Perspectives on Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems

2005 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
Evolution Of Cooperation ◽  
Microbial Populations ◽  
Research Career ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
John Holland

This book is a collection of essays exploring adaptive systems from many perspectives, ranging from computational applications to models of adaptation in living and social systems. The essays on computation discuss history, theory, applications, and possible threats of adaptive and evolving computations systems. The modeling chapters cover topics such as evolution in microbial populations, the evolution of cooperation, and how ideas about evolution relate to economics. The title Perspectives on Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems honors John Holland, whose 1975 Book, Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems has become a classic text for many disciplines in which adaptation play a central role. The essays brought together here were originally written to honor John Holland, and span most of the different areas touched by his wide-ranging and influential research career. The authors include some of the most prominent scientists in the fields of artificial intelligence evolutionary computation, and complex adaptive systems. Taken together, these essays present a broad modern picture of current research on adaptation as it relates to computers, living systems, society, and their complex interactions.

scholarly journals The Substrate-Independence Theory: Advancing Constructor Theory to Scaffold Substrate Attributes for the Recursive Interaction between Knowledge and Information

Systems ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
John Turner ◽  
Dave Snowden ◽  
Nigel Thurlow
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Structure Learning ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Complex Environments ◽  
External Threats ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
Construction Tasks ◽  
Post Hoc

The substrate-independence theory utilizes sensemaking techniques to provide cognitively based scaffolds that guide and structure learning. Scaffolds are cognitive abstractions of constraints that relate to information within a system. The substrate-independence theory concentrates on the flow of information as the underlying property of the host system. The substrate-independence theory views social systems as complex adaptive systems capable of repurposing their structure to combat external threats by utilizing constructors and substrates. Constructor theory is used to identify potential construction tasks, the legitimate input and output states that are possible, to map the desired change in the substrate’s attributes. Construction tasks can be mapped in advance for ordered and known environments. Construction tasks may also be mapped in either real-time or post hoc for unordered and complex environments using current sensemaking techniques. Mapping of the construction tasks in real-time becomes part of the landscape, and scaffolds are implemented to aid in achieving the desired state or move to a more manageable environment (e.g., from complex to complicated).

Anti-Chaos, Common Property, and the Emergence of Cooperation

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Stephen Lansing
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Common Property ◽  
Structure And Agency ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
Emergence Of Cooperation ◽  
Powerful Explanation ◽  
Social Product ◽  
John Holland

Complex adaptive systems, as conceived by John Holland, are groups of agents engaged in a process of coadaptation, in which adaptive moves by individuals have consequences for the group. Holland and others have shown that under certain circumstances simple models of this process show surprising abilities to self-organize (Holland 1993; Kauffman 1993). Complex adaptive systems have interesting mathematical properties, and the process of "anti-chaos"-—the spontaneous crystallization of ordered patterns in initially disordered networks— has become a new area of interdisciplinary research. But the question of whether these models can illuminate real world processes is still largely open. Not long ago John Maynard Smith described the study of complex adaptive systems as "fact-free science" (1995). This chapter has two purposes. First, in response to Maynard Smith, I will show how the concept of ecological feedback in complex adaptive systems provides a simple and powerful explanation for the structure and persistence of cooperative networks among Balinese rice farmers. Second, I will generalize this explanation to shed light on the emergence of cooperation in a class of social systems where interactions with the natural world create both rewards and punishments. But before turning to these examples, in line with the purposes of this volume I will comment on the ideas and assumptions that underlie the use of models in this analysis. "Society is a human product. Society is an objective reality. Man [sic] is a social product." With this epigram Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann neatly encapsulated a fundamental problem in social theory (1967:61). In American anthropology today this paradox is often posed as a conflict between "structure" and "agency," where the former refers to ideational, economic, institutional, or psychological systems that are represented as generating social reality; and the latter to the ability of individual social actors to modify their own social worlds. The same paradox recurs in classical social theory, such as Jürgen Habermas' insistence on the need to somehow reconcile actor-focused and system-level social theories (Habermas 1985, 1987).

Web Knowledge Turbine as a Proposal for Personal and Professional Self-Organisation in Complex Times

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrique Rubio Royo ◽  
Susan Cranfield McKay ◽  
Jose Carlos Nelson-Santana ◽  
Ramiro N Delgado Rodríguez ◽  
Antonio A. Ocon-Carreras
Keyword(s):  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Collective Narratives ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
Complex Ecosystem ◽  
Professional Self ◽  
Self Organisation ◽  
Web Knowledge

This article describes a proposal for sustainable way to adapt to current complex process of global transformation, using the ‘Web Knowledge Turbine' (WKT) as a self-organised ecosystem for the co-creation of personal and collective narratives. The authors contemplate all human social systems as Complex Adaptive Systems with the capacity for self-organisation derived from a permanent learning process. Accordingly, a shift in the focus of teaching programmes from mere mechanisms of knowledge transmission, to a process focused on learning and in particular, a process of self-directed, connected, and deep learning which has at its core the profile of the eLearner as the central protagonist. The cornerstone of this process is a Complex Ecosystem of Personal Knowledge (CEPK) which will support teaching at an undergraduate level, progressively and transversely, from its outset. Considering the classroom as a networked community of learners whose objective is not only to gain a command of a particular subject (WHAT content do they need to learn?), but also HOW and WHY they need to learn it.

scholarly journals Globalization and the erosion of geo-ethnic checkpoints: evolving signal-boundary systems at the edge of chaos

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-109
Author(s):  
Chris Girard
Keyword(s):  
Signal Processing ◽  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Extraction Process ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Major Transitions ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
Zero Sum ◽  
Economic Specialization

AbstractSpatial boundaries, thermodynamic–economic specialization, and signal processing are at the core of evolution’s major transitions. Centered on these three dimensions, a proposed evolutionary informatics model roots ethnic and racial cleavages in zero-sum contests over rivalrous resources within geophysical sites. As the geophysical boundaries and signal-processing complexity of social systems coevolved, zero-sum contests centered on metropoles extracting resources from hinterlands. In this colonial extraction process, racialization arose from non-market spatial segregation of populations tagged with hinterland lineage. Subsequent post-industrial erosion—and greater permeability—of racial and ethnic boundaries has been enabled by the progressive uncoupling of more highly evolved complex adaptive systems from geophysical location (non-territorial adaptation). Signal and physical topologies are becoming more distinct. This uncoupling from physical location is driven by cybernetic parallelism in complex adaptive systems: diverse and independent agents learning from their mutual exchange of signals. Cybernetic parallelism has generated epistemic and geopolitical challenges to formal apartheid and racializing immigration policies, but not without friction or reversals.

scholarly journals Plankton modelling and CLAW

2007 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Cropp ◽  
John Norbury
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Mathematical Modelling ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Environmental Context ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
Complex Adaptive

Environmental context. The prospect of human-induced climate change provides a compelling imperative for an improved understanding of living systems, especially those involving ocean plankton that are proposed to have an important role in regulating climate. Ecosystems are complex, adaptive systems and mathematical modelling has proved to be a powerful tool in understanding such systems. The present article considers some of the fundamental issues currently constraining such understanding with particular consideration to modelling ecosystems that underpin the CLAW hypothesis and how they might behave in response to global warming.

scholarly journals Governance through corporate social responsibility as a key organizational principle

2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 393-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marita Naude
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
Organizational Principle ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Responsible Governance

This article addresses Governance through Corporate Social Responsibility as a Key Organizational Principle. The notion of etic and emic depicts the definitional status of CSR. Etic represents the universal recognition of CSR and emic represents the unique implementation of CSR in an organization. This article proposes that organizations behave like complex adaptive systems with complex interactions needing socially responsible strategies. This article describes French based SUEZ’s emic responses to achieve responsible Governance in terms of CSR. A recipe or menu approach to Governance through CSR is inappropriate. SUEZ has acted as a model for recognizing etic and emic differentiation, using CSR as the Key Organizing Principle that allows adaptability in a socially responsible way and developed specific guidelines incorporating the needs of diverse stakeholders.

Managing Complex Adaptive Social Systems

2011 ◽  
pp. 1034-1045
Author(s):  
Roy Williams
Keyword(s):  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Emergent Properties ◽  
Adaptive Networks ◽  
Open Communication ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
Complex Adaptive Social Systems

Complex Adaptive Systems, for our purposes, are social systems that that evolve and display new, emergent properties, and self-organizing behavior of their components; they are based on a reasonably stable infrastructure, on the satisfaction of the most basic needs, and flexible, frequent, and open communication and interaction. Complex Adaptive Systems may be based on a few, simple rules, but can yield complex and unpredictable outcomes. The ‘Hole in the Wall’ project is an interesting case in point in the design of spaces for complex adaptive systems, or complex adaptive networks. In this project, touch screen computers were literally put in ‘holes in walls’ in places where unschooled children congregated. The children were given no instructions on how to use the computers, or what to do with them, but with startling results: the children soon taught themselves how to use the computers and the Internet, and much more (Mitra, 2003).

The complexity continuum, Part 1: hard and soft theories

Kybernetes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 1330-1354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurice Yolles
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Viable Systems ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Complexity Theories

PurposeComplex systems adapt to survive, but little comparative literature exists on various approaches. Adaptive complex systems are generic, this referring to propositions concerning their bounded instability, adaptability and viability. Two classes of adaptive complex system theories exist: hard and soft. Hard complexity theories include Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) and Viability Theory, and softer theories, which we refer to as Viable Systems Theories (VSTs), that include Management Cybernetics at one extreme and Humanism at the other. This paper has a dual purpose distributed across two parts. In Part 1, the purpose of this paper is to identify the conditions for the complementarity of the two classes of theory. In Part 2, the purpose is to explore (in part using Agency Theory) the two classes of theory and their proposed complexity continuum.Design/methodology/approachA detailed analysis of the literature permits a distinction between hard and softer approaches towards modelling complex social systems. Hard theories are human-incommensurable, while soft ones are human-commensurable, therefore more closely related to the human condition. The characteristics that differentiate between hard and soft approaches are identified.FindingsHard theories are more restrictive than the softer theories. The latter can embrace degrees of “softness” and it is explained how hard and soft approaches can be mixed, sometimes creating Harmony.Originality/valueThere are very few explorations of the relationship between hard and soft approaches to complexity theory, and even fewer that draw in the notion of harmony.

Complex Processes and Social Systems

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Large ◽  
Petia Sice ◽  
Robert Geyer ◽  
Geoff O'Brien ◽  
Safwat Mansi
Keyword(s):  
Mental Models ◽  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Complex Processes ◽  
Stop Time ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
Complex Responsive Processes

In this paper the authors consider two contrasting viewpoints; Complex responsive processes which deal with interactions in the present, and complex adaptive systems which focus on learning through the production of what are called mental models. The paper shows that rather than being contradictory, these viewpoints are – at least in some respects - complementary. From the resulting perspective we are able to identify qualitative synergies between the two approaches. Complex responsive processes involve reflections on interactions that take place in time. But you cannot stop time so these present reflections always refer back to a present now gone. Complex adaptive systems are analytic tools. They are not explicitly in the present or in time at all, but they shape our thoughts and actions which are in the present. They shape how people behave, respond and think in a context. In this way people can combine, or reorganise, the approach to complex responsive processes and complex adaptive systems to show how humans address the complex notions of our world.

Systems fragility: The sociology of chaos

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lori R. Hodges, MA
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Sociotechnical Systems ◽  
Systems Perspective ◽  
Complex Adaptive

This article examines the concept of community fragility in emergency management from a systems perspective. Using literature that addresses fragility in four areas of complex systems, including ecosystems, social systems, sociotechnical systems, and complex adaptive systems, a theoretical framework focused on the emergency management field is created. These findings illustrate how community fragility factors can be used in the emergency management field to not only improve overall outcomes after disaster but also build less fragile systems and communities in preparation for future disasters.

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