A New York Times article about the hidden currents underlying collective social behavior notes the work of SFI External Professor Doyne Farmer, calling him a physicist, complexity theorist at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico, a founder of the Prediction Company, and an admirer of Hari Seldon (a key character in Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" series).
"Dr. Farmer said classical economics had failed miserably to provide the right data for us to understand ourselves. He and others have begun to develop so-called agent-based models of the economy, asking in effect how the seemingly random behavior of individual ants can give rise to anthills with all their pulsing purpose, form and intelligence."
Read the New York Times article (June 5, 2012)