CSCS 501 An introduction to Complex Systems Rick Riolo rlriolo@umich.edu cscs.umich.edu/~rlr Winter 2007 This course covers a broad range of fundamental topics relevant to the study of complex systems. The course work involves weekly readings and discussion of papers and selections from books. The readings focus on "classics" in the complex systems literature, in order to give students a broad, general understanding for the variety of work that falls under the rubric of complex systems. Topics to be covered will include evolutionary systems, self-organized criticality, measures of complexity, approaches to modeling complex adaptive systems, and emergence. Authors to be covered include Holland, Axelrod, Kaufmann, Arthur, Bak, Gell-Mann, Simon and many more. The course page is: cscs.umich.edu/education/CSCS-courses/cscs501.html There are pointers to - syllabus for past terms - candidate readings ( ** please check this out ** ) - syllabus for this term (as we fill it in) - course-work and grading policy - a pointer to the CTools pages for this course This course is one of the courses required for the CSCS Rackham Graduate Certificate and IGERT programs. For information about those graduate programs, see: cscs.umich.edu/education/grad/grad.html The goals of this course are, roughly: - exposure to a broad view of complex systems topics, in many fields - learn a common language and set of concepts - build a community of students interested in complex systems studies - have fun reading and discussing some really interesting material! The challenges to making this a successful course include: - students with very different backgrounds and skills - students with different interests - the breadth of complex systems as a field of study Another way to view this course is as a "preparatory" course for attending one our student-led groups: - the Complex Systems Reading Group (CSRG) cscs.umich.edu/CSRG - CSAAW (Complex Systems Advanced Academic Workshop), primarily though not exclusively for students who are using (or plan to use) a complex systems approach for (at least part of) dissertation projects. cscs.umich.edu/CSAAW/ NOTE WELL: This course (CSCS 501) is *really* a discussion class: - I'm not going to lecture, nor lead the discussions. - I expect students will do the readings and drive the discussion. - You MUST participate in the discussions to do well. - I expect students will be asking *and answering* questions about terms, ideas, concepts that are unfamiliar to them. - This course always has students from many disciplines, so in general some students know (or can quickly learn) about one or another of the topics we cover. I expect students to share their knowledge with the rest of the class as the opportunity and need arises! - Also remember: make browsers your friends! you can easily find short intro's to most topics we cover with a quick search. Please remember: This is not calculus 115. The "field" of Complex Systems Studies is very new, so there is plenty of room for a variety of ideas and viewpoints---you should note even the "famous authors" we read don't always agree! If you have questions about points or claims the authors try to make, or just think they are full of mortadella, feel free to say so! (In a constructive and reasoned way, of course.) Also note: this course is always A Work in Progress!! It is designed to meet as many of the above goals/needs as possible---with *your* help! Thus *suggestions on readings* are always welcome! Grading: - 33% discussion -- seriously!! Includes leading the discussion for some class sessions, attending regularly and participating in the discussions (with questions,comments). ** Attendance matters! ** Participation matters more!! Ask questions, answer questions, make comments. - 33% on each of two short papers (Summary/commentary/critique of readings, some from class, but most covering material not read in class.) - No incompletes (except in dire emergency) In general there is no reason for an Incomplete in this class. The papers do not have to be masterpieces of ground-breaking work. They should be seen as opportunities to explore aspects of Complex Systems that are of most interest to you, so it should be fun to write. - We will also use a few classes for students to briefly present a summary of their mid-term papers (eg 10-12 minutes each). Students have enjoyed this very much, as it gives them a chance to learn what is of interest to others in the class, and it gives them a chance to learn about areas not covered in class. These presentations have led to very useful interactions. Format: Each session two students will serve as discussion leaders. You can run the session however you want. For instance, you might summarize or at least list what you thought were some of the main points or ideas in the readings. One approach that has worked well is to ask all participants to come to class with *at least* two pre-prepared questions/comments (pre-prepared is usually better than ad lib). The discussion leaders write those on the board, organizing them a bit, and then the group goes through them, people adding comments, answering questions, etc. But whatever you do as leaders, the idea is to have a good discussion. The expectation is that everyone has done the readings and has thought about them. Thus the leaders should NOT lecture! This also has worked very well: Students have been asked to post questions/comments to the CTools discussion section, ***BEFORE CLASS***, so all can see them before class, and so leaders can collate them. The CTools discussion items can serve as seeds for ongoing discussions, before, during and after the official reading day. Leaders do well to: - "require" questions/comments from all participants - remind the class 2- and 1-day before class to post questions to CTools. *** NOTE WELL *** ==> There is a lot of reading to do -- there is a lot of ground to cover, to get even a brief introduction to what falls under the rubric of "Complex Systems Studies." PLAN AHEAD!! Check the amount to read for future classes and read ahead as needed. Note that most of the readings are not like reading math or texts -- these are about *ideas*. ==> Note that the questions you bring can be simple (eg, request for clarification or simple explanations) or they can be "deep", and comments can be to agree/disagree with some or all of what we read, or to tell us all about other things you have read, in your field or in general, that are releveant. ==> Don't just read, THINK! This can be useful: write yourself brief summaries/lists of: - What issues/problems/phenomena the authors trying to address - What do *you* think about what they claim, their approach, etc The readings for the first few weeks are on the course web page. The next 4 class readings are: ----------------------- Wed 10 Jan Waldrop: Complexity, Chapters 1-4. Flake: The Computational Beauty of Nature, pp 1-8 (off syllabus page) Bar-Yam: Section 0, Overview: pp 1-15. (online) Suggestion: trawl the web for "definitions" of complex (adaptive) systems. Discussion Leaders: ?, ? ** Buy the Waldrop book NOW! ** Buy the Flake Book ASAP! ----------------------- Mon 15 Jan No class Wed 17 Jan Waldrop Chapter 5 Kelly: Out of Control, Chapter 1-2,4-6 (online book) Discussion Leaders: ?, ? ------------------------ Mon 22 Jan Waldrop Chapter 6 (Edge of Chaos) Flake: Chapters 10,11 (Chaos) Flake Chapter 15 (Cellular Automata) Flake Chapters 2-3 (Numbers, Computation, Computability) Discussion Leaders: ?, ? ------------------------- *** We need volunteers for leading the first two weeks of discussion(s). Two per session is the usual practice. Volunteers??? Books to get NOW include: Waldrop Complexity ($10 in the CSCS office, 4485 Randall) Flake Computational Beauty of Nature Holland Hidden Order Sole and Goodwin Signs of Life Kelly Out of Control (optional purchase, since it is online) Note that: - The Waldrop and Kelly books are "popular science" books, which give a good flavor for the history of (parts of) the modern complex systems field and (some of) the players. The reading is deceptively easy: they raise lots of interesting ideas and challenging, deep questions, so take time to think about what is covered. - The Flake book has nice "formal" introductions to a good range of topics that come up again and again. We will interleave that those more "textbook" like readings with the reading the informal material just to keep things lively. There will be a few other books to buy---none of them particularly expensive. There will also be some material on e-reserves, and some online articles. See the syllabus page. ******* Important ******* Often this class is over-subscribed (by a lot!! Like this term!) The final class size will be about 16-20 students. I will give admission priority in this order: - CSCS students - other graduate students - undergraduates generally first-come-first-serve within each category, but with some bias given to students who are about to graduate (and so cannot take the course in future terms). If you are registered (or on the waitlist) and plan to drop, please let me know ASAP, so others can get into the course. I'd really like to have about 16-18 students in the class, in order to better foster good discussions by all participants, though in a stretch we could go to maybe 18-20... *** Please *** Please decide in the *NEXT 4 DAYS* if you are going to stay or drop the course. Please do not stay for 2-4 weeks, then drop, as that means others lower on the waitlist will have missed a chance to take the class now. ************************ Please send the information below to me ASAP (*Today or Tomorrow*): - are you registered (for credit) or not; if not, do you want to take it for credit?! - your area of study, and your interests in general; - your preferred email address - what topics you'd be most interested in reading about, either from the lists off the course page or your own additions. - what books/people you'd most like to read, either from the lists mentioned above or your own additions. - any other ideas you have about how this course/reading group should proceed, e.g., - format of discussions - order of readings - whatever! ========================================================================== Also of interest: CSCS Mail List You can get announcements of up-coming seminars and other CSCS related events, job postings, etc., by joining the CSCS mailing list---just send a request to cscs@umich.edu