Conflict and Complex Systems
Posted by Tim Stevens on 11 May 2008
Münzenberg points us to the spring issue of the Bulletin of the Santa Fe Insitute, titled ‘Conflict: What It Can Teach Us - About Our Brains, The Internet, Ecosystems, and Financial Markets?’ [.pdf]. I’ve only read a couple of the articles thus far - ‘Patterns of Terror’ and ‘Malware Wars’ - and hope to polish the rest off later. Looks like a perfect bit of Sunday reading.
With complex systems in mind, it’s probably time to reread Steven Johnson’s Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software, a few years old now but still a classic. As Münzenberg said yesterday, ‘Hurrah for well stocked personal libraries!’ Damn straight. Turns out Johnson has a blog which might also be worth keeping an eye on.
11 May 2008 at 9:16 pm
I also recommend you check out Yaneer Bar-Yam’s (of New England Complex Systems Institute fame) “Making Things Work”. I find his depth and clarity a nice complement to Johnson’s work.
The URL: http://www.necsi.org/publications/mtw/
11 May 2008 at 9:40 pm
I will. Thanks for the tip.