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SOCIAL
SYSTEMS AS COLLECTIONS OF INDIVIDUALS:
A
Course on the Creation of Computer Models of Complex Systems with
Human Agents
30 June - 25 July, 1997
Course director: John B. Corliss
Resource persons: TBA
Purpose
The purpose of this course is to provide
an introduction to recent developments in mathematics, computation and
communication which have important implications for the study of social
systems. In support of the enrichment of higher education in Central and
Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, the course offers academic
scholars an introduction to the study of complex behavior in natural systems
with a focus on systems involving the collective behavior of human agents.
Studies of social systems have been
divided by academic tradition into fields such as economics, sociology,
history, political science, environmental science... New mathematical
and computational approaches reinforce the notion that there is an underlying
unity in the complex human systems which form the subject matter of these
academic domains.
These new approaches fall into a number
of related sub-disciplines denoted by terms such as Complex Adaptive Systems,
Agent-based Artificial Intelligence, Software Agents, Computational Economics,
Self-Organized Social Phenomena. All are concerned with systems composed
of collections of interacting entities, human agents, with rules for their
behavior, communicating, remembering and learning. For the definition of
human agents and their learning and communication they draw on recent advances
in Cognitive Science, Psychology, Communication Theory and Linguistics.
The course
The four-week program will feature intensive
tool-kit introductions to basic topics; week-long lecture courses on selected
subjects, seminars, and computer lab workshops. The emphasis will be on
interdisciplinary collaboration.
1) Short Courses and Seminars will be
presented by internationally-recognized researchers in the developing fields
of Complex Adaptive Systems, Agent-based Artificial Intelligence,
Software Agents, Computational Economics, Self-Organized Social Phenomena
and related studies.
2)A hands-on introduction to SWARM
software for the modeling of Complex Adaptive Systems will be presented,
including interactive exploration of SWARM programs under development (
see http://www.santafe.edu/projects/swarm/ ).
3) The course will have a highly
interactive format. Workshops will encourage teams of course participants
in the creation and pursuit of collaborative research projects. The intent
is that these research teams would continue to pursue these projects after
the course, forming the core of collaborative network for teaching and
research.
4) An introduction to the resources
of the Internet for teaching and research in agent-based modeling of social
systems and the use of user-friendly Java and Castanet-based graphical
interfaces to agent-based complex systems modeling environments on remote
supercomputers.
The course meetings will be held at
the Systems Laboratory of Central European University in Budapest. Facilities
include advanced computer workstations (Silicon Graphics, Pentium/Windows
and Macintosh PowerPC) and high-speed network access both internal and
to the Internet. The Systems Laboratory is in the Kerepesi Residence Center,
where the participants will live.
Participants
We seek a diverse group, but successful
applicants will have at least some computer programming experience; facility
with Unix and C are desirable, C++, Objective C or Java a plus. Selected
participants will have University degrees and graduate training in Mathematics,
Computer Science, Linguistics, or one of the Social Sciences (Economics,
Sociology, History, Political Science, Environmental Science or related
fields) accompanied by computer expertise. Command of English is required.
We seek people who have demonstrated
a substantial level of commitment and accomplishment in their area of concentration
prior to application, with an emphasis on creative extensions of that domain.
Beyond that, we are also interested in individuals who have academic backgrounds
that are variously described as unorthodox, innovative, or self-generated.
Their backgrounds could be emphatically not narrowly technical, but instead
anticipate the mix of disciplines found within the program.
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