Philosophy and Simulation: The Emergence of Synthetic Reason

In this groundbreaking book, Manuel Delanda analyzes all the different genres of simulation (from cellular automata and generic algorithms to neural nets and multi-agent systems) as a means to conceptualize the possibility spaces associated with casual (and other) capacities. Simulations allow us to stage actual interactions among a population of agents and to observe the emergent wholes that result from those interactions. Simulations have become as important as mathematical models in theoretical science. As computer power and memory have become cheaper they have migrated to the desktop, where they now play the role that small-scale experiments used to play. A philosophical examination of the epistemology of simulations is needed to cement this new role, underlining the consequences that simulations may have for materialist philosophy itself. This remarkably clear philosophical discussion of a rapidly growing field, from a thinker at the forefront of research at the interface of science and the humanities, is a must-read for anyone interested in the philosophy of technology and the philosophy of science at all levels.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Emergence in History \ 1. The Storm in the Computer \ 2. Cellular Automata and Patterns of Flow \ 3. Artificial Chemistries and the Prebiotic Soup \ 4. Genetic Algorithms and the Prebiotic Soup \ 5. Genetic Algorithms and Ancient Organisms \ 6. Neural Nets and Insect Intelligence \ 7. Neural Nets and Mammalian Memory \ 8. Multiagents and Primate Strategies \ 9. Multiagents and Stone Age Economics \ 10. Multiagents and Primitive Language \ 11. Multiagents and Archaic States \ Appendix: Links to Assemblage Theory \ Index

About the Author :
Manuel DeLanda is a distinguished writer, artist and philosopher. He began his career in experimental film, later becoming a computer artist and programmer. He is now Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, USA.

Review :
The topic of this clearly written and well-documented text is the philosophical concept of emergence... Imaginative defences of philosophical realism are certainly to be applauded, and given the critical role that mathematical modelling occupies in both scientific and technical practices today, questioning computer simulation is undoubtedly important. Philosophy and Simulation does an interesting job of the former via the latter. There is much fascinating material to chew on. The thirst for knowledge ... is competently soothed by Bloomsbury with the volume Philosophy and Simulation: The Emergence of Synthetic Reason, which provides useful material against the celebration of ignorance. The book offers fascinating material to read ... [and] introduces numerous thought-stimulating ideas. Recommended in The Guardian's 'Books of the Year 2011' article. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/nov/25/books-of-the-year?INTCMP=SRCH Philosophy and Simulation is a book about affection - the capacity to affect and be affected by others - an organon for a non-reductive and emergent Theory of Everything, running from inorganic matter to the dawn of civilisation. Moving elegantly between science, history and computer simulation, the book is a fascinating and enormously wide-ranging introduction to DeLanda's singular world-view. - Andrew Pickering, Professor of Sociology and Philosophy, Exeter University, UK