I feel I should make it clear that the paragraph Jack references is, in
fact, a summary of part of a presentation given by Prof. John Holland of
the SFI on complex adaptive systems. Further details are available in
"Complexity" by M Mitchell Waldrop.London: Penguin Books 1992.
[Host's Note: I believe the paragraph is this one... I hope I've got the
right one...
>Overall, a complex adaptive system is always in transition. The only time
>it is in equilibrium is when it dies. Since the space of possibilities is
>so vast, agents can never optimise their fitness or utility. All they can
>do is change and improve themselves relative to what other agents are
>doing. As a result, the systems are characterised by "perpetual novelty".
... your host, Rick Karash]
Best wishes.
Julian
Julian Macnamara
Glandore Associates
100317,2417@compuserve.com
<http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/glandore>
--Julian Macnamara <100317.2417@CompuServe.COM>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>