Complex Adaptive Systems

These simulations explore a variety of complex adaptive systems. Psychology, computer science, economics, biology, and neuroscience depend upon a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that govern adaptive systems. A common feature of these systems is that organized behavior emerges from the interactions of many simple parts. Ants organize to build colonies, neurons organize to produce adaptive human behavior, and businesses organize to create economies. To address the essential question of "What are the properties of complex adaptive systems?," simulations case studies of several systems are explored: chaotic growth in animal populations, human learning, cooperation and competition within social groups, genetic algorithms, leaf formation in pine cones, and the evolution of artificial life. The central idea running through all of the simulations is that widely different systems (businesses, ant colonies, brains) share fundamental commonalities.