The statistical properties of the energy landscape of the low autocorrelated binary string problem (LABSP) are studied numerically and compared with those of several classic disordered models. Using two global measures of landscape structure which have been introduced in the Simulated Annealing...

Swarm is a multi-agent software platform for the simulation of complex adaptive systems. In the Swarm system the basic unit of si8mulation is the swarm, a collection of agents executing a schedule of actions. Swarm supports hierarchical modeling approaches whereby agents can be composed of...

This paper is divided into four parts. The first section (I.) consists of definitions which center on the concept of complexity. As a minimum, the terms, system, complexity, and adaptation as used in this paper need an explanation. The second section (II.) is a sketch of cultural complexity in...

This paper draws on modern psychology to argue that as humans, in economic decision contexts that are complicated or ill-defined, we use not deductive, but inductive reasoning. That is, in such contexts we induce a variety of working hypotheses or mental models, act upon the most credible, and...

Through conceptual examples and demonstrations, we argue that the symbiotic combination of the Internet and humans will result in a significant enhancement of the previously existing, self-organizing social structure of humans. The combination of the unique capabilities of intelligent,...

Many of our most troubling long-range problems---trade balances, substainability, AIDS, genetic defects, mental health, computer viruses---center on certain systems of extraordinary complexity. The systems that host these problems---economies, ecologies, immune systems, embryos, nervous systems,...

Evolution of RNA molecules in vitro is visualized as a hill-climbing process on a fitness landscape that can be derived from molecular properties and functions. The optimization process is shaped by a high degree of redundance in sequence-to-structure mappings: There are many more sequences than...

Although Vladimir Nabokov may be better known for his outstanding literary achievements, particularly as the author of the novel Lolita (1955), he had an equally impressive genius for science. While acting as curator at Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology in the 1940s, he became an expert on...

A number of outstanding puzzles in economics may be resolved by recognizing that where members of a group benefit from mutual adherence to a social norm, agents may obey the norm and punish its violators, even when this behavior cannot be motivated by self-regarding, outcome-oriented...

We characterize the distributions of short cycles in a large metabolic network previously shown to have small world characteristics and a power law degree distribution. Compared with three networks of the same connectivity, the metabolic network has a particularly large number of triangles and a...