Nobel Prize recipient Illya Prigogine wrote some years
ago a book entitled “The End of Certainty”. Specialized
in non-linear systems, the great chemist emphasized in this text the
importance of the scientific revolution initiated a century ago by the
French mathematician Henri Poincaré: scientific certainty inherited
from Laplace is a mirage; non-linearity, complexity and chaos are the
new frontiers of science.
The advance of computer science and the remarkable growth of computing
power over the last thirty years have made the computer a fantastic
tool to cope with complexity. The emergence of nature inspired computing
is one of the most amazing achievements of these researches. The universality
of the computing techniques inherited from nature, i.e. their applications
as well in biology, physics, engineering as in economics or management,
clearly demonstrates their depth. These new tools are used in two different
ways, both highly promising for economics and management: emergent (bottom-up)
simulations and optimization. Emergent simulations lead to a better
understanding of complex interactions and to original theoretical approaches.
Nature inspired algorithms for optimization lead to efficient, supple
and adaptable tools.
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The 58 chapters
of the Handbook of Research on Nature Inspired Computing
for Economics and Management gather more than 100 authors
from the most famous universities in the world, including leaders
in the field. It provides with a unique coverage of researches
using nature inspired computing for economics and management.
Social scientists, economists and people dealing
with management science will find both an introduction and a
valuable presentation of state of the art researches in these
fields, giving them a unique reference tool for their research.
Students in computer sciences, social sciences and management
will find all the necessary material to master the field and
to help them in their training. Managers, engineers and practitioners
will find a great deal of efficient and powerful tools to help
them solve daily difficult problems and to anticipate the use
of tools which will undoubtedly be part of to morrow key success
factors.
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