ABSTRACT
Economic enigmas—like the periodic demand for public facilities, for road space, or for financial instruments—have several key features in common. Each contains the essential elements of a complex adaptive system (CAS). A CAS possesses three important attributes. A Harvard systems scientist, Vince Darley, has argued that emergence is purely the result of a phase change in the amount of computation necessary for the optimal prediction of certain phenomena. The heuristic value of this kind of experimentation cannot be overestimated. One gains much richer insights into the potential dynamics of an economy by observing the behavior of its agents under many different conditions. The chapter looks at a product of this new age of artificial economics: the evolution of an artificial society of agents, initially engaged in some relatively primitive economic activity. The CompuTerrarium leaps into action when hundreds of agents are unleashed randomly onto the grid. Colored dots distinguish agents who can spy sugar easily from more myopic agents.
