Would-be worlds : how simulation is changing the frontiers of science / John L. Casti.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Casti, J. L.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Computer simulation.

Physical Description:

xii, 242 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : J. Wiley, [1997]

Summary:

In Would-Be Worlds, acclaimed author John Casti takes readers on a fascinating excursion through a number of remarkable silicon microworlds and shows us how they are being used to formulate important new theories and to solve a host of practical problems. We visit Tierra, a "computerized terrarium" in which artificial life forms known as biomorphs grow and mutate, revealing new insights into natural selection and evolution. We play a game of Balance of Power, a.

Simulation of the complex forces shaping geopolitics. And we take a drive through TRANSIMS, a model of the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, to discover the root causes of events like traffic jams and accidents. Along the way, Casti probes the answers to a host of profound questions these "would-be worlds" raise about the new science of simulation.

Contents:

Reality bytes

Pictures as programs

The science of surprise

Artificial worlds

Reality of the virtual

References

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 217-232) and index.

ISBN:

0471123080

9780471123088

0471196932

9780471196938

OCLC:

187454433

Online:

Table of Contents

Contributor biographical information

Publisher description