Complex Adaptive Systems

Mirsad HadzikadicDean, College of Information

Technology, University of North Carolina at

Charlotte

Agenda

• CoIT• Introduction• Properties• Examples• Not a CAS• Demos• Power Law• Summary

Academic Units Department of Computer Science Department of Software & Information

Systems Programs BS/BA Computer Science BA Software and Information Systems MS CS & IT PH.D IT Certificates, minor

Centers National Security Agency Center of

Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education

eBusiness Technology Institute Center for Computer Security and

Assurance Regional Center for Visualization and

Analytics Center for Bioinformatics

Laboratories Information Integration, Security, and

Privacy Information Environments Mobile and Multimedia Communications Software Solutions Computer Forensics Virtual Reality Visualization

Robotics Knowledge and Data Discovery Computer Engineering Parallel Processing Imaging, Visualization, and Vision Home Security

College of IT

2004 Enrollment

Program CSCI S&IS

BA, BS 400 100

Undergraduate Certificate 10 N/A

Graduate Certificate 5 30

MS 130 70

Ph.D. IT 70

Faculty

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

1999 2002 2005

Full-TimePart-Time

Research Focus Areas

• Computer / Information Security• Bioinformatics• Visualization• Networking & Information Environments

• Intelligent Systems

Synergy

External Funding ($M)

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Woodward Hall

Introduction

Properties

• Not-so-intelligent agents, both homogeneous and heterogeneous

• Local, frequent interactions• Non-linear phenomena - the whole is greater than the sum of its parts

• Adaptation• Fitness function (agent and system)• Self-organization

• Self-organization is a process where the organization of a system spontaneously increases over time, thus enabling the system to cope with the unexpected, and increasingly complex, behavior of the environment it exists in

• Emergent properties/behavior

Wise Crowds

• U.S. Submarine Scorpion, 1968• Jelly-beans-in-the-jar• Maze• The Space Shuttle Challenger• Prediction

Super Bowl, World Series Iowa Electronics Market Project, Hollywood Stock Exchange

Stock Market Corporate Decision Making

• The Four Conditions That Characterize Wise Crowds Diversity of Opinion Independence Decentralization Aggregation

Examples

• Brain• Immune System• Economy• Water• Internet, Google• Ant Colonies, Slime Mold, Swarms• Flocks (boids)• Environment• Voting, Stock Market

Not a CAS

• An example of a non-complex system In equilibrium economic models all consumers are identical - no change in preferences or characteristics

Demos

• NKS• LifeLab• NetLogo• Student Projects Encryption Piracy Traffic Rebates

Pricing Feature Relevance

Ants Financial markets

Power Law

Summary

• Simple agents, complex interactions• Self-organization• Non-linearity• Improvement over time/feedback• Macro emergent behavior• “There is plenty of room at the bottom” - Richard Feynman Molecular biology / DNA (biology, chemistry) Quantum mechanics (physics) Nanotechnology (optics) Strings Theory

Questions?