Agents (Part 2): Complex Systems

by James Odell

Complexity is all around us. It is part of our life; it is the nature of life. Complexity is caused by the collective behavior of many basic interacting agents. Such agents can produce everyday phenomena such as ant colonies, traffic jams, stock markets, forest ecosystems, and supply chain systems. Complex systems, however, do not have to complicated. For example, the ant colony simulation shown in Figure 1 (see www.media.mit.edu/~starlogo) is not complicated. Each ant has three simple rules:

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Agents (Part 2): Complex Systems June 2000