We analyze statistical properties of randomly generated genomes both on the sequence and network level, and show that this model correctly predicts the frequency of genes in genomes as found in experimental data. Using an evolutionary algorithm based on stabilizing selection for a phenotype, we show that dynamical robustness against single base-mutations, as against random changes in initial states of regulatory dynamics, can emerge in parallel.

  11. Observational and Model Evidence for Positive Low-Level Cloud Feedback, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: Feedbacks involving low-level clouds remain a primary cause of uncertainty in global climate model projections. This issue was addressed by examining changes in low-level clouds over the Northeast Pacific in observations and climate models. Decadal fluctuations were identified in multiple, independent cloud data sets, and changes in cloud cover appeared to be linked to changes in both local temperature structure and large-scale circulation. This observational analysis further indicated that clouds act as a positive feedback in this region on decadal time scales.

    1. A viscosity-enhanced mechanism for biogenic ocean mixing, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Summary: Sir Charles Darwin, grandson of the famous evolutionary pioneer, was a physicist who suggested that swimming animals might contribute significantly to the mixing of water in the ocean. Here, observations of swimming jellyfish are used to create and validate a theoretical model for the relative contributions of Darwinian mixing and turbulent wake mixing. The contribution of living organisms to ocean mixing is found to be substantial â€" in the same order of magnitude as winds and tides.

    2. How to Cope with Climate's Complexity?, European Review Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: Climate exhibits a vast range of dissipative structures. Some have characteristic times of a few days; others evolve over thousands of years. All these structures are interdependent; in other words, they communicate. It is often considered that the only way to cope with climate complexity is to integrate the equations of atmospheric and oceanic motion with the finest possible mesh. Is this the sole strategy? The strategy proposed here is based on Bayesian statistics and low-order non-linear dynamical systems, in a modelling approach that explicitly includes the effects of uncertainties.
      • Source: How to Cope with Climate's Complexity?, Michel Crucifix, DOI: 10.1017/S106279870900074X, European Review, vol. 17, issue 02, pages 371-402, 2009/07/15
      • Contributed by Anton Joha - antonjohaagmail.com

  12. A Quest for Cosmic Karma, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: In an active galactic nucleus (AGN), a black hole shoots out two opposing jets of particles at nearly the speed of light. The shock from the jets drives gas away from the black hole, forming gigantic bubbles that send sound waves rippling through the galaxy's surroundings for millions of years. The process heats the gas farther out, preventing it from cooling and collapsing to form new stars. It also stops more gas from falling into the black hole, which stops gaining mass and gravitational muscle. Both its growth and the growth of the galaxy come to a halt. (...) AGN feedback is pivotal to understanding how galaxies evolve. It also appears to answer in one stroke two fundamental questions that have plagued researchers: Why are the masses of most galaxies so tightly connected to the masses of the enormous black holes at their centers? And why are very large and very small galaxies so much rarer than theory says they should be?
    • Source: A Quest for Cosmic Karma, Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, DOI: 10.1126/science.325_532, Science Vol. 325. no. 5940, pp. 532 - 533, 2009/07/31

  13. Why 'there's never just one', Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: Even cockroaches develop psychological problems if they are denied a normal social life. Animals reared in solitude are less likely to explore new environments or search for food, are more timid when approaching other cockroaches and are less able to spot the signs of a good mate.
    See Also: Behav. Process. 82, 81â€"84 (2009)

  14. Physics and Five Problems in the Philosophy of Mind, Arxiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Since Descartes' dualism, with his res extensa and res cogitans, six fundamental problems in the philosophy and natural history of mind are these: 1. how does mind act on matter? 2. If mind does not act on matter is mind a mere epiphenomenon? 3. What might be the source of free will? 4. What might be the source of a responsible free will? 5. Why might it have been selectively advantageous to evolve consciousness? 6. What is consciousness? I approach the first five of the above six problems based on two physical postulates. (...)

  15. Can We Reinvent the Internet?, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: Connectedness of the current Internet constrains the ability of software coders to innovate and to build the code we need: messaging that is more resistant to spam, code to enable innovative controls of the personal information we share through social networking sites like Facebook, and measures to take open online collaboration to the next level, or to help us focus and tackle our society's most pressing problems. To enable innovations, especially nonincremental, discontinuous, and radical onesâ€"which are needed, among other things, to launch successfully the next-generation Internetâ€"may require unique policy intervention: reducing the social ties that link its coders.
    • Source: Can We Reinvent the Internet?, Viktor Mayer-SchĂśnberger, DOI: 10.1126/science.1178418, Science Vol. 325. no. 5939, pp. 396 - 397, 2009/07/24

  16. Cooperative behaviour in complex systems, Arxiv (PhD thesis) Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: In my PhD thesis I studied cooperative phenomena arise in complex systems using the methods of statistical and computational physics. The aim of my work was also to study the critical behaviour of interacting many-body systems during their phase transitions and describe their universal features analytically and by means of numerical calculations. In order to do so I completed studies in four different subjects. (...)

    1. Looking For Evidence Of Differentiation And Cooperation: Natural Measures For The Study Of Evolution Of Multicellularity, Advances in Complex Systems (ACS) Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: The understanding of the evolutionary transitions is a major area of research in artificial life and in biology. We follow an artificial life approach to investigate these phenomena, in order to look for evidence of emerging differentiation and multicellular cooperation in colonies of individual cells. We introduce and apply new measures for assessing the impact of multicellular interaction on individual reproduction and on lifespan. The conclusion of these studies shows that the colony with the ability to communicate shows, with the help of our new measures, behaviors that hint at the emergence of early cooperation.

  17. Wind power: High hopes, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: For at least a century, engineers have dreamed of pulling electricity from high in the atmosphere. However, only recently have lightweight materials and computer guidance systems emerged that make the idea feasible. In the past five years, what was once seen as a crackpot scheme has entered the early stages of a research-and-development race that is attracting tens of millions of dollars from major private backers such as Google.

  18. On filamental cellular automata, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Motivated by questions in nanotechnology, biology and distributed computing, we investigate the behaviour of particular cellular automata, modelled as one-dimensional arrays of identical finite automata. We investigate what sort of self-stabilising cooperative behaviour these can induce in terms of waves of cellular state changes along a filament of cells. We discover what the minimum requirements are, in terms of numbers of states and the range of communication between automata, to observe this for individual filaments. We also discover that populations of growing filaments may have useful features that the individual filament does not have, and we give the results of numerical simulations.

    1. Dragon-Kings, Black Swans and the Prediction of Crises, Arxiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: We develop the concept of ``dragon-kings'' corresponding to meaningful outliers, which are found to coexist with power laws in the distributions of event sizes under a broad range of conditions in a large variety of systems. These dragon-kings reveal the existence of mechanisms of self-organization that are not apparent otherwise from the distribution of their smaller siblings. We present a generic phase diagram to explain the generation of dragon-kings and document their presence in six different examples. (...)

  19. Book Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. The Scientific Way of Warfare: Order and Chaos on the Battlefields of Modernity, Columbia University Press Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Summary:
      Beginning with the Scientific Revolution and concluding with today's terrorist networks, Antoine J. Bousquet advances a novel history of scientific methodology in the context of the battlefield. Marked by an increasingly tight symbiosis between technology, science, and conflict, the constitution and perpetuation of this scientific way of warfare are best understood as an attempt by the state to turn violent aggression into a rational instrument of policy. In his study, Bousquet follows with specific scientific approaches to war: mechanistic, thermodynamic, cybernetic, and "chaoplexic," a network-centric theory allied with the non-linear sciences.

    2. Freaks of Nature: What Anomalies Tell Us About Development and Evolution, Oxford University Press Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Summary:
      In this book, Blumberg turns a scientist's eye on the oddities of nature, showing how a subject once relegated to the sideshow can help explain some of the deepest complexities of biology. What we need to understand, Blumberg argues, is that anomalies are the natural products of development, and it is through developmental mechanisms that evolution works. Freaks of Nature induces a kind of intellectual vertigo as it upends our intuitive understanding of biology. What really is an anomaly? Why is a limbless human a "freak," but a limbless reptile-a snake-a successful variation?

    3. Seasons of Life: The Biological Rhythms That Enable Living Things to Thrive and Survive, Yale University Press Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Summary:
      Just as daily events are timed by living creatures through circadian rhythms, so seasonal events are timed through an internal calendar that signals birds to return to nesting grounds, salmon to spawn, plants to flower, squirrels to hibernate, kelp to stop growing. In this fascinating book, the authors draw on remarkable recent scientific advances to explain how seasonal change affects organisms, and how plants and animals over countless generations have evolved exquisite sensitivities and adaptations to the seasons. The authors also highlight the impact of seasonal change on human health and well-being.

    4. The Buzz about Bees: Biology of a Superorganism, Springer Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Summary:
      In contrast to the view of bee colonies as perfect societies of selfless individuals ruled by a queen, Tautz introduces them as a "superorganism", a self organizing and complex adaptive system based on a network of communication; a fascinating result of evolution, a mammal in several bodies. Remarkable action photographs never shown before present bees busy with cell cleaning, caring for the brood, serving in the queen's court, visiting flowers, receiving nectar, producing honey, comb building, entrance guarding, heating and cooling. Spotlights include bees fighting, telephoning, sleeping and communicating by high-toned beeping, scents and dances.

    5. The Art of Strategy: A Game Theorist's Guide to Success in Business and Life, W.W. Norton & Co. Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Summary:
      Game theory means rigorous strategic thinking. It's the art of anticipating your opponent's next moves, knowing full well that your rival is trying to do the same thing to you. Though parts of game theory involve simple common sense, much is counterintuitive, and it can only be mastered by developing a new way of seeing the world. Using a diverse array of rich case studies�from pop culture, TV, movies, sports, politics, and history�the authors show how nearly every business and personal interaction has a game-theory component to it. Are the winners of reality-TV contests instinctive game theorists?

    6. RANDOMNICITY: Rules and Randomness in the Realm of the Infinite, Imperial College Press Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Summary:
      This unique book explores the definition, sources and role of randomness. A joyful discussion with many non-mathematical and mathematical examples leads to the identification of three sources of randomness: randomness due to irreversibility, randomness due to our inability to have infinite power (chaos), and randomness due to many interacting systems. All sources are found to have something in common: infinity. An explanation is given as to why rules and randomness cannot exist by themselves, but instead have to coexist. Many examples are presented, ranging from pure mathematical to natural and social processes.

    7. The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self, Basic Books Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Summary:
      This book combines the findings of neuroscience with the philosophy of mind to find a new and fascinating answer to that age-old question, "Who are we?" Drawing on a series of experiments in neuroscience, virtual reality and robotics, and his own research into the phenomenon of the out-of-body experience, Metzinger shows how the brain constructs our reality. What we see and hear, what we feel, smell and taste, he argues, is only a tiny fraction of what actually exists; our conscious perception of the world is just a shadow of the rich physical reality around us.

    8. Wave Rider: Leadership for High Performance in a Self-Organizing World, Berrett-Koehler Publishers Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Summary:
      This book is based on the premise that there is no such thing as a non-self-organizing system, albeit there are some mildly deluded people who think they did the organizing and remain in control. In a totally self-organizing world the role of Leadership takes a new, revolutionary turn. Effective leaders will be those who learn to appreciate and ride the cascading waves of self-organization. Utilizing the 20 years' experience with Open Space Technology combined with the findings of contemporary Complexity Science, this book makes a compelling argument that applying principles of complex, adaptive systems at work leads to high-performance organizations.

    9. Long-Range Futures Research: An Application of Complexity Science, BookSurge Publishing Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Description:
      It seems that the study of complex systems is becoming the 21st Century way of researching the future. This is having an impact on all of the four main schools of futures studies, which are the systems science school (dealing with hardware such as the built environment, urban planning, and energy, transport and water systems), the environmental science school (embracing climate, emissions, and natural resources), the social science school (dealing with soft systems such as economics and sociology), and the management science school (concerned with corporate strategy and management consultancy). A new book Long-Range Futures Research â€" An Application of Complexity Science explains how complexity science can be applied to the civil system for real world applications. The book contains an extensive glossary of terms, a bibliography of over 300 choice items, and a comprehensive index.

  20. Links & Snippets Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Other Publications Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. Modulated Exploratory Dynamics can shape Self-Organized Behavior, Frank Hesse, Ralf Der, J. Michael Herrmann, 2009/07/15, Advances in Complex Systems (ACS), vol. 12, issue 03, pages 273-291, DOI: 10.1142/S0219525909002258
      2. Modeling Economic Phenomenon with Elementary Catastrophes, Laura Ungureanu, Galiceanu Mihaela, 2009/07/15, Advances In Management, vol. 2, issue 4
      3. Stable States of Biological Organisms, V.I. Yukalov et al., 2009/07/24, Arxiv (arXiv:0907.4628v1), DOI: arXiv:0907.4628v1
      4. Understanding the Complexity of Terrorist Networks, Philip V. Fellman, 2009/07/24, Arxiv (arXiv:0907.1683v1), DOI: arXiv:0907.1683v1
      5. Inheritance of Acquired Behaviour Adaptations and Brain Gene Expression in Chickens, Nätt D, Lindqvist N, Stranneheim H, Lundeberg J, Torjesen PA, Jensen P, July 28, 2009, PLoS ONE 4(7), DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0006405

    2. Conference Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. 5th Intl Conf on Fractals and Dynamic Systems in Geoscience, Townsville, Australia, 09/08/13-14
      2. EULAKS Summer School, Mexico City, Mexico, 09/08/17-30
      3. 2nd International Workshop on Guided Self-Organisation (GSO-2009), Leipzig, Germany, 09/08/18-20
      4. NICO Complexity Conference, Evanston, IL, USA, 09/09/1-3
      5. Mathematical Models in Ecology and Evolution 2009, Bristol, UK, 09/09/10-11
      6. Darwin Meets von Neumann: European Conference on Artificial Life 2009, Budapest, Hungary, 09/09/13-16
      7. IEEE International Conference on Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems , San Francisco, California, 09/09/14-18
      8. 6th Conference of the European Social Simulation Association, Guilford, UK, 09/09/14-18
      9. European Conference on Complex Systems 2009 (ECCS'09), University of Warwick, UK, 09/09/21-25
        1. Statistical Mechanics of Molecular and Cell Biology, 09/09/23
        2. EmergeNET3: Emergence and Networks, 09/09/24
      10. International Workshop on Natural Computing, Himeji, Japan, 09/09/23-25
      11. The 2009 International Conference on Adaptive & Intelligent Systems (ICAIS'09), Klagenfurt, Austria, 09/09/24-26
      12. Complexity Theories of Cities have come of Age, Delft Netherlands, 09/09/24-27
      13. IC3K 2009 - Int'l Joint Conf. on Knowledge Discovery, Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management, Madeira, Portugal, 09/10/6-8
      14. Systems Chemistry II: Evolution and Systems, BalatonfĂźred/Lake Balaton, Hungary, 09/10/18-23
      15. Workshop: Computing action policies that ensure resilience of social and ecological systems, Madeira, Portugal, 09/10/21-22
      16. Natural and Biomimetic Mechanosensing, Dresden, Germany, 09/10/26-28
      17. The 11th International Symposium on Stabilization, Safety, and Security of Distributed Systems (SSS 2009) , Lyon, France, 09/11/03-06
      18. International Conference on Intelligent Networking and Collaborative Systems (INCoS 2009) , Barcelona, Spain, 09/11/4-6
      19. the 9th Asia-Pacific Complex Systems Conference Complex'09 How to Manage Complexity? , Tokyo, Japan, 09/11/4-7
      20. CAS in the Natural and Social Sciences, AAAI Fall Symposium Arlington, VA, USA, 09/11/5-7
      21. Ninth International Conference on Epigenetic Robotics: Modeling Cognitive Development in Robotic Systems, Venice, Italy, 09/11/12-14
      22. 1st Global Peter F. Drucker Forum, ‘Managing the Future’, Vienna, Austria, 09/11/19-20
      23. Darwin09, International Workshop on 150 Years after Darwin: From Molecular Evolution to Language, Palma de Mallorca, Spain, 09/11/23-27
      24. 9th International Conference on Intelligent Systems Design and Applications, Pisa, Italy, 09/11/30-12/02
      25. World Congress on Nature & Biologically Inspired Computing (NaBIC 2009), Coimbatore, India, 09/12/9-11
      26. 5th Biennial Convention about the philosophical, epistemological, and methodological implications of the Theory of Complexity, Havana, Cuba, 10/01/6-8
      27. 2nd International Conference on Agents and Artificial Intelligence (ICAART 2010), Valencia, Spain, 10/01/22-24
      28. 20th European Meeting on Cybernetics and Systems Research, EMCSR 2010, University of Vienna, Austria, 10/04/6-9
      29. The IV International Workshop on Nature Inspired Cooperative Strategies for Optimization - NICSO 2010, Granada, Spain, 09/05/12-14

    3. Webcast Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. Symmetry Festival 2009, , Budapest, Hungary, 09/08/1-5. Live broadcast

      2. International Workshop on Coping with Crises in Complex Socio-Economic Systems, Zurich, Switzerland, 09/06/8-12

      3. Memorial Service for Dr Gottfried Mayer, Founding Editor Complexity Digest, Taipei, Taiwan (1954-2009). Video [RM], 09/02/13

      4. Making Connections: In Memory and Celebration of the Life of Dr. Gottfried Mayer (1954-2009). Video [RM] [MPG], 09/02/13

      5. Eulogy for Gottfried Mayer by Dean LeBaron [WMV, 25 Mb], [RM, 10 Mb], 09/02/10

      6. Can Ants Solve Traffic Jams?, Danielle Parsons, Slatev.com, 08/07/22

      7. Reseau Nationale des Systemes Complexes , (in French), 2007
      8. World Economic Forum , Davos, Switzerland, 08/01/22-27
      9. TED Talks, TED Conferences LLC , since 2006
      10. Talking Robots: The PodCast on Robotics and AI, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland, 06/11/03
      11. Potentials of Complexity Science for Business, Governments, and the Media 2006, Budapest, Hungary, 06/08/03-05
      12. 6th Intl Conf on Complex Systems (ICCS), Boston, MA, 06/06/25-30
      13. Artificial Life X, 10th Intl Conf on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems, Bloomington, IN, USA. 2006/06/03-07
      14. 6th Understanding Complex Systems Symposium, Urbana-Champaign, Il, 06/05/15-18
      15. Ralph Abraham on Complexity Digest, , Calcutta, India, 05/12/27
      16. An Afternoon with Michael Crichton, Washington, 05/11/06
      17. Illuminating the Shadow of the Future, Ann Arbor, Mi 05/09/23-25
      18. Open Network of Centres of Excellence in Complex Systems - Brainstorming Meeting, Paris, France 05/09/19-23
      19. Complexity, Science & Society Conference 2005, U. Liverpool, UK 2005/09/11-14
      20. ECAL 2005 - VIIIth European Conference on Artificial Life, Canterbury, Kent, UK 2005/09/5-9
      21. T. Irene Sanders, Executive Director and Founder, The Washington Center for Complexity & Public Policy, 05/08/27, QuickTime video (10:38 min), Podcast
      22. North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity 2005 Conference, Virtual Conference Network, St. Pete's Beach, Florida, 05/06/09-11
      23. Understanding Complex Systems - Computational Complexity and Bioinformatics, Virtual Conference Network, Urbana-Champaign, Il, UIUC, 05/05/16-19
      24. Nonlinearity, Fluctuations, and Complexity, with a celebration of the 65th birthday of Gregoire Nicolis. , Complexity Session, Universite' Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium, 05/03/16
      25. 1st European Conference on Complex Systems, Torino, Italy, 04/12/5-7
      26. From Autopoiesis to Neurophenomenology: A Tribute to Francisco Varela (1946-2001), Paris, France, 2004/06/18-20
      27. Evolutionary Epistemology, Language, and Culture, Brussels, Belgium, 04/05/26-28
      28. International Conference on Complex Systems 2004, Boston, 04/05/16-21
      29. Nonlinear Dynamics And Chaos: Lab Demonstrations, Strogatz, Steven H., Internet-First University Press, 1994
      30. CERN Webcast Service, Streamed videos of Archived Lectures and Live Events
      31. Dean LeBaron's Archive of Daily Video Commentary, Ongoing Since February 1998
      32. Edge Videos

    4. Other Announcements Bookmark and Share

      • European Conference on Complex Systems, 21-25 September 2009, University of Warwick, UK
        The principal annual international conference in Complexity Science.
        For up to date information and to register, see http://eccs09.info .
        Key dates:
        13 July: Reduced registration ends
        1 September: Poster submission deadline, but apply early to be sure your submission is considered in time to get your abstract published in the programme.
        1 September: Last assured registrations

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