"Complex Science for a Complex World: Exploring Human Ecosystems with Agents"

By Pascal Perez and David Batten (Editors), Australian National University E Press, 2006

Julianne Gilmore brought this book to my attention.

Moore's Law works, and computer modeling is becoming affordable with more and more complex simulations. Models based on agents can now be used in simulations of very complex systems of interactions, and the behaviors of these systems explored as the parameters of the agents behavior, the linkages among agents, and the factors in their environment affecting agent bahavior all change. This book describes the theory of such models, and provides case studies of their application.

The case studies are:

* Sustainability Assessment of Housing Developments: A New Methodology
* WISDOM-II: A Network Centric Model for Warfare
* Managing Agricultural Pest and Disease Incursions: An Application of Agent-Based Modelling
* SimDrug: A Multi-Agent System Tackling the Complexity of Illicit Drug Markets in Australia
* NEMSIM: Finding Ways to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions Using Multi-Agent Electricity Modelling
* AtollGame: A Companion Modelling Experience in the Pacific
* Multiple-Use Management Strategy Evaluation for Coastal Marine Ecosystems Using InVitro
* Rangeland Consolidation Patterns in Australia: An Agent-Based Modelling Approach.

In the 1960's my work included computer modeling of neural systems, and the use of neural networks in pattern recognition. The computers of the day were primative, barely toys by todays standards. But the work was some of the very first work that demonstrated emergence from the complex behavior of simple agents. When later the Santa Fe Institute became famous for its development of Complexity Theory, and when I read Mitch Waldrop's book ("Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos") I became more of a fan of this theory. The work on evolutionary economics (c.f. An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change by Richard R. Nelson, Sidney G. Winter) made it clear that the complexity modelling approach was very relevant to understanding technology policy, including technology policy for developing nations. This book adds to the breadth of the approach, showing how complexity modelling can help to understand complex social system behavior, and even the interaction of that behavior with the physical world.