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  • Book
  • © 2014

Guided Self-Organization: Inception

  • Captures the most representative approaches of the emerging field of guided self-organization, and covers its development over the last few years
  • Includes in-depth reviews and descriptions of future research in the most important guided self-organization areas
  • Offers a comprehensive perspective on guided self-organization at the early years of this emerging field
  • Edited and written by leading experts in the field

Part of the book series: Emergence, Complexity and Computation (ECC, volume 9)

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Table of contents (16 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages 1-20
  2. Introduction

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
    2. On the Cross-Disciplinary Nature of Guided Self-Organisation

      • Mikhail Prokopenko, Daniel Polani, Nihat Ay
      Pages 3-15
  3. Foundational Frameworks

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 17-17
    2. Information Measures of Complexity, Emergence, Self-organization, Homeostasis, and Autopoiesis

      • Nelson Fernández, Carlos Maldonado, Carlos Gershenson
      Pages 19-51
    3. Empowerment–An Introduction

      • Christoph Salge, Cornelius Glackin, Daniel Polani
      Pages 67-114
    4. A Framework for the Local Information Dynamics of Distributed Computation in Complex Systems

      • Joseph T. Lizier, Mikhail Prokopenko, Albert Y. Zomaya
      Pages 115-158
    5. Quantifying Synergistic Mutual Information

      • Virgil Griffith, Christof Koch
      Pages 159-190
  4. Coordinated Behaviour and Learning within an Embodied Agent

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 191-191
    2. Robot Learning by Guided Self-Organization

      • Georg Martius, Ralf Der, J. Michael Herrmann
      Pages 223-260
    3. On the Causal Structure of the Sensorimotor Loop

      • Nihat Ay, Keyan Zahedi
      Pages 261-294
    4. Guided Self-Organization of Input-Driven Recurrent Neural Networks

      • Oliver Obst, Joschka Boedecker
      Pages 319-340
  5. Swarms and Networks of Agents

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 341-341
    2. Measuring Information Dynamics in Swarms

      • Jennifer M. Miller, X. Rosalind Wang, Joseph T. Lizier, Mikhail Prokopenko, Louis F. Rossi
      Pages 343-364
    3. Mutual Information As a Task-Independent Utility Function for Evolutionary Robotics

      • Valerio Sperati, Vito Trianni, Stefano Nolfi
      Pages 389-414
    4. Evolution of Complexity and Neural Topologies

      • Larry S. Yaeger
      Pages 415-454

About this book

Is it possible to guide the process of self-organisation towards specific patterns and outcomes? Wouldn’t this be self-contradictory? After all, a self-organising process assumes a transition into a more organised form, or towards a more structured functionality, in the absence of centralised control. Then how can we place the guiding elements so that they do not override rich choices potentially discoverable by an uncontrolled process?

This book presents different approaches to resolving this paradox. In doing so, the presented studies address a broad range of phenomena, ranging from autopoietic systems to morphological computation, and from small-world networks to information cascades in swarms. A large variety of methods is employed, from spontaneous symmetry breaking to information dynamics to evolutionary algorithms, creating a rich spectrum reflecting this emerging field.

Demonstrating several foundational theories and frameworks, as well as innovative practical implementations, Guided Self-Organisation: Inception, will be an invaluable tool for advanced students and researchers in a multiplicity of fields across computer science, physics and biology, including information theory, robotics, dynamical systems, graph theory, artificial life, multi-agent systems, theory of computation and machine learning.

Editors and Affiliations

  • CSIRO ICT Centre, Epping, Australia

    Mikhail Prokopenko

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access