To boldly go:an occam-π mission to engineer emergence

Future systems will be too complex to design and implement explicitly. Instead, we will have to learn to engineer complex behaviours indirectly: through the discovery and application of local rules of behaviour, applied to simple process components, from which desired behaviours predictably emerge through dynamic interactions between massive numbers of instances. This paper describes a process-oriented architecture for fine-grained concurrent systems that enables experiments with such indirect engineering. Examples are presented showing the differing complex behaviours that can arise from minor (non-linear) adjustments to low-level parameters, the difficulties in suppressing the emergence of unwanted (bad) behaviour, the unexpected relationships between apparently unrelated physical phenomena (shown up by their separate emergence from the same primordial process swamp) and the ability to explore and engineer completely new physics (such as force fields) by their emergence from low-level process interactions whose mechanisms can only be imagined, but not built, at the current time

An optimization-based model of collective motion

Computational models of collective motion have yielded many insights about the way that groups of animals or simulated particles may move together and self-organize. Recent literature has compared predictions of models with large datasets of detailed observations of animal behavior, and found that there are important discrepancies, leading researchers to reexamine some of the most widely used assumptions. We introduce FlockOpt, an optimization-based, variable-speed, self-propelled particle model of collective motion that addresses important shortcomings of earlier models. In our model, each particle adjusts its velocity by performing a constrained optimization of a locally-defined objective function, which is computed at each time step over the kinematics of the particle and the relative position of neighboring particles. Our model explains how ordered motion can arise in the absence of an explicitly prescribed alignment term and simulations performed with our model exhibit a wide variety of patterns of motion, including several not possible with popular constant-speed models. Our model predicts that variations in speed and heading of particles are coupled due to costs associated with changes in relative position. We have found that a similar coupling effect may also be present in the flight of groups of gregarious bats. The Mexican Free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis) is a gregarious bat that forms large maternity colonies, containing hundreds of thousands to millions of individuals, in the southwestern United States in the summer. We have developed a protocol for calibrating cameras used in stereo videography and developed guidelines for data collection. Our field protocol can be deployed in a single afternoon, requiring only short video segments of light, portable calibration objects. These protocols have allowed us to reconstruct the three-dimensional flight trajectories of hundreds of thousands of bats in order to use their flight as a biological study system for our model

Towards Biological Inspiration in the Development of Complex Systems

Greater understanding of biology in modem times has enabled significant breakthroughs in improving healthcare, quality of life, and eliminating many diseases and congenital illnesses. Simultaneously there is a move towards emulating nature and copying many of the wonders uncovered in biology, resulting in "biologically inspired" systems. Significant results have been reported in a wide range of areas, with systems inspired by nature enabling exploration, communication, and advances that were never dreamed possible just a few years ago. We warn, that as in many other fields of endeavor, we should be inspired by nature and biology, not engage in mimicry. We describe some results of biological inspiration that augur promise in terms of improving the safety and security of systems, and in developing self-managing systems, that we hope will ultimately lead to self-governing systems

Information Processor

How computational technology start to take place and gradually become being heavily involved/implemented in the design process of architectural design. In the architecture domain, not only the proportion of the assistance from computational techniques has been increasing exponentially, but also, the role they play has been gradually shifting from a supporting one to a generative one. No longer limited to being a complex mathematics calculator, computers, have become a ubiquitous necessity in our daily life and even influence the way we live. This, is especially true for the young generation who were born in this digital world, mainly referred to as the “Generation Z”. Business Insider, a fast-growing business media website, mentioned that “Gen Z-ers are digitally over-connected. They multitask across at least five screens daily and spend 41% of their time outside of school with computers or mobile devices, compared to 22% 10 years ago, according to theSparks & Honey report.” When Alan Turing first invented the room-sized “Turing Machine” to decipher Nazi codes, he couldn’t have expected that this giant machine could one day be put into one’s pocket and efficiently compute a million times more data. As compared to the era of tools, such as paper and pen, the computer, in today’s context has been heavily utilized and relied upon as a powerful instrument. This change is remarkable, considering the relatively short period of time, especially after 1981 when the first IBM personal computer was released (Mitchell, 1990). Architecture Design cannot be excluded from this inevitable technological tendency. Even the most conservative architecture firms are now required to deliver digital technical drawings to communicate amongst designers, clients, and construction firms in the present scenario. Incorporating computer technology in today’s context also provides young designers the opportunity to experiment with creating relatively complex geometry based architectural space. But before applying this powerful technology in architectural design, the crucial knowledge behind it that architects had to understand and realize was the manner and procedure of “Processing of Information”. Without information, the computer would be just lying on one’s desk as a useless cube, like a vehicle without a driver, or a body without a soul. The shifting roles of computer technology in architectural design are obviously defined by the manner of how designers interpret, digest and operate/process the streams of information flow

What Makes Complex Systems Complex?

This paper explores some of the factors that make complex systems complex. We first examine the history of complex systems. It was Aristotle’s insight that how elements are joined together helps determine the properties of the resulting whole. We find (a) that scientific reductionism does not provide a sufficient explanation; (b) that to understand complex systems, one must identify and trace energy flows; and (c) that disproportionate causality, including global tipping points, are all around us. Disproportionate causality results from the wide availability of energy stores. We discuss three categories of emergent phenomena—static, dynamic, and adaptive—and recommend retiring the term emergent, except perhaps as a synonym for creative. Finally, we find that virtually all communication is stigmergic

BoidVR: An Agent Simulation Environment Based on Freehand and Virtual Reality

Freehand-based Interaction Techniques (FITs) are an emerging technology of importance for effective Virtual Reality (VR). In this regard, most modern Head Mounted Displays (HMDs), such as the Oculus Quest, are equipped with inside-out cameras for egocentric hand tracking and natural hand gestures recognition. Following this technological evolution, we have developed an agent-based modeling and simulation VR application, called BoidVR, focused on freehand-based interaction with simulated agents. Our system enables users to view and interact with both the agents and the virtual environment using FIT-based tools. We illustrate a number of specific gestures that allow users to manipulate the virtual environment and affect agent behaviors. Finally, we conduct a user experiment in which we evaluate the usability and user sentiment of our BoidVR application