TY - JOUR T1 - Ecosystem antifragility: beyond integrity and resilience JF - PeerJ Y1 - 2020 A1 - Equihua, Miguel A1 - Espinosa Aldama, Mariana A1 - Gershenson, Carlos A1 - López-Corona, Oliver A1 - Munguía, Mariana A1 - Pérez-Maqueo, Octavio A1 - Ramírez-Carrillo, Elvia KW - Antifragility KW - Complexity KW - Ecosystem integrity KW - Resilience AB - We review the concept of ecosystem resilience in its relation to ecosystem integrity from an information theory approach. We summarize the literature on the subject identifying three main narratives: ecosystem properties that enable them to be more resilient; ecosystem response to perturbations; and complexity. We also include original ideas with theoretical and quantitative developments with application examples. The main contribution is a new way to rethink resilience, that is mathematically formal and easy to evaluate heuristically in real-world applications: ecosystem antifragility. An ecosystem is antifragile if it benefits from environmental variability. Antifragility therefore goes beyond robustness or resilience because while resilient/robust systems are merely perturbation-resistant, antifragile structures not only withstand stress but also benefit from it. VL - 8 UR - https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.8533 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A robustness approach to the distributed management of traffic intersections JF - Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing Y1 - 2019 A1 - González, Cesar L. A1 - Zapotecatl, Jorge L. A1 - Gershenson, Carlos A1 - Alberola, Juan M. A1 - Julian, Vicente AB - Nowadays, the development of autonomous vehicles has emerged as an approach to considerably improve the traffic management in urban zones. Thanks to automation in vehicles as well as in other sectors, the probability of errors, typically due to repetitive tasks, has been drastically reduced. Therefore, technological aids in current driving systems are aimed to avoid or reduce human errors like imprudences or distractions. According to this, it is possible to tackle complex scenarios such as the automation of the vehicles traffic at intersections, as this is one of the points with the highest probability of accidents. In this sense, the coordination of autonomous vehicles at intersections is a trending topic. In the last few years, several approaches have been proposed using centralized solutions. However, centralized systems for traffic coordination have a limited fault-tolerance. This paper proposes a distributed coordination management system for intersections of autonomous vehicles through the employment of some well-defined rules to be followed by vehicles. To validate our proposal, we have developed different experiments in order to compare our proposal with other centralized approaches. Furthermore, we have incorporated the management of communication faults during the execution in our proposal. This improvement has also been tested in front of centralized or semi-centralized solutions. The introduction of failures in the communication process demonstrates the sensitivity of the system to possible disturbances, providing a satisfactory coordination of vehicles during the intersection. As final result, our proposal is kept with a suitable flow of autonomous vehicles still with a high communication fails rate. SN - 1868-5145 UR - https://doi.org/10.1007/s12652-019-01424-w ER - TY - JOUR T1 - ALife and Society: Editorial Introduction to the Artificial Life Conference 2016 Special Issue JF - Artificial Life Y1 - 2018 A1 - Siqueiros-García, Jesús M. A1 - Froese, Tom A1 - Gershenson, Carlos A1 - Aguilar, Wendy A1 - Sayama, Hiroki A1 - Izquierdo, Eduardo PB - MIT Press VL - 24 SN - 1064-5462 UR - https://doi.org/10.1162/ARTL_e_00256 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Complexity of lakes in a latitudinal gradient JF - Ecological Complexity Y1 - 2017 A1 - Fernández, Nelson A1 - Aguilar, José A1 - Piña-García, C. A. A1 - Gershenson, Carlos KW - Autopoiesis KW - Biocomplexity KW - Emergence KW - Homeostasis KW - Information theory KW - Self-organization AB - Measuring complexity is fast becoming a key instrument to compare different ecosystems at various scales in ecology. To date there has been little agreement on how to properly describe complexity in terms of ecology. In this regard, this manuscript assesses the significance of using a set of proposed measures based on information theory. These measures are as follows: emergence, self-organization, complexity, homeostasis and autopoiesis. A combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches was used in the data analysis with the aim to apply these proposed measures. This study systematically reviews the data previously collected and generated by a model carried out on four aquatic ecosystems located between the Arctic region and the tropical zone. Thus, this research discusses the case of exploring a high level of self-organization in terms of movement, distribution, and quality of water between the northern temperate zone and the tropics. Moreover, it was assessed the significance of the presence of a complex variable (pH) in the middle of the latitudinal transect. Similarly, this study explores the relationship between self-organization and limiting nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus and silicates). Furthermore, the importance of how a biomass subsystem is affected by seasonal variations is highlighted in this manuscript. This case study seeks to examine the changing nature of how seasonality affects the complexity dynamics of photosynthetic taxa (lakes located in northern temperate zone) at high latitudes, and it also investigates how a high level of self-organization at the tropical zone can lead to increase the amount of planktonic and benthic fish which determines the dynamics of complexity. This research also compares the emerging role of how a biomass subsystem has a highest temporal dynamics compared to he limiting nutrients' subsystem. In the same way, the results associated to autopoiesis reflect a moderate degree of autonomy of photosynthetic biomass. It is also discussed the case of how complexity values change in the middle of the latitudinal gradient for all components. Finally, a comparison with Tsallis information was carried out in order to determine that these proposed measures are more suitable due to they are independent of any other parameter. Thus, this approach considers some elements closely related to information theory which determine and better describe ecological dynamics. VL - 31 SN - 1476-945X UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecocom.2017.02.002 ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Introduction T2 - Proceedings of the Artificial Life Conference 2016 Y1 - 2016 A1 - Tom Froese A1 - J. Mario Siqueiros A1 - Wendy Aguilar A1 - Eduardo J. Izquierdo A1 - Hiroki Sayama A1 - Carlos Gershenson JF - Proceedings of the Artificial Life Conference 2016 ER - TY - BOOK T1 - Proceedings of the Artificial Life Conference 2016 T2 - Complex Adaptive Systems Y1 - 2016 ED - Carlos Gershenson ED - Tom Froese ED - Jesus M. Siqueiros ED - Wendy Aguilar ED - Eduardo J. Izquierdo ED - Hiroki Sayama AB - The ALife conferences are the major meeting of the artificial life research community since 1987. For its 15th edition in 2016, it was held in Latin America for the first time, in the Mayan Riviera, Mexico, from July 4 -8. The special them of the conference: How can the synthetic study of living systems contribute to societies: scientifically, technically, and culturally? The goal of the conference theme is to better understand societies with the purpose of using this understanding for a more efficient management and development of social systems. JF - Complex Adaptive Systems PB - MIT Press CY - Cambridge, MA, USA SN - 9780262339360 UR - https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/proceedings-artificial-life-conference-2016 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Measuring the complexity of adaptive peer-to-peer systems JF - Peer-to-Peer Networking and Applications Y1 - 2015 A1 - Amoretti, Michele A1 - Gershenson, Carlos KW - Adaptive peer-to-peer system KW - Complexity KW - Evolution KW - Information theory AB - To improve the efficiency of peer-to-peer (P2P) systems while adapting to changing environmental conditions, static peer-to-peer protocols can be replaced by adaptive plans. The resulting systems are inherently complex, which makes their development and characterization a challenge for traditional methods. Here we propose the design and analysis of adaptive P2P systems using measures of complexity, emergence, self-organization, and homeostasis based on information theory. These measures allow the evaluation of adaptive P2P systems and thus can be used to guide their design. We evaluate the proposal with a P2P computing system provided with adaptation mechanisms. We show the evolution of the system with static and also changing workload, using different fitness functions. When the adaptive plan forces the system to converge to a predefined performance level, the nodes may result in highly unstable configurations, which correspond to a high variance in time of the measured complexity. Conversely, if the adaptive plan is less ``aggressive'', the system may be more stable, but the optimal performance may not be achieved. SN - 1936-6442 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12083-015-0385-4 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Measuring the Complexity of Self-organizing Traffic Lights JF - Entropy Y1 - 2014 A1 - Darío Zubillaga A1 - Geovany Cruz A1 - Luis Daniel Aguilar A1 - Jorge Zapotécatl A1 - Nelson Fernández A1 - José Aguilar A1 - David A. Rosenblueth A1 - Carlos Gershenson AB - We apply measures of complexity, emergence, and self-organization to an urban traffic model for comparing a traditional traffic-light coordination method with a self-organizing method in two scenarios: cyclic boundaries and non-orientable boundaries. We show that the measures are useful to identify and characterize different dynamical phases. It becomes clear that different operation regimes are required for different traffic demands. Thus, not only is traffic a non-stationary problem, requiring controllers to adapt constantly; controllers must also change drastically the complexity of their behavior depending on the demand. Based on our measures and extending Ashby's law of requisite variety, we can say that the self-organizing method achieves an adaptability level comparable to that of a living system. VL - 16 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/e16052384 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The Past, Present, and Future of Artificial Life JF - Frontiers in Robotics and AI Y1 - 2014 A1 - Aguilar, Wendy A1 - Santamaría Bonfil, Guillermo A1 - Froese, Tom A1 - Gershenson, Carlos AB -

For millennia people have wondered what makes the living different from the non-living. Beginning in the mid-1980s, artificial life has studied living systems using a synthetic approach: build life in order to understand it better, be it by means of software, hardware, or wetware. This review provides a summary of the advances that led to the development of artificial life, its current research topics, and open problems and opportunities. We classify artificial life research into fourteen themes: origins of life, autonomy, self-organization, adaptation (including evolution, development, and learning), ecology, artificial societies, behavior, computational biology, artificial chemistries, information, living technology, art, and philosophy. Being interdisciplinary, artificial life seems to be losing its boundaries and merging with other fields.

VL - 1 UR - http://www.frontiersin.org/computational_intelligence/10.3389/frobt.2014.00008/abstract ER - TY - UNPB T1 - Measuring the Complexity of Ultra-Large-Scale Evolutionary Systems Y1 - 2013 A1 - Michele Amoretti A1 - Carlos Gershenson AB - Ultra-large scale (ULS) systems are becoming pervasive. They are inherently complex, which makes their design and control a challenge for traditional methods. Here we propose the design and analysis of ULS systems using measures of complexity, emergence, self-organization, and homeostasis based on information theory. We evaluate the proposal with a ULS computing system provided with genetic adaptation mechanisms. We show the evolution of the system with stable and also changing workload, using different fitness functions. When the adaptive plan forces the system to converge to a predefined performance level, the nodes may result in highly unstable configurations, that correspond to a high variance in time of the measured complexity. Conversely, if the adaptive plan is less "aggressive", the system may be more stable, but the optimal performance may not be achieved. UR - http://arxiv.org/abs/1207.6656 N1 - Submitted to Computer Networks ER - TY - CONF T1 - Sistemas Dinámicos como Redes Computacionales de Agentes para la evaluación de sus Propiedades Emergentes. T2 - II Simposio Cient{\'ıfico y Tecnológico en Computación SCTC 2012 Y1 - 2012 A1 - Nelson Fernández A1 - José Aguilar A1 - Carlos Gershenson A1 - Oswaldo Terán JF - II Simposio Cient{\'ıfico y Tecnológico en Computación SCTC 2012 CY - Universidad Central de Venezuela ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Mechanical Love. Phie Ambo. (2009, Icarus Films.) $390, 52 min. JF - Artificial Life Y1 - 2010 A1 - Gershenson, Carlos A1 - Meza, Iván V. A1 - Avilés, Héctor A1 - Pineda, Luis A. VL - 16 UR - http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/artl_r_00004 ER - TY - BOOK T1 - Philosophy and Complexity T2 - Worldviews, Science and Us Y1 - 2007 ED - Carlos Gershenson ED - Diederik Aerts ED - Bruce Edmonds AB - Scientific, technological, and cultural changes have always had an impact upon philosophy. They can force a change in the way we perceive the world, reveal new kinds of phenomena to be understood, and provide new ways of understanding phenomena. Complexity science, immersed in a culture of information, is having a diverse but particularly significant impact upon philosophy. Previous ideas do not necessarily sit comfortably with the new paradigm, resulting in new ideas or new interpretations of old ideas. In this unprecedented interdisciplinary volume, researchers from different backgrounds join efforts to update thinking upon philosophical questions with developments in the scientific study of complex systems. The contributions focus on a wide range of topics, but share the common goal of increasing our understanding and improving our descriptions of our complex world. This revolutionary debate includes contributions from leading experts, as well as young researchers proposing fresh ideas. JF - Worldviews, Science and Us PB - World Scientific CY - Singapore UR - http://www.worldscibooks.com/chaos/6372.html ER - TY - CONF T1 - Contextual Random {Boolean} Networks T2 - Advances in Artificial Life, 7th European Conference, {ECAL} 2003 {LNAI} 2801 Y1 - 2003 A1 - Carlos Gershenson A1 - Jan Broekaert A1 - Diederik Aerts ED - Banzhaf, W ED - T. Christaller ED - P. Dittrich ED - J. T. Kim ED - J. Ziegler AB - We propose the use of Deterministic Generalized Asynchronous Random Boolean Networks (Gershenson, 2002) as models of contextual deterministic discrete dynamical systems. We show that changes in the context have drastic effects on the global properties of the same networks, namely the average number of attractors and the average percentage of states in attractors. We introduce the situation where we lack knowledge on the context as a more realistic model for contextual dynamical systems. We notice that this makes the network non-deterministic in a specific way, namely introducing a non-Kolmogorovian quantum-like structure for the modelling of the network (Aerts 1986). In this case, for example, a state of the network has the potentiality (probability) of collapsing into different attractors, depending on the specific form of lack of knowledge on the context. JF - Advances in Artificial Life, 7th European Conference, {ECAL} 2003 {LNAI} 2801 PB - Springer-Verlag UR - http://uk.arxiv.org/abs/nlin.AO/0303021 ER - TY - CONF T1 - Classification of Random {Boolean} Networks T2 - Artificial Life {VIII}: Proceedings of the Eight International Conference on Artificial Life Y1 - 2002 A1 - Carlos Gershenson ED - Standish, R. K. ED - M. A. Bedau ED - H. A. Abbass AB - We provide the first classification of different types of Random Boolean Networks (RBNs). We study the differences of RBNs depending on the degree of synchronicity and determinism of their updating scheme. For doing so, we first define three new types of RBNs. We note some similarities and differences between different types of RBNs with the aid of a public software laboratory we developed. Particularly, we find that the point attractors are independent of the updating scheme, and that RBNs are more different depending on their determinism or non-determinism rather than depending on their synchronicity or asynchronicity. We also show a way of mapping non-synchronous deterministic RBNs into synchronous RBNs. Our results are important for justifying the use of specific types of RBNs for modelling natural phenomena. JF - Artificial Life {VIII}: Proceedings of the Eight International Conference on Artificial Life PB - MIT Press CY - Cambridge, MA, USA UR - http://arxiv.org/abs/cs/0208001 ER -