Harnessing Complexity: Organizational Implications of a Scientific Frontier
Axelrod and Cohen explain that in successful adaptive systems, rich networks of horizontal linkages foster cooperation and provide an advantage over other less cooperatively networked groups. In the case of Italy, voluntary associations created networks of trust in the Middle Ages that became northern Italy's critical advantage over the south.
Harnessing Complexity by Robert Axelrod
How can foundations and corporations design competitions that have a positive effect on the evolution of excellence? The authors' framework makes clear that the worst selection processes are mired in orthodox standards that have not adapted to a new environment. The best selection processes, on the other hand, are created and run by leaders who understand how the standards they use can transform their organization and its environment. This simple, paradigm-shifting analysis of how people work together will transform the way we think about getting things done in a group.
Its concepts were so general but struck me as universal.
Harnessing Complexity: Organizational Implications of a Scientific Frontier
I knew the information was Now two pioneers in the field, Robert Axelrod and Michael D. Cohen, provide leaders in business and government with a guide to complexity that Organizational Implications of a Scientific Frontier. Complex Adaptive Systems exhibit emergent behavior; small changes might produce large perturbations; and large changes might change nothing. Yet Complex Adaptive Systems aren't chaotic nor are they random - Complex Adaptive Systems are Complex not because they are random but because they exhibit patterns and non-randomness in ways that are hard to define or to predict.
They are adaptive because the participants of the system adapt to each other and to the system at large. The framework which allows managing those problems borrows ideas from evolutionary biology, optimization and artificial intelligence.
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The key concepts are are: Variation, Interaction and Selection. They are explained thoroughly in their own chapters. Variation is how strategies or participants in the system change to adapt. Variation is closely related to the exploration versus exploitation trade-off known from optimization. Too little variation means less exploration, too much variation means that we might not explore the search space.
Both mean that agents participants might not find the optimal solution. Interaction defines patterns of behavior of and how they might influence agent's behavior.
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Examples range form location physical or conceptional inhibiting influence of distant agents, barriers physical like walls or conceptual ones like secretaries guarding the access to key people in the company , copying the behavior of other agents so on and so forth. The biggest problem of the book is it's presentation. The book offers profound knowledge but sometimes very interesting observations are almost smuggled in as offhand comments and the non-important minutia seem to drag on for a couple of pages. Even though I'm pretty familiar with concepts of artificial life and optimization which forms the basis of the framework of Harnessing Complexity I had a problem picking through relevant and non-relevant topics and had a few "so what?
Harnessing Complexity
As it is the book needs re-reading and probably a closer study with a hands-on project to get everything out of it. B the book also contains a few of a few typos and ungrammatical sentences which coupled with the subject matter certainly doesn't help comprehension. Harnessing Complexity is an interesting book with some very deep ideas. If it wasn't for the presentation it easily could have been one of my favorites. Sep 29, Franck Chauvel rated it it was ok Shelves: Harnessing Complexity is a gentle introduction to "complex systems": Such systems exhibit unexpected behaviours, with sudden changes of regime, cycles, oscillations or tipping points to name a few.
The text focuses on three key aspects, namely variation, interaction, and selection. Variation mainly results in multiple species whose agents apply different strategies; interaction refers to the alternative interaction, be it in Harnessing Complexity is a gentle introduction to "complex systems": Variation mainly results in multiple species whose agents apply different strategies; interaction refers to the alternative interaction, be it in a physical universe e.
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I found the book very easy to read compared for instance to "Complex Adaptive Systems: Yet, having read other books on the subject including several texts from J. Holland, I did not get much more beyond what I already knew.
While I would certainly recommend it as an introduction, I would rather orient complex systems "connoisseurs" towards more specific text, on chaos theory or on learning classifier systems for instance. Axelrod and in this case, working with co-author Michael D. Cohen does a great job of describing complexity.
It's an very lucid description of the organization properties inherent in complex systems. I'm glad I started here when I first decided that I needed to understand complexity theory. His, 'The Complexity of Cooperation is also part of the the foundation of complexity theory and its usefulness.
Aug 14, Mark rated it liked it Shelves: I was somewhat disappointed with this book because The Evolution of Cooperation was so great. I think this is a decent introduction to complex social systems providing the reader with a basic vocabulary and some some moderately insightful discussion of social systems. There doesn't seem to be any unique contributions here. I thought the discussion about variation was the best part of the book. Aug 24, Tawfiqam rated it it was amazing.
Usually, you would think that complexity is a negative phenomenon to be controlled and if possible, if you are lucky eliminated The authors look at the flip side of this argument where the complexity is "harnessed" in order to explore as well exploit different nodes in a decision tree in order to determine the best methods Mar 23, AJ Passman rated it it was ok. Difficult This is a book I read for a class, and it was honestly torturous to get through.
The science is compelling, but it just doesn't make for a great read. Dec 28, Mark Lacy rated it really liked it Shelves: Important systematic description of what agent-based modeling is all about in studying complex systems. Julie rated it really liked it Feb 07, Alaeris rated it it was amazing Jan 02, Ranodda rated it liked it Dec 22, Lisa Peck rated it liked it Jul 03, Nc rated it really liked it Jul 30, Andy Morgado rated it really liked it Oct 30, Pankaj rated it it was amazing Jul 07, Matt Strohmeyer rated it really liked it Feb 23,