Complexity is not "dead". Scientists have always been interested in complex systems, and will always be. Only the degree increases, the frontier is shifting. And it is of course inherently difficult to define complexity precisely (because something is complex if you cannot describe it in a simple way), or to grasp it clearly with a formalism.
The "new" sciences of complexity are nothing else but the exploration of complex systems with computers. Just as telescopes allow us to recognize large scale structures, or microcopes and particle accelerators allow us to resolve tiny structures, computers allows us to investigate more complex structures. The best formalisms here are agents and cellular automata. The exploration of both are only possible with fast computers. As you know, the goal is find simple models with complex results: agent based models like "the (Iterated) Prisoner's Dilemma", "the El Farol Model", "the Minority Game", the "Flocking" or swarm model, the pheronmone (ant) foraging model, etc. These models and the different types and forms of "emergence" play perhaps the rule of fundamental equations in physics and the natural sciences. Some of the better books IMHO are (list is not comprehensive) for.. ... Agent based Modelling Joshua Epstein and Robert Axtell, "Growing Artificial Societies" Nigel Gilbert and Klaus G. Troitzsch, "Simulation for the Social Scientist" The MABS (Multi-Agent-Based Simulation) books from Springer's LNAI Thomas Schelling, "Micromotives and Macrobehavior" Robert Axelrod, "The Complexity of Cooperation" ... Cellular Automata Stephen Wolfram, "A New Kind of Science" Andrew Ilachinski, "Cellular Automata: A Discrete Universe" -J. ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
