Foundational Papers in Complexity Science: Volume 3

In four volumes, Foundational Papers in Complexity Science maps the development of complex-systems science through eighty-nine revolutionary works published across the twentieth century.

Volume 3 describes the maturing of complexity science in the age of democratized computing. Mini-computers and personal computers supporting computer graphics, simulation environments, and numerical mathematics, intersect with nonlinear dynamics, evolutionary theory, and statistical physics. This culminates in new models and theories—from autopoiesis to synergetics, cellular automata to agent-based models—and their many applications, including ecological resilience, complex materials, the origin of life, and climate dynamics.

Included in this volume are essential papers by David Sherrington and Scott Kirkpatrick, Robert Axelrod, and Nobel laureates Klaus Hasselmann and Giorgio Parisi. Each paper is introduced and placed into its historical context, with enduring insights discussed by leading contemporary complexity scientists.
Foundational Papers presents the first unified chart of the full territory of complexity science—an essential resource for navigating the modern world.

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