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Emergent Systems: A DiscussionSchedule and Discussion LinksParticipants 2002-03 Open to all
"If you knew the algorithm and fed it back say ten thousand times,
each time there's be a dot somewhere on the screen. You'd never know
where to expect the next dot. But gradually you'd start to see this
shape, because every dot will be inside the shape of this leaf. ...
The unpredictable and the predetermined unfold together to make
everything the way it is. Its how nature creates itself, on every
scale, the snowflake and the snowstorm." Tom Stoppard,
Arcadia, 1993.
People in a variety of disciplines and walks of life are in
the business
of trying to make sense of the world. In so doing, all make
use of conceptual
frameworks, habitual ways of thinking that influence both how one tries
to make sense of new observations and the new questions one asks (and
doesn't ask). These conceptual frameworks are themselves reflections of
the kinds of observations that have and can be made.
Computers, like telescopes
and microscopes, have opened a whole new world of possible
observations.
Because of the rapidity with which they can do well-defined
calculations,
computers have made it possible to explore the consequences
of relatively
simple interactions of relatively simple things in ways never
before possible
(try, for example, the Game of Life
or Simple
Networks, Simple
Rules). From this new capability are emerging in different arenas
significant insights into phenomena long believed too complex
for serious
analysis ... and perhaps a new quite general conceptual
framework applicable
in a variety of disciplines and practical contexts. People
who are interested
the emergence of "emergent systems" as a way of thinking are invited to
join this discussion by contacting Ted
Wong, Panama Geer, Doug Blank, or Paul Grobstein.
On Line Forum
for continuing discussion
Complex Systems on Serendip - additional resources
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