A Conversation for Complexity Theory
The internet and complexity theory
26199 Started conversation Nov 7, 1999
It surprises me that nobody has yet mentioned the idea of a system in which each of the 'agents' decides regularly whether to participate or not, and the number of agents participating at a particular time is the sole factor affecting the reward to be gained from participating...
The internet is one such system... the more people are logged on, the slower it is and the less everyone gets out of it... so people try and decide when there will be the fewest number of people around. Which includes working out when everyone else will assume there to be the fewest people around. Which includes, naturally, working out when everyone else will work out that everyone else, including you, will assume there to be the fewest people around. And so on.
There are many other examples of this type of system... any activity which includes as part of the 'shall-we-participate' decision the question 'will it be too crowded?' immediately becomes very difficult to make predictions about...
I think I'll shut up now before I start to talk *complete* nonsense... 
The internet and complexity theory
Mark Rest Posted Dec 10, 1999
go and visit www.santfe.edu to find out about complexity theory on the internet.
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The internet and complexity theory
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