Complex Adaptive Systems
Prof. John Holland
University of Michigan
12:05 pm Wed. Feb. 1 in 1610 Engineering Hall
Jointly with the Chaos and Complex Systems Seminar
Many of our most troubling long-range problems -- trade balances,
sustainability, AIDS, genetic defects, mental health, computer viruses --
center on certain systems of extraordinary complexity -- economies,
ecologies, immune systems, embryos, nervous systems, computer
networks. These systems, called complex adaptive systems, are above all
"social" systems: Their global behavior stems from interactions among
large numbers of agents, agents that adapt and learn in response to the
actions of other agents in the system.
Because these systems are continually in flux, they are not readily
studied using the traditional mathematics of equilibria and steady
states,
and they cannot be "isolated" for easy experimentation. Computer-based
models provide for organized experimentation, allowing a search for
patterns and general principles that can be formalized and then verified in
real systems. This lecture describes the basic elements of such models,
and discusses some of the relevant mathematics.