1. Overview of dynamics (4 sessions, read Ch 4, 5)
* attractors, chaos, period doubling, bifurcation diagram of the logistic map
2. Cellular Automata (4 sessions, read appropriate sections of Ch 9 + Waldrop Ch 6)
* cellular automata as models for physical, biological, and social phenomena
* 1- and 2-dimensional binary cellular automata
* the effects of boundaries
3. Conway's Game of Life (4 sessions, read appropriate sections of Ch 9 + Waldrop Ch 6)
* gliders and other complex structures
* Life as a universal computer
4. Wolfram's classification scheme (3 sessions, read appropriate sections of Ch 9 + Waldrop Ch 6)
* examples in 1- and 2-d
* Langton's order parameter and similarity to logistic parameter
5. Coupled map lattices (2 sessions)
* independent versus collective behavior
* global pattern formation from local rules
6. Self-organization (4 sessions, read approp. sec. of Ch 9 + W. Ch 8)
* self-organized criticality (SOC)
* SOC in Life, sandpiles, earthquakes, and the stock market
* how SOC amplifies external stimuli
* 1/f noise and SOC and relation to esthetic response
7. Neural networks (6 sessions, read approp. sec. of Ch 9 + W. Ch 3)
* computation by a cellular automaton
* supervised learning: the backpropagation algorithm
* emergent properties and the amazing leap to generalization
* competitive learning: pattern recognition networks
* recurrent (Hopfield) nets: associative memory
8. Complex adaptive systems (9 sessions, read approp. sec. of Ch 9 + W. [many])
* flocking (schooling) behavior in artificial birds (fish)
* genetic algorithms: survival of the fittest
* defined fitness versus coevolution
* coevolutionary forces: emergent behavior in Ray's Tierra, Holland's Echo, Arthur's artificial economy, modern business organizations
9. Organization, Complexity, and the Second Law of Thermodynamics (3 sessions, read approp. sec. of Ch 9 + W. Ch 8)
10. Project reports by students (3 sessions)
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