Product Description

In this book, Gary William Flake develops in depth the simple ideas that recurrent rules can produce rich and complicated behaviours. Distinguishing "agents" (such as molecules, cells, animals, and species) from their interactions (like chemical reactions, immune system responses, sexual reproduction and evolution), Flake argues that it is the computational properties of interactions that account for much of what we think of as "beautiful" and "interesting". From this basic thesis, Flake explores what he considers to be today's four most interesting computational topics: fractals, chaos, complex systems and adaptation. Each of the book's parts can be read independently, enabling even the casual reader to understand and work with the basic equations and programs. Yet the parts are bound together by the theme of the computer as a laboratory and a metaphor for understanding the universe. The inspired reader will experiment further with the ideas presented to create fractal landscapes, chaotic systems, artificial life forms, genetic algorithms, and artificial neural networks.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #233747 in Books
• Published on: 2000-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 514 pages

Customer Reviews

Excellently balanced, great as a reference too.
This is an excellent book - covering all the topics a book with such a title should do! From complexity and chaos to artificial intelligence and artificial life, Flake balances readability with information and theory perfectly.

His introduction to neural networks is easily one of the best I've read, and coverage of the iterated prisoner's dilemma is also as comprehensive as they come.

If you're reading this review, you're obviously interested...buy now :)

Good book - but not for the faint hearted...
The book is an interesting and well written book, and is good value, but it is very dense, and cannot be read very easily. A high standard of mathematics /knowledge of computer science is assumed. Overall - a good buy but only for those confident in such a subject - definitely not a coffee table book