Virtual Anasazi:
March 23rd, 2002
The Anasazi were a tribe of Native Americans in what is now Arizona that disappeared around 1300 A.D. A group of archeaologists have turned to computer simulations of societies to try to determine what happened to the Anasazi. That’s the hook for an interesting article from The Atlantic Monthly that goes on to look at the larger idea of growing artificial societies in computer simulations. Another simulation shows how a society “tips” (there’s the Gladwell connection again) from being corrupt to honest. This is fascinating stuff that makes me want to take a math class. :-)