How can scientists understand and predict the complex behavior of systems made up of unique, adaptive beings, or “agents”? These systems surround us every day: the traffic we drive to work in, the economic sectors that provide our food and energy, the financial markets we invest in, the ecosystems we depend on and work to preserve, and even our own bodies. These systems have complex and seemingly unpredictable behaviors that arise from the actions and interactions of the agents (the drivers, businesses, investors, plants and animals, genes and cells) that make them up. What makes agent-based systems complex is that the agents are all different from each other, interact with some but not all others, behave in ways that promote their own well-being, and are strongly affected by the system they make up. Each driver in traffic speeds up, slows down, or switches routes depending on the traffic ahead, the capabilities of its vehicle, and the driver’s relative motivation for safety vs. speed—which can depend on how much it has already been delayed by the traffic it is part of.
The ideas in David Marquand’s book ‘The End of the West: The
Once and Future Europe’ were the subject of a panel event at the British Academy on 29 November.
In front of a capacity audience David and his fellow panellists Rt Hon
Professor Shirley Williams and Professors Paulo Pombeni and Christopher Hill
addressed a range of issues, from how Europe should respond to the
changing global balance of power, to the growing demands for recognition by the
ethnic communities within its borders and the legitimacy deficit of its
politicians. There were also a variety of suggestions as to how the
current crisis in the Eurozone might be resolved. To hear this event in
full follow the link below.
The programme asked three distinguished Professors of Economics for their views on how to solve the
current economic crisis. Other guests were Danny Quah from London School
of Economics and Lord Robert Skidelsky, Emeritus Professor of Political Economy
at Warwick University. The programme is available to listen to from this
link http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00lzhr8
As American forces prepare to leave Iraq at the end of the month, questions abound as to the final outcome of the war: Can America forces count this as a victory? Have the enemies they spent the last eight years fighting been defeated? Although, the nature of warfare has changed dramatically, the Princeton Shorts selection, On Victory and Defeat, from Carl von Clausewitz’s classic On War, may offer some insight into the what victory means and how we know when our enemies have been defeated.
Thanks to Philosophy and Classics Editor, Rob Tempio, for this post.
“In this magisterial narrative history of African American literature running from the end of the Harlem Renaissance to the beginning of the civil rights period, Lawrence P. Jackson expands the archive for assessing African American writing during a period that has often been reduced to protest writing. Jackson places writers into fresh contexts of cohorts (critics and editors included) and threads a clear narrative line through three heady decades jam-packed with African American authors publishing in a variety of genres and venues. Jackson is excellent on the important influence of the Communist Party, on mid-twentieth-century black literary culture, and on issues of publishing and reception. Beautifully written and rich in historical detail, The Indignant Generation should quickly become a standard work in twentieth-century African American studies and United States publishing history.”
“The Hurston/Wright Legacy Award™ is the first national award presented to published writers of African descent by the national community of Black writers. This award consists of prizes for the highest quality writing in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry.”
Emma Rothschild has won the 2011 Saltire Society Scottish History Book of the Year Award for her book The Inner Life of Empires: An Eighteenth-Century History. This award recognizes an exceptional work of Scottish historical research:
“The Saltire Society Literary Awards bring together the very best of Scottish literature, from the writings of established and new authors through to the accomplishments of researchers and historians, and is a wonderful way of celebrating this important aspect of our rich cultural heritage.”
In his new book, MacCormick identifies the most amazing “tricks” our computers perform — things like encryption, compression, searches — thanks to algorithms. Of course, as with any “list”, there simply isn’t enough room to include every possible algorithm, so sound off below on which algorithms are the most pivotal, creative, or useful in our PCs and hand-held devices.
And Kimberly Blanton of the Squared Away Blog of the Financial Security Project at Boston College recently spoke with Prof. Garon about savings rates, “over-indebtedness,” and America’s “unusual” Christmas shopping season: http://fsp.bc.edu/united-states-of-credit/
Artist Wu Peng was in the audience at the talk–how cool is that!
If that wasn’t enough, Debra Bruno recently wrote a blog article featuring Daniel A. Bell and the book at The Atlantic Cities blog, which Chicago magazine’s staff blog The 312 picked up earlier today, with a Windy City twist.
From “Does Inequality Matter?” Republicans have never watned to talk about inequality, and many Democrats now seem afraid to. As a congressional Democratic adviser quoted by the New York Times reporter Jackie Calmes recently put it, the party is having difficulty articulating its position “in a way that doesn’t get us pegged as tax-and-spenders.”
The remarkable achievement of the Occupy Wall Street movement has been to make continuing silence about inequality politically unacceptable. Some have criticized the movement for not pressing specific demands. Yet most protesters wouldn’t pretend to have a sophisticated understanding of the forces that have been causing growing income disparities, or the policy experience to prescribe what might be done about them. But now that the movement has forced inequality onto the agenda, the time is ripe to focus on these issues….
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