The Digital Civilizations Interviews

PISTES

• New intellectual programs with “multi-agent systems” help us understand some of the elements of complexity a little more. Although quantitative physics does not have a direct link with social phenomena, it has been habituating the public to the idea of unpredictability since the beginning of the century.
• Certain god games (civilization, Sim city, etc.) have got the public used to manipulating complex systems, and to the counter-intuitive results that can occur following an apparently innocuous series of actions...
• Multi-agent systems for the general public, such as starlogo, are educating the public, particularly young people, about this way of thinking.
• A highly developed counter culture on the web lays claim to the logic of complexity (Ruschkoff's media virus de Ruschkoff, Discordianism, smart mobs, etc.).
• Complexity justifies new strategies (swarming).