Christoph Adami, Introduction to Artificial Life,
Springer Verlag, January 1998, 320 pp., ISBN 0-38-794646-2.
Abstract: From the publisher: "(This book is) an introduction to the theory of
and experiments with simple living systems, spanning statistical physics,
information theory, self-organized criticality, percolation theory, fitness
landscapes, and Eigen's theory of molecular evolution. The Avida software
provided on the CD-ROM and its User's Manual (in the Appendix) allow diverse
experiments to be carried out on populations of self-replicating computer
programs. This book and CD-ROM have been developed in a course taught at
Caltech since 1995, and are based on Alife research conducted there. ...The
intended target audience is advanced undergraduate to beginning graduate
students who have mastered essential concepts of statistical physics,
thermodynamics, and basic biology...(and have) a familiarity with computer
programming."
Christoph Adami is a member of the faculty of the California Institute
of Technology.
Christoph Adami, Rik Belew, H. Kitano, and Charles E. Taylor (eds.),
Artificial Life VI, Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference
on Artificial Life, MIT Press, Cambridge, 1998, ISBN 0-262-51099-5.
Sunny Y. Auyang, Foundations of Complex-Systems Theories: In
Economics, Evolutionary Biology, and Statistical Physics,
Cambridge University Press, 416 pp., September 1999. ISBN:
0-521-77826-3.
Abstract: From the publisher: "(This book) analyzes, for the first
time, the key concepts and general methods used in studying
complexity in statistical physics, evolutionary biology, and
economics. It highlights the features common to each area, and
describes how we understnad and deal with complexity. This detailed
yet nontechnical book will appeal to anyone who wants to know more
about complex systems and their behavior. It will also be of great
interest to specialists studying complexity in the physical,
biological, and social sciences."
Sunny Y. Auyang is a physicist-turned-philosopher who resides
in Cambridge, MA.
Robert Axelrod and Leigh Tesfatsion, An On-Line Guide for Newcomers to
Agent-Based Modeling in the Social Sciences(html,44K).
Abstract: This site provides web support materials (readings and demonstration
software) for Robert Axelrod and Leigh Tesfatsion, "A Guide for Newcomers
to Agent-Based Modeling in the Social Sciences" (pdf preprint, 46K) ,
in Kenneth L. Judd and Leigh Tesfatsion (Eds.), Handbook of Computational
Economics, Vol. 2: Agent-Based Computational Economics(Table of Contents,html),
Handbooks in Economics Series, North-Holland, the Netherlands, 2005, to
appear.
Pierre Baldi, The Shattered Self: The End of Natural Selection,
MIT Press, A Bradford Book, May 2001, 245 pages, ISBN: 0-262-02502-7.
Abstract: From the publisher: "Through evolution our brains have been wired to
provide us with an inner sense of self, a feeling that each of us is a unique
individual delimited by precise boundaries. We have also been wired to
reproduce ourselves in a certain way. Baldi argues that this self-centered
view of the world is scientifically wrong. Its past success lies in its
being an adequate model during our evolutionary boot-strap: a world without
molecular biotechnology, human cloning, and the Internet. Eventually we must
come to terms with the fact that genomes, computations, and mind are fluid,
continuous entities, in both space and time. The boundary between the self
and the world has begun to blur and ultimately may evaporate entirely. Baldi
offers not predictions but an open-eyed exploration of our current state of
knowledge and the possibilities that lie ahead."
Pierre Baldi is Professor of Information and Computer Science and of
Biological Chemistry (College of Medicine), and Director of the Institute for
Genomics and Bioinformatics, all at the University of California, Irvine.
David Batten, Discovering Artificial Economics: How Agents Learn and Economies
Evolve, Perseus Books, Westview Press, 2000, ISBN: 0-8133-9770-7. ON-LINE
NOTE: Although this book is now unfortunately out of print, if you are willing and able to handle a rather large download the entire Batten book in pdf file form can be accessed
here (pdf,17MB).
F. C. Billari, T. Fent, A. Prskawetz, and J. Scheffran (Eds.), Agent-Based Computational Modelling:
Applications in Demography, Social, Economic and Environmental Sciences, Series: Contributions to Economics,
Springer, Physica-Verlag, 226pp., 2006 (Softcover). ISBN: 3-7908-1640-X
Abstract (From the Publisher): The present book describes the methodology to set up agent-based models and to study emerging patterns in complex adaptive systems resulting from multi-agent interaction. It offers the application of agent-based models in demography, social and economic sciences and environmental sciences. Examples include population dynamics, evolution of social norms, communication structures, patterns in eco-systems and socio-biology, natural resource management, spread of diseases and development processes. It presents and combines different approaches how to implement agent-based computational models and tools in an integrative manner that can be extended to other cases."
Francesco C. Billari and Alexia Prskawetz (eds.), Agent-Based Computational Demography:
Using Simulation to Improve Our Understanding of Demographic Behavior, Springer, 210pp., 2003.
ISBN: 3-7908-1550-0
(Book Site).
From the Publisher: Agent-Based Computational Demography (ABCD) aims at
starting a new stream of research among social scientists whose interests lie in understanding
demographic behaviour. The book takes a micro-demographic (agent-based) perspective and illustrates
the potentialities of computer simulation as an aid in theory building. The chapters of the book,
written by leading experts either in demography or in agent-based modelling, address several key questions.
Why do we need agent-based computational demography? How can ABCD be applied to the study of migrations,
family demography, and historical demography? What are the peculiarities of agent-based models as applied
to the demography of human populations? ABCD is of interest to all scientists interested in studying
demographic behaviour, as well as to computer scientists and modellers who are looking for a promising
field of application."
Eric Bonabeau, Marco Dorigo, and Guy Theraulaz, Swarm Intelligence:
From Natural to Artificial Systems, Oxford University Press, October
1999, ISBN 0-19-513158-4.
Abstract: This book provides a synthesis of studies on swarm intelligence. It
includes an introduction to the subject together and a variety of examples
that can be understood even by those who do not wish to work through the
more detailed discussion of algorithms.
Samuel Bowles, Microeconomics: Behavior, Institutions, and Evolution,
Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 608pp., February 2006. ISBN: 0-691-12638-0
(Book Site).
From the Publisher: "In this novel introduction to modern microeconomic theory,
Samuel Bowles returns to the classical economists' interest in the wealth and poverty of nations and
people, the workings of the institutions of capitalist economies, and the coevolution of individual
preferences and the structures of markets, firms, and other institutions. Using recent advances in
evolutionary game theory, contract theory, behavioral experiments, and the modeling of dynamic processes,
he develops a theory of how economic institutions shape individual behavior, and how institutions evolve
due to individual actions, technological change, and chance events. Topics addressed include institutional
innovation, social preferences, nonmarket social interactions, social capital, equilibrium unemployment,
credit constraints, economic power, generalized increasing returns, disequilibrium outcomes, and path dependency."
Note: Chapters 11-13 of this book use agent-based m
Valentino Braitenberg, Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology, MIT
Press, Cambridge, 1984.
Abstract: Fun but serious thought experiments about vehicles
giving insights into how the brain might have evolved to guide the
interactions of living agents in the complex real world--a wonderful essay.
John Brockman, The Third Culture,Touchstone Books, May 1996, ISBN:
0-684-82344-6.
Abstract: From Amazon.com: "In this treatise on the central role of science,
John Brockman contends that science is becoming the predominant culture and
scientists are taking the place of traditional intellectuals in answering the
important questions facing humankind. Structured in interview format, The
Third Culture consists of twenty-three noted scientists discussing their
theories, the nature of scientific inquiry, and their common desire to be
recognized as today's intellectual leaders." Those interviewed include:
Richard Dawkins, Daniel C. Dennett, Paul Davies, Murray Gell-Mann, Roger
Penrose, Lynn Margulis, and Stuart Kauffman.
Rodney A. Brooks and Pattie Maes (eds.), Artificial Life IV,
MIT Press, Cambridge, MA 1994.
Shu-Heng Chen, Lakhmi Jain, Chung-Ching Tai, Computational Economics: A Perspective from Computational
Intelligence, Idea Group Inc., 300 pp., 2006. ISBN: 1-591-40649-8
(Book Site)
From the Publisher: "(This book) provides models of various economic and financial issues
while using compuational intelligence as a foundation. The scope of this volume comprises finance, economics,
management, organizational theory, and public policies. It explains the ongoing and novel research in this field,
and displays the power of these computational methods in coping with difficult problems with methods from traditional
perspectives. By encouraging the discussion of different views, this book serves as an introductory and inspiring
volume that helps to flourish studies in computational economics.
David Colander (ed.), Post Walrasian Macroeconomics: Beyond the Dynamic
Stochastic General Equilibrium Model(Book Site),
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2006. ISBN: 0-521-865484.
From the Publisher: "This book provides state-of-the-art
perspectives on macro theory from many of the world's leading theorists and methodologists.
(It is suitable) as a course book or supplementary textbook in graduate macroeconomics.
(The book also) includes a historical section that surveys the development of macroeconomics."
George B. Dyson, Darwin Among the Machines: The Evolution of Global
Intelligence, Perseus Books, October 1998, 304 pp., ISBN 0-73-820030-1.
Abstract: From the publisher: "George Dyson grew up at the Institute for
Advanced Study, where such scientists as his father, Freeman Dyson, and John
von Neumann laid the foundations for the Information Age. From this vantage
point, and with an unprecedented cast of characters, Dyson traces the course
of the information revolution, illuminating the lives, work and ideas of
visionaries who foresaw the development of artificial intelligence,
artificial life, and the global mind."
Claude Emmeche, The Garden in the Machine: The Emerging Science
of Artificial Life, Princeton University Press, 1994.
Gary William Flake, The Computational Beauty of Nature:
Computer Explorations of Fractals, Chaos, Complex Systems, and
Adaptation, The MIT Press, July 1998, ISBN 0-262-06200-3
(cloth).
Abstract: From the publisher: "In this book Gary William Flake
develops the idea that recurrent rules can produce rich and
complicated behaviors. Distinguishing `agents' (e.g., molecules,
cells, animals, and species) from their interactions (e.g., chemical
reactions, immune system responses, sexual reproduction, and
evolution), Flake argues that it is the computational properties of
interactions that account for much of what we think of as
`beautiful' and `interesting.' From this basic thesis, Flake
explores what he considers to be today's four most interesting
computational topics: fractals, chaos, complex systems, and
adaptation."
Gary William Flake is a research scientist in the Adaptive
Information and Signal Processing Department of Siemens Corporate
Research, Princeton, New Jersey. For more information about his
book, visit the
MIT Press promotions site.
Edward Fullbrook (ed.), The Crisis in Economics, Routledge,
200pp., 2003. ISBN: 0-415-30898-4.
Abstract:
From the publisher: "Economics can be pretty boring. Drier than Death
Valley, the discipline is obsessed with mathematics and compounds this
by arrogantly assuming its techniques can be brought to bear on the other
social sciences. It wasn't going to be long, therefore, before students
started complaining. The vast majority have voted with their feet and signed
up for business and management degrees, but in the past two years there has
grown an important new movement that has decided to tackle those who think
they run economics head-on. This is the Post-autistic Economics Network.
The PAE Network started in France and spread first to Cambridge and then
other parts of the world. The name derives from the fact that mainstream
economics has been accused of institutional autism -- that is, qualitative
impairment of social interaction, failure to develop peer relationships and
lack of emotional and social reciprocity. In short, economics has lost touch
with reality and has become way too abstract. This book charts the impact
the PAE Network has had and constitutes a manifesto for a different kind of
economics. It features key contributions from major voices in heterodox
economics." For more information about the PAE Network, visit
here.
Edward Fullbrook is with the School of Economics, University of the
West of England, Bristol, UK.
Ken Goldberg (ed.), The Robot in the Garden: Telerobotics and
Telepistemology in the Age of the Internet, MIT Press, 330 pages, March
2000, ISBN: 0-262-07203-3.
Abstract: From the publisher: "(This book) brings together some of the most
profound thinkers currently writing about such issues as telepresence,
Internet art, and the status of the real in a virtual age. Moreover, they
frequently disagree with one another, an indication of the intellectual
vitality of the work."
Ken Goldberg is Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering and
founder of the Art, Technology, and Culture Colloquium at the University of
California, Berkeley.
Brian Goodwin, How the Leopard Changed its Spots: The Evolution
of Complexity, Scribner and Sons, 1994.
Steve Grand, Creation: Life and How to Make It, Harvard University
Press, Cambridge, MA, 230 pp., October 2001. ISBN: 0-647-00654-2.
Abstract: From Publishers Weekly: "Blending aspects of philosophy,
computer science, artificial intelligence, biology, and computer
gaming, Grand attempts to define life, discuss the nature of the
human soul, and demonstrate how it is possible to create entities
that demand to be called both living and intelligent. ... He argues
persuasively that life, both real and artificial, is an emergent
property, arising inevitably from the interactions of its component
parts and, as such, is something much greater than and qualitatively
different from the sum of its parts. This view leads Grand to
assert that most scientists working in the field of artificial
intelligence are taking the wrong tack when they attempt to program
intelligence into machines."
Daniel Hillis, The Simple Ideas that Make Computers Work, Perseus
Books, November 1999, 164 pages, ISBN: 0-465-02596-X.
Abstract: From an Amazon.com Editorial Review by David Wall: "(This is) a
glorious book that reveals the nature of logical machines simply and
elegantly. ... Moving on from the nature of logical circuits, the author
deconstructs software and the mechanisms it employs to solve problems.
Hillis then stands atop the building blocks he's arranged into a sturdy
foundation and discusses the future of computing. Parallel processors
already are in use, and neural networks with limited abilities to learn and
adapt have proved quite good at certain jobs. Hillis explores the potential
of both these technologies. Then, he throws some light on quantum computing
and evolving systems - emerging ideas that promise to make computers much
more powerful, and thereby change the world."
Daniel Hillis is currently in the process of forming a new company,
Applied Minds, that will provide advance technology, creative design, and
consulting services. Until recently, Hillis was a Disney Fellow and Vice
President of Research and Development at Walt Disney Imagineering.
Douglas Hofstadter and Daniel Dennett, The Mind's I: Fantasies and
Reflections on Self and Soul, Bantam, Toronto, 1988.
[Articles, stories and dialogues about the Mind/Body problem]
John H. Holland, Hidden Order: How Adaptation Builds
Complexity , Addison-Wesley, 1995, ISBN 0-201-40793-0.
Clear and
thoughtful discussion of how systems adapt in both natural and
man-made systems.
Abstract: From the back cover: "(Holland)
takes the reader on a journey from simplicity to complexity, showing how a
few `rules of engagement' can lead to systems as bewilderingly rich as the
neural networks in our brains, our immune defenses against pathogens, and
even the ecosystems that maintain the biosphere so that life can flourish."
Quote from Sir Robert May, Chief Scientific Advisor to the U.K. Government.
Alicia Juarrero, Dynamics in Action, The MIT Press, 300pp., March
2002, ISBN: 0-262-10081-0.
Abstract: From the publisher: "What is the difference between a wink and a
blink? The answer is important not only to philosophers of mind, for
significant moral and legal consequences rest on the distinction between
voluntary and involuntary behavior... Alicia Juarrero argues that a mistaken,
350-year-old model of cause and explanation - one that takes all causes to be
of the push-pull, efficient cause sort, and all explanations to be prooflike
- underlies contemporary theories of action. Juarrero proposes a new
framework for conceptualizing causes based on complex adaptive systems.
Thinking of causes as dynamical constraints makes bottom-up and top-down
causal relations, including those involving intentional causes, suddenly
tractable. A different logic for explaining actions - as historical
narrative, not inference - follows if one adopts this novel approach to
long-standing questions of action and responsibility."
Alicia Juarrero is Professor of Philosophy at Prince George's
Community College Maryland. She is also a member of the National Council on
the Humanities, the governing board of the National Endowment for the
Humanities.
Stuart Kauffman, At Home in the Universe, Oxford University Press,
N.Y., 1995.
Abstract: Kauffman explores what complexity theory might mean for the future
of economics and organizations. He also speculates on the origins of life.
K. Kelly, Out of Control: The Rise of Neo-Biological
Civilization, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1994.
Abstract: Wide ranging
discussion and speculations on machines, social systems, and economics
by the executive editor of the magazine Wired.
David A. Kendrick, P. Ruben Mercado, and Hans M. Amman, Computational Economics, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 436pp., 2006.
Abstract (From the Publisher): (This book) contains well-known models --- and some brand-new ones --- designed to help students move from verbal to mathematical to computational representations in economic modeling. The authors' focus, however, is not just on solving the models but also on developing the ability to modify them to reflect one's interest and point of view. The result is a book that enables students to be creative in developing models that are relevant to the economic problems of their times. ... The book is intended for use by advanced undergraduates and professional economists and even, as a first exposure to computational economics, for graduate students."
David A. Kendrick is the Yarborough Centennial Professor of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin, P. Ruben Mercado is Visiting Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, and Hans M. Amman is an executive board member and Professor of Computational Economics and Finance at the Technical University of Eindhoven in the Netherlands.
David Klahr, Exploring Science, The MIT Press,
255pp., March 2002, ISBN: 0-262-11248-5.
Abstract: From the publisher: "In this book (David Klahr) sets out to describe
the cognitive and developmental processes that have enabled scientists to
make the discoveries that comprise the body of information we call
`scientific knowledge.' Over the past decade, Klahr and his colleagues have
conducted extensive laboratory experiments in which they create discovery
contexts, computer-based environments to evoke the kind of thinking
characteristic of scientific discovery `in the real world.' In attempting to
solve the problems posed by the discovery tasks, experiment participants
(from preschoolers though university students, as well as laypersons) use
many of the same higher-order cognitive processes used by practicing
scientists. Through this work Klahr integrates two disparate approaches -
the content-based approach and the process-based approach - to present a
comprehensive model of the psychology of scientific discovery."
David Klahr is Professor of Psychology at Carnegie Mellon
University.
Christopher Langton (ed.), Artificial Life, Proceedings Volume VI,
Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of Complexity,
Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1989.
Abstract: Langton's introduction to this
volume, pp. 1-47, is still one of the best short introductions to
the strong view of alife.
Christopher Langton, Charles Taylor, J. Doyne Farmer, and Steen Rasmussen
(eds.), Artificial Life II, Proceedings Volume X, Santa Fe Institute
Studies in the Sciences of Complexity, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1992.
Christopher Langton (ed.), Artificial Life III, Proceedings Volume
XVII, Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of Complexity,
Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1994.
Christopher Langton and K. Shimohara (eds.), Artificial Life V,
MIT Press, Cambridge, MA 1997.
Christopher Langton, Artificial Life: An Overview, MIT Press,
Cambridge, MA, 1995. [A collection of introductory survey articles from the
journal Artificial Life.]
Steven Levy, Artificial Life:The Quest for a New Creation, Random
House, NY, 1992. [A now dated but still highly entertaining introduction to the field of alife.]
George Loewenstein, Daniel Read, and Roy Baumeister (Eds.), Time and Decision: Economic and
Psychological Perspectives on Intertemporal Choice, Russell Sage Foundation, New York, 569pp., 2003.
From a review by Stephen Lich-Tyler in JEL (March 2005, 150-151):
This book contains a colletion of papers written by psychologists, behavioral economists, and other researchers in decision science. Originally prepared for a conference on intertemporal choice, most of these papers discuss recent developments in the study of time-inconsistent preferences. ... The final two chapters (on inventories and self-rationing and on life-cycle consumption/savings patterns under exponential vs. hyperbolic discounting) are the most relevant for economists. ... Overall, these essays present compelling arguments that individual may have conflicted preferences. They present supporting evidence, mainly from experiments designed to identify the hypothesized phenomena."
Marvin Minsky, The Society of Mind, Simon and Schuster, New
York, 1986.
Discusses how the brain works by employing minute functional units
that combine to an entity--the bottom-up approach.
Philip Mirowski, Machine Dreams: Economics Becomes a Cyborg
Science, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 655 pp., 2002. ISBN:
0-521-77526-4.
Abstract: From a review by Duncan Foley (New School University): "(This book) is
an astonishing performance of synthetic scholarship. Mirowski traces the
present-day predicaments of economic theory to its intellectual reformulation
and institutional restructuring by military funding and in the crucibles of
World War II and the cold war. His demonstration that the mathematical
economics of the postwar era is a complex response to the challenges of
`cyborg science,' the attempt to unify the study of human beings and
intelligent machines through John von Neumann's general theory of automata,
is bound to be controversial. His critics, however, will have to contend
with a breathtakingly wide range of published and unpublished evidence in
fields ranging from psychology to operations research he presents. This noir
history of economic thought will change its readers' understanding of
twentieth-century economics profoundly."
Philip Mirowski is Carl Koch Professor of Economics and the History
and Philosophy of Science at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana.
Harold J. Morowitz, The Emergence of Everything: How the World Became
Complex, Oxford University Press, 209pp., November 2002. ISBN:
0-195-13513-X.
Abstract: From the publisher: "In (this book), one of the leading scientists
involved in the study of complexity...takes us on a sweeping tour of the
universe, a tour with 28 stops, each one highlighting a particularly
important moment of emergence. For instance, Morowitz illuminates the
emergence of the stars, the birth of the elements and of the periodic table,
and the appearance of solar systems and planets. We look at the emergence of
living cells, animals, vertebrates, reptiles, and mammals, leading to the
great apes and the appearance of humanity. He also examines tool making, the
evolution of language, the invention of agriculture and technology, and the
birth of cities. And as he offers these insights into the evolutionary
unfolding of our universe, our solar system, and life itself, Morowitz also
seeks out the nature of God in the emergent universe, the God posited by
Spinoza, Bruno, and Einstein, a God Morowitz argues we can know through a
study of the laws of nature."
Dr. Harold Morowitz is affiliated with the Krasnow Institute of
Advanced Study, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, and is a past
Editor-in-Chief of Complexity.
Gregoire Nicolis and Ilya Prigogine, Exploring Complexity: An
Introduction, W. H. Freeman and Co., New York, 1989.
Nils J. Nilsson, Artificial Intelligence: A New Synthesis,
Morgan Kauffman Publishers, San Francisco, CA, 1998, ISBN 1-55860-467-7.
Abstract: From the book blurb: "Intelligent agents are employed as the central
characters in this revolutionary new introductory text. Beginning with
elementary reactive agents, Nilsson gradually increases their cognitive
horsepower to illustrate the most important and lasting ideas in AI: neural
networks, genetic programming, computer vision, heuristic searh, knowledge
representation and reasoninig, Bayes networks, planning, and language
understanding are each revealed through the growing capabilities of these
agents. The book provides a refreshing and motivating new synthesis of the
field by one of AI's master expositors and leading researchers."
Randall Packer and Ken Jordan (eds.), Multimedia: From
Wagner to Virtual Reality, W.W. Norton and Company, New York,
N.Y., 320 pp., July 2001. ISBN 0-393-04979-5
Abstract: Reviewed by David Pitt, Booklist, c. American Library
Association: "Readers interested in the history of multimedia should
be enthralled by this collection of hard-to-find essays. ... (T)hese
essays trace the evolution of electronic media, film, and books
(William Burroughs' 1964 piece, `The Future of the Novel,' is itself
worth the price of admission. A remarkable blending of past and
present, these essays remind us that today's wondrous inventions
didn't just spring into existence out of nothing."
H. Pagels, The Dreams of Reason: The Computer and the Rise of
the Sciences of Complexity, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1988
Abstract: Popular exposition of artificial intelligence, chaos theory, and
the mind/body problem.
R. Paton, ed., Computing with Biological Metaphors,
Chapman and Hall, 1996.
William Poundstone, The Recursive Universe, Oxford University Press,
Oxford, 1987 (Paperback). [A popular treatment of the Game of Life.]
Mitchel Resnick, Turtles, Termites, and Traffic Jams:
Explorations in Massively Parallel Microworlds, MIT Press,
Cambridge, MA, 1994, 0-262-18162-2.
Abstract: Focuses on decentralized systems and self-organizing phenomena.
Examines how and why people resist decentralized ideas, and
describes a new computer language, StarLogo, designed to help people
explore decentralized systems and move beyond the centralized
mindset.
Russell Standish, Mark A. Bedau, and Hussein A. Abbass (eds.),
Artificial Life VIII, Proceedings of the Eighth International
Conference on Artificial Life, The MIT Press, 504 pp., 2003. ISBN:
0-262-69281-3.
Abstract: From the publisher: "The term `artificial life' describes research
into synthetic systems that possess some of the essential properties of life.
This interdisciplinary field includes biologists, computer scientists,
physicists, chemists, geneticists, and others. Artificial life may be viewed
as an attempt to understand high-level behavior from low-level rules -- for
example, how the simple interactions between ants and their environment lead
to complex trail-following behavior. An understanding of such relationships
in particular systems can suggest novel solutions to complex real-world
problems such as disease prevention, stock-market prediction, and data mining
on the Internet."
Russell Standish is Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of
Mathematics at the University of New South Wales. Mark A. Bedau is Professor
of Philosophy and Humanities at Reed College. Hussein A. Abbass is Senior
Lecturer at the Australian Defence Force Academy.
Stuart J. Russell and Peter Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern
Approach, Prentice Hall, 912 pages, December 1994, ISBN: 0-131-03805-2.
Erwin Schrödinger, What is Life?, Cambridge University Press
(Canto), 1992 [A physicist's exploration of the question that lies
at the heart of biology.]
Tom Siegfried, The Bit and the Pendulum: How the New Physics of
Information is Revolutionizing Science, John Wiley and Sons, 288 pages,
February 2000, ISBN: 0471321745.
Abstract: From the publisher: "An award-winning science journalist argues that
the most important frontier for science in the 21st century is the `new
physics of information' which is leading the way to pathbreaking new
understandings in a broad range of areas, from how the DNA code works to how
the neurons in our brains transmit messages."
Tom Siegfried is Science Editor of the Dallas Morning News.
Karl Sigmund, Games of Life: Explorations in Ecology,
Evolution, and Behavior, Oxford University Press, 1993.
Abstract: Great introductory presentation of various mathematical models of
evolution. Topics include: population ecology and chaos; random
drift and chain reactions; population genetics; evolution and sex;
evolutionary game theory; and reciprocity and the evolution of
cooperation.
Leigh Tesfatsion and Kenneth L. Judd (eds.), Handbook of Computational
Economics, Volume 2: Agent-Based Computational Economics,
Handbooks in Economics Series, North-Holland/Elsevier, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2006.
Abstract:
This handbook comprises 16 chapters surveying agent-based computational economics research,
6 shorter essays providing personal perspectives, and a "getting started" guide for newcomers
to agent-based modeling in the social sciences. Research topics covered include: an introduction
to agent-based computational economics; computationally-intensive analyses in economics;
learning representations for computational agents; agent-based models and human-subject
experiments; economic activity on fixed networks; endogenous formation of economic networks;
social dynamics and the evolution of norms; heterogeneous agent modeling in economics and finance;
agent-based computational finance; agent-based models of innovation and technological change;
agent-based models of organizations; market design using agent-based models; automated markets
and trading agents; agent-based computational methods and models of politics; agent-based tools
for exploring the governance of social-ecological systems; and computational laboratories for
spatial agent-based modeling.
Michael M. Waldrop, Complexity, Simon and Schuster, New York,
1992.
Abstract: Popular account of the origins of complexity theory, focusing
in particular on the works and lives of various Santa Fe
Institute researchers involved in complexity research.
Stephen Wolfram, A Science of Complexity, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
tesfatsi AT iastate.edu
1. Introductory Overviews (Books)