ESOS
From CasGroup
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The '''engineering of self-organizing systems''' (ESOS) is a contradiction in itself: how can you organize something which organizes itself? If we want to build a self-organizing system with autonomous agents, then how can we ensure the function ? Agents do by defintion what they want. How can you construct a self-organizing system? The answer is: in a balanced, iterative process which combines top-down analysis with bottom-up simulation, where we step by step define the 'rules of the game'. The bottom-up process is needed ensure diversity (innovative, random, surprising elements). The top-down process ensure unity (e.g. function, quality and goal-orientation). Together they form a cyclic round-trip process, which can be named synthetic microanalysis. | The '''engineering of self-organizing systems''' (ESOS) is a contradiction in itself: how can you organize something which organizes itself? If we want to build a self-organizing system with autonomous agents, then how can we ensure the function ? Agents do by defintion what they want. How can you construct a self-organizing system? The answer is: in a balanced, iterative process which combines top-down analysis with bottom-up simulation, where we step by step define the 'rules of the game'. The bottom-up process is needed ensure diversity (innovative, random, surprising elements). The top-down process ensure unity (e.g. function, quality and goal-orientation). Together they form a cyclic round-trip process, which can be named synthetic microanalysis. | ||
| - | + | == A Two-Way Approach to the MML == | |
The [[MML|micro-macro link]] (MML) problem probably needs a two-way or two-phase approach to find the necessary micro-macro connections, including a bottom-up and a top-down process. The way up means synthesis, simulation or experiments, and determines how individual actions are combined and aggregated to collective behavior. The way down means analysis, creation of testable hypotheses, or translation of requirements, and defines how collective forces influence and constrain individual actions. | The [[MML|micro-macro link]] (MML) problem probably needs a two-way or two-phase approach to find the necessary micro-macro connections, including a bottom-up and a top-down process. The way up means synthesis, simulation or experiments, and determines how individual actions are combined and aggregated to collective behavior. The way down means analysis, creation of testable hypotheses, or translation of requirements, and defines how collective forces influence and constrain individual actions. | ||
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The general idea is a “bottom-up deduction guided by a top-down view”. You have to delineate groups of “microstates” according to causal related macroscopic criteria (by “partitioning the microstate space”, for instance through selection of all elements with a certain property or role related to some macroscopic structure). Making a round trip from the whole to its parts and back, you can use the desired global macroscopic phenomena to design suitable local properties and interactions. This two-way approach is a generalization of the “experimental method” proposed by Bruce Edmonds and Joanna Bryson. In the theoretical top-down phase you have to create testable hypotheses, which have to be verified in the experimental bottom-up phase. Instead of “Synthetic Microanalysis” you could also name it iterative goal-directed simulations (where the goals are determined by high-level objectives and overall requirements). | The general idea is a “bottom-up deduction guided by a top-down view”. You have to delineate groups of “microstates” according to causal related macroscopic criteria (by “partitioning the microstate space”, for instance through selection of all elements with a certain property or role related to some macroscopic structure). Making a round trip from the whole to its parts and back, you can use the desired global macroscopic phenomena to design suitable local properties and interactions. This two-way approach is a generalization of the “experimental method” proposed by Bruce Edmonds and Joanna Bryson. In the theoretical top-down phase you have to create testable hypotheses, which have to be verified in the experimental bottom-up phase. Instead of “Synthetic Microanalysis” you could also name it iterative goal-directed simulations (where the goals are determined by high-level objectives and overall requirements). | ||
| - | The experimental bottom-up approach alone is successful only for small and simple systems like 1-dim Cellular Automata, where you can enumerate all possible systems. For large systems the amount of possibilities and number of configurations grows so large (or even | + | The experimental bottom-up approach alone is successful only for small and simple systems like 1-dim Cellular Automata, where you can enumerate all possible systems. For large systems the amount of possibilities and number of configurations grows so large (or even "explodes") that the goal gets lost or the thicket of microscopic details becomes impenetrable. To quote Auyang again: “blind deduction from constituent laws can never bulldoze its way through the jungle of complexity generated by large-scale composition” (p.6). |
The macroscopic view is useful and necessary to delineate possible configurations, to identify composite subsystems on medium and large scales, to set goals for microscopic simulations and finally to prevent scientists from losing sight of desired macroscopic phenomena when they are immersed in analytic details. | The macroscopic view is useful and necessary to delineate possible configurations, to identify composite subsystems on medium and large scales, to set goals for microscopic simulations and finally to prevent scientists from losing sight of desired macroscopic phenomena when they are immersed in analytic details. | ||
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== Iterations and Refinements == | == Iterations and Refinements == | ||
