Social Science in Between, from Complex Adaptive Systems: An Introduction to Computational Models of Social Life

John H. Miller and Scott E. Page
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John H. Miller: Carnegie Mellon University
Scott E. Page: University of Michigan

A chapter in Complex Adaptive Systems: An Introduction to Computational Models of Social Life, 2007 from Princeton University Press

Abstract: This 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, Complex Adaptive Systems 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. 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.

Keywords: emergence; self-organized criticality; automata; networks; diversity; adaptation; feedback; organization; robustness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
ISBN: 9780691127026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (151)

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