Complexity Metaphors, Models, and Reality

by Cowan, George A.; Pines, David; Meltzer, David

• ISBN13: 9780201626063
• ISBN10: 0201626063
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1994-10-01
• Publisher: Perseus Books

Summary

The terms complexity, complex adaptive systems, and sciences of complexity are found often in recent scientific literature, reflecting the remarkable growth in collaborative academic research focused on complexity from the origin and dynamics of organisms to the largest social and political organizations. One of the great challenges in this field of research is to discover which features are essential and shared by all of the seemingly disparate systems that are described as complex. Is there sufficient synthesis to suggest the possibility of an overarching science of complexity? This report describes current views on this subject held by various eminent scholars associated with the Santa Fe Institute.The physical sciences have traditionally been concerned with "simple" systems whose dynamics can be described in mathematical terms with precision and certainty. In contrast, the biological and social sciences are inevitably concerned with self-organized or social "complex" systems whose detailed behaviors appear to be unpredictable. The two categories differ greatly in size and diversity, prompting the late mathematician Stanislaus Ulam to remark that research on complex systems might be compared to the study of non-elephants. Nevertheless, certain integrative themes have begun to emerge.Rising activity in this field of research runs completely counter to the trend toward increasing fragmentation and specialization in the sciences. It has stimulated a resurgence of interest in a broad synthesis involving mathematics, computational science, physics, chemistry, biology, neuroscience, and the social sciences. The growth of effort in this very extended field has been greatly stimulated by the development of new computational tools that are capable of dealing with vast, interrelated databases. Many of the participants in complexity research feel that it is now time to reintegrate the fragmented interests of much of the academic community. The reader is encouraged to consider whether such views are sparking a historic renaissance of scholarship or represent a passing scientific diversion.

Table of Contents

Foreword	xv
George A. Cowan
David Pines
Conference Opening Remarks	1	(4)
George A. Cowan
Fundamental Concepts	5	(172)
The Eightfold Way to the Theory of Complexity: A Prologue	7	(10)
Philip W. Anderson
Complex Adaptive Systems	17	(30)
Murray Gell-Mann
On the Complexity of Cultural Transmission and Evolution	47	(18)
Marcus Feldman
Luigi L. Cavalli-Sforza
Lev. A. Zhivotovsky
On the Evolution of Complexity	65	(18)
W. Brian Arthur
Whispers from Carnot: The Origins of Order and Principles of Adaptation in Complex Nonequilibrium Systems	83	(78)
Stuart A. Kauffman
Evolution and Complexity	161	(16)
Tom S. Ray
Examples of Complex Adaptive Systems	177	(294)
Proteins as Adaptive Complex Systems	179	(6)
Hans Frauenfelder
The Theoretical Problems in Immunology: AIDS and Epitopes	185	(20)
Alan S. Perelson
Developmental Complexity and Evolutionary Order	205	(18)
Brian Goodwin
What Would be Conserved if ``The Tape Were Played Twice?''	223	(22)
Walter Fontana
Leo Buss
Complexity of Brain Circuits	245	(18)
Charles Stevens
The Schema	263	(24)
Ben Martin
A Complex Systems Approach to Computational Molecular Biology	287	(22)
Alan Lapedes
Echoing Emergence: Objectives, Rough Definitions, and Speculations for ECHO-Class Models	309	(34)
John H. Holland
Prediction and Adaptation in an Evolving Chaotic Environment	343	(40)
Alfred Hubler
David Pines
How do RNA Molecules and Viruses Explore Their Worlds?	383	(36)
Peter Schuster
Complex Ecological Systems	419	(32)
James H. Brown
Beyond General Equilibrium	451	(6)
Kenneth Arrow
The Major Transitions in Evolution	457	(14)
John Maynard Smith
Nonadaptive Systems, Scaling, Self-Similarity, and Measures of Complexity	471	(68)
Cellular Automata: Complex Nonadaptive Systems	473	(4)
Erica Jen
Self-Organized Criticality: A Holistic View of Nature	477	(20)
Per Bak
Dynamics, Computation, and the ``Edge of Chaos'': A Re-Examination	497	(18)
Melanie Mitchell
James P. Crutchfield
Peter T. Hraber
Is Anything Ever New? Considering Emergence	515	(24)
James P. Crutchfield
General Discussion	539	(168)
Review and Remarks on Applications	541	(12)
John H. Holland
Interactions Between Theory, Models, and Observations	553	(24)
Erica Jen
Search for Consensual Views	577	(12)
David Pines
What are the Important Questions?	589	(72)
George A. Cowan
Summary Remarks	661	(46)
George A. Cowan
Afterwords	707	(12)
From Metaphors to Reality?	709	(10)
George A. Cowan
David Pines
Index	719