Complex Adaptive Systems

In this module we will be giving an overview to complex adaptive systems, we will first define what we mean they this term, before briefly covering the main topics in this area.

A complex adaptive system is a special class of complex system that has the capacity for adaptation. Thus like all complex systems they consist of many elements, what are called agents, with these agents interacting in a nonlinear fashion creating a network of connections within which agents are acting and reacting to each other’s behavior. Through adaptation agents have the capacity to synchronize their states or activities with other agents locally, out of these local interactions the system can self-organize with the emergence of globally coherent patterns of organization developing. This macro scale organization then feeds back to the micro level, as the system has to perform selection upon the agents based upon their contribution to the whole system’s functioning. And thus there develops a complex dynamic between the bottom up motives of the individual agents and the top down macro scale system of organization, both of which are often driven by different agendas but are ultimately interdependent. It is this interaction between bottom-up differentiation of agents with different agendas going in different directions and top-down integration in order to maintain the global pattern of organization that creates the core dynamic of complexity within these systems. This is a lot of very dense information so we will now try to flesh it out in greater detail through examples.

There are many examples of complex adaptive systems from ant colonies to financial market to the human immune system, to democracies and all types of ecosystems, but we will start on the micro level by talking about the agents and adaptation. An agent is an actor that has the capacity to adapt their state, meaning that given some change within their environment they can in response adjust their own state, so say our agent is a player within a sports game, well if we throw a ball to the person he or she can catch that ball. They are able to do this because they have what is called a regulatory or control system, a control system of this kind consist of a sensor, controller and an actuator, the person is using their optical sense to input information to their brain, the controller, that is then sending out a response to their mussels, the actuator, and through this process they can adjust to generate the appropriate response to this change in their environment. And it is this same process through which a bird in an ecosystem or a trader within a market is receiving information, processing it and generating a response. Typically these agents can only intercept and process a limited amount of local information, like a snail following a trail on the ground it does not have a global vision of the whole terrain around it and it must simply respond to the local information available to it.

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[petrskupa]

One of the most beneficial of your presentations

[Wisdombluetooth]

The confusion here is the chicken or egg first, for examples in sustainability, it is the feedback loop from the top that creates it, or the micro-level change in agents?

[FeezKhalifa]

Great tutorial. Please, check for a few typos.

[hisnameiskhaya]

thank you
Feedback: check spelling for "loser" and "pattern"

[CougarsRock]

This is interesting and incredibly useful information. I can't wait to go through the entire course.

I am just beginning though the material seems really dense and that the target audience is people with advanced degrees. It would be awesome if there was a version targeted to an audience with a grades 10-13 levels of education and/or intelligence.

[cortezoa]

We need advancements in Artificial Intelligence to fully realize the complex adaptive system to its most perfect form . (AI assisted CAS)

[frostman]

Ok if you say concioussness is a by product of matter you are on a very path. And what evidence have you got to say that?

[Lessdeth]

This is a dangerously shallow understanding of complex adaptive systems.

[frostman]

And also the neurons are not in control but you are, YOU decide on the information you aee fed frim your sensors, there is a YOU behind the screen making evaluation. The fact that you can see it it meams you are not it.