Newton To Aristotle: Toward A Theory Of Models For Living Systems (mathematical Modeling)
by Casti /
2012 / English / PDF
7.4 MB Download
Beginning in 1983, the Swedish Council for Planning and
Coordination of Research has organized an annual workshop devoted
to some aspect of the behavior and modeling of complex systems.
These workshops have been held at the Abisko Research Station of
the Swedish Academy of Sciences, a remote location far above the
Arctic Circle in northern Sweden. During the period of the midnight
sun, from May 4-8, 1987 this exotic venue served as the gathering
place for a small group of scientists, scholars, and other
connoisseurs of the unknown to ponder the problem of how to model
"living systems," a term singling out those systems whose principal
components are living agents. The 1987 Abisko Workshop focused
primarily upon the general system-theoretic concepts of process,
function, and form. In particular, a main theme of the Workshop was
to examine how these concepts are actually realized in biological,
economic, and linguistic situations. As the Workshop unfolded, it
became increasingly evident that the central concern of the
participants was directed to the matter of how those quintessential
aspects of living systems-metabolism, self-repair, and
replication-might be brought into contact with the long-established
modeling paradigms employed in physics, chemistry, and engineering.
Beginning in 1983, the Swedish Council for Planning and
Coordination of Research has organized an annual workshop devoted
to some aspect of the behavior and modeling of complex systems.
These workshops have been held at the Abisko Research Station of
the Swedish Academy of Sciences, a remote location far above the
Arctic Circle in northern Sweden. During the period of the midnight
sun, from May 4-8, 1987 this exotic venue served as the gathering
place for a small group of scientists, scholars, and other
connoisseurs of the unknown to ponder the problem of how to model
"living systems," a term singling out those systems whose principal
components are living agents. The 1987 Abisko Workshop focused
primarily upon the general system-theoretic concepts of process,
function, and form. In particular, a main theme of the Workshop was
to examine how these concepts are actually realized in biological,
economic, and linguistic situations. As the Workshop unfolded, it
became increasingly evident that the central concern of the
participants was directed to the matter of how those quintessential
aspects of living systems-metabolism, self-repair, and
replication-might be brought into contact with the long-established
modeling paradigms employed in physics, chemistry, and engineering.
