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Complex Adaptive Systems: An Introduction to Computational Models of Social Life (Princeton Studies in Complexity)

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Authors: John H. Miller, Scott E. Page
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Category: Book

List Price: ~~$25.95~~
Buy New: $23.35
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Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 284
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.8

ISBN: 0691127026
Dewey Decimal Number: 300.1513
EAN: 9780691127026
ASIN: 0691127026

Publication Date: March 5, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
pThis book provides the first clear, comprehensive, and accessible account of complex adaptive social systems, by two of the field's leading authorities. Such systems--whether political parties, stock markets, or ant colonies--present some of the most intriguing theoretical and practical challenges confronting the social sciences. Engagingly written, and balancing technical detail with intuitive explanations, iComplex Adaptive Systems/i focuses on the key tools and ideas that have emerged in the field since the mid-1990s, as well as the techniques needed to investigate such systems. It provides a detailed introduction to concepts such as emergence, self-organized criticality, automata, networks, diversity, adaptation, and feedback. It also demonstrates how complex adaptive systems can be explored using methods ranging from mathematics to computational models of adaptive agents./pp John Miller and Scott Page show how to combine ideas from economics, political science, biology, physics, and computer science to illuminate topics in organization, adaptation, decentralization, and robustness. They also demonstrate how the usual extremes used in modeling can be fruitfully transcended./p

Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

complex systems applied to society August 30, 2008
Miller and Page have written an excellent, very accessible introduction to complex systems as applied to social phenomena. They are especially careful in discussing inferences based on computer simulations. Since any computer simulation is an extreme reduction of real social interactions, it's necessary to be careful that a comparison between two simulations captures a principled difference. For example, Miller Page describe two versions of the forest fire model. In the first version all trees are likely to grow in an available spot with the same probability, while in the second version the trees can have individual inhieritable probabilities of growth. The difference in principle is a differene in the basic abilities of the individual agents (trees). In this example the average number of trees is significantly higher in the second case.

5 out of 5 stars

very good introduction to the subject July 23, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

A nice introduction material. You will learn how complex phenomena are currently studied . I will use this book as an intro material to complex systems in my economics course.br /My only complain is that the book scarcelly discuss aplications in social sciences!!! I have to use specific articles with applications for that. the author should supress the subtitle. but it is still an excellent book.

4 out of 5 stars

Good Overview June 20, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

The authors do an excellent job of introducing the field to an educated audience. Any one who has a general college level education can read and understand the basics after reading the book. Tables and charts succinctly illustrate points Miller and Page make and illucidate the text.br /br /If you are looking for a book that discusses progamming, how to do, or other deeper aspects of the field, you will be disappointed. However, if you are just curious and want a good general introduction to the field, perhaps with the goal of further exploration, it is a good anchor from which to base your learning.

5 out of 5 stars

Best in Class, Very Technical, Saluting and Moving On May 31, 2008
1 out of 12 found this review helpful

Sometime I encounter books that are extremely important, that give me an appreciation for a knowledge domain I do not know enough about, and that I simply cannot read and review.br /br /This book, and Generative Social Science: Studies in Agent-Based Computational Modeling (Princeton Studies in Complexity) are two such books. I got half-way through this one, did the introduction to the other, from which I was immediately grabbed by the concept of:br /br /"instead of explaining it, can you grow it?"br /br /Howard Bloom, in Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century teaches us that the only way to create a sustainable peace in the Palestine region is to provide absolute security for an entire generation, and raise two whole generations, one on each side, from kindergarten on us, generations that do not consider "the other" to be "pigs and monkeys" by the age of five.br /br /Similarly, the literature on wealth of networks and the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid is growing, and I am convinced that public intelligence (decision support, full disclosure, end of information asymmetries) is going to accomplish two things in the next twenty years:br /br /1) Eradicate corruption and enforce the triple-bottom linebr /br /2) Elevate five billion poor by teaching them one cell call at a time so that they can create infinite stabilizing wealth.br /br /See for example:br /Infinite Wealth: A New World of Collaboration and Abundance in the Knowledge Erabr /The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedombr /Revolutionary Wealth: How it will be created and how it will change our livesbr /The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits (Wharton School Publishing Paperbacks)br /br /So the very best thing I can say about this book is that I am glad I bought it, I am very glad to have a sense, however weak, of this important exploratory area, and now I know that I need a team of generative social scientists that can do complex modeling for peace and prosperity solutions.br /br /See also, just published at Amazon and free online at Earth Intelligence Network, Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peacebr /br /I urge one and all to become familiar with World Index of Social and Environmental Responsibility (WISER), as best I can tell that is the center of gravity for empowering individuals with deep knowledge of the true costs and many human rights abuses and other crimes that we support today for lack of knowledge. I also recommend the pioneering EarthGame work of Medard Gabel, at BigPictureSmallWorld.

4 out of 5 stars

Depending on your interest.. March 31, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

I found this book to be a bit more technical than I expected. Very good reference book.

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