Introduction:
David C. Krakauer

1 Luís Bettencourt: Maximum Power as a Physical Principle of Evolution

A. J. Lotka, “Contribution to the Energetics of Evolution” (1922)

2 Susanne Still: To Work is to Think

L. Szilárd, “On the Decrease of Entropy in a Thermodynamic System by the Intervention of Intelligent Beings” (1929)

3 Sergey Gavrilets: Navigating the Landscape of Complexity: Sewall Wright’s Seminal Contributions and their Far-Reaching Impact

S. Wright, “The Roles of Mutation, Inbreeding, Crossbreeding, and Selection in Evolution” (1932)

4 Walter Fontana: The Shadow of a Mechanism 

C. H. Waddington, Canalization of Development and the Inheritance of Acquired Characters (1942)

5 Bruno Olshausen and Christopher Hillar: The Genesis of Modern Computing and AI

W. S. McCulloch and W. Pitts, “A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity” (1943)

6 Andrew Pickering: The Birth of Cybernetics

A. Rosenblueth, N. Wiener, and J. Bigelow, “Behavior, Purpose, and Teleology” (1943)

7 Samuel Bowles: Friedrich Hayek’s Economy of Knowledge 

F. A. Hayek, “The Use of Knowledge in Society” (1945)

8 Cosma Shalizi: Opening a Closed Box

A. Rosenblueth and N. Wiener, “The Role of Models in Science” (1945)

9 Seth Lloyd: From the Analog to the Digital

C. E. Shannon, “A Mathematical Theory of Communication” (1948)

10 Stuart Kauffman: If, and, If So, How? 
W. Weaver, “Science and Complexity” (1948)

11 Daniel Dennett: Turing’s Brainchild: Artificial Intelligence 

A. M. Turing, “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” (1950)

12 Robert Axtell: The Nash Equilibrium

J. Nash, “Non-Cooperative Games” (1951)

13 Karen Page: Do Turing Patterns Provide a Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis?

A. M. Turing, “The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis” (1952)

14 Dawn Holmes: Jaynes and the Principle of Maximum Entropy

E. T. Jaynes, “Information Theory and Statistical Mechanics” (1957)

15 Maxim Raginsky: The State–Space Revolution in the Study of Complex Systems

R. E. Kálmán, “Contributions to the Theory of Optimal Control” (1960)

16 David Wolpert: The Relationship between Physics and Computation: The Minimal Thermodynamic Cost of to Erase a Bit 

R. Landauer, “Irreversibility and Heat Generation in the Computing Process” (1961)

17 Melanie Mitchell: Symbols versus Cybernetics: Marvin Minsky on the Prospects for Artificial Intelligence 

M. Minsky, “Steps Toward Artificial Intelligence” (1961)

18 John Geanakoplos: Arrow’s ‘Learning by Doing’ and Complexity Economics 

K. J. Arrow, “The Economic Implications of Learning by Doing” (1962)

19 David C. Krakauer: The Unstable Foundations of Simplicity 

M. Bunge, “The Complexity of Simplicity” (1962)

20 John H. Miller: Mastering the Glass Bead Game

J. H. Holland, “Outline for a Logical Theory of Adaptive Systems” (1962)


21 Simon A. Levin: The Architect of Complexity
H. A. Simon, “The Architecture of Complexity” (1962)

22 Erica Jen: Café Roots & Fruits
S. Ulam, “On Some Mathematical Problems Connected with Patterns of Growth in Figures” (1962)

23 J. Doyne Farmer: The Revolutionary Discovery of Chaos
E. N. Lorenz, “Deterministic Nonperiodic Flow” (1963)

24 Cristopher Moore: Easy vs. Hard: The Dawn of Computational Complexity
A. Cobham, “The Intrinsic Computational Difficulty of Functions” (1964)

25 Paul M.B. Vitányi: A General System for Machine Learning
R. J. Solomonoff, “A Formal Theory of Inductive Inference, Part 1” (1964)

26 Simon DeDeo: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Complexity Hacker
G. J. Chaitin, “On the Length of Programs for Computing Finite Binary Sequences” (1966)

27 Ricard Solé: Morphospaces, the Possible, and the Actual
D. M. Raup, “Geometric Analysis of Shell Coiling; General Problems” (1966)

28 Neil Gershenfeld: Self-Reproducing Ideas
J. von Neumann, “Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata” (1966)

29 Geoffrey B. West: Fractals, Self-Similarity, and Power Laws
B. B. Mandelbrot, “How Long is the Coast of Britain? Statistical Self-Similarity and Fractional Dimension” (1967)

30 Carl T. Bergstrom and Michael Lachmann: Origins of the Neutral Theory
M. Kimura, “Evolutionary Rate at the Molecular Level” (1968)

31 Simon DeDeo: Inspiring, Enigmatic, Incomplete
A. N. Kolmogorov, “Three Approaches to the Quantitative Definition of Information” (1968)

32 Daniel P. Schrag, A Faulty Foundation Supports a Powerful Idea: Mikhail Budyko and His Work on the Ice–Albedo Feedback
M. I. Budyko, “The Effect of Solar Radiation Variations on the Climate of the Earth” (1969)

33 Sanjay Jain: Attractors of a Random Networked Dynamical System Have Something to Say about Life
S. Kauffman, “Metabolic Stability and Epigenesis in Randomly Constructed Genetic Nets” (1969)

34 James P. Crutchfield: Requisite Complexity—A Contemporary View of Cybernetic Control and Communication
R. C. Conant and W. R. Ashby, “Every Good Regulator of a System Must Be a Model of That System” (1970)

35 Michael Lachmann: The Price Equation: The Mathematical Basis of Evolutionary Theory?
G. R. Price, “Selection and Covariance”

36 Philipp Honegger and Walter Fontana: The Wheels of Chemistry
O. E. Rössler, “A System–Theoretic Model of Biogenesis (Ein systemtheoretisches Modell zur Biogenese)” (1971)

37 H. Peyton Young: Tipping Points: Schelling’s Account of Sorting and Segregation
T. C. Schelling, “Dynamic Models of Segregation” (1971)

38 Timothy A. Kohler: Prehistory in the Land of Malthus
E. B. W. Zubrow, “Carrying Capacity and Dynamic Equilibrium in the Prehistoric Southwest” (1971)

39 Tanmoy Bhattacharya: Rise of Complexity Sciences in a Reductionist World
P. W. Anderson, “More Is Different” (1972)

40 Cristopher Moore: Gardens of Forking Paths: Exponential Hardness and Exhaustive Search
R. M. Karp, “Reducibility Among Combinatorial Problems” (1972)

41 Jennifer A. Dunne: Diversity/Complexity/Stability
R. M. May, “Will a Large Complex System Be Stable?” (1972)

42 Manfred Laubichler: The Deep Co-Evolutionary Roots of Complexity
H. von Foerster, “Notes on an Epistemology for Living Things” (1972)

43 Jon Machta: The Energy Cost of Computing
C. H. Bennett, “Logical Reversibility of Computation” (1973)

44 Duncan Watts: Weak Ties and the Origins of Network Science
M. S. Granovetter, “The Strength of Weak Ties” (1973)

Forthcoming: Summer 2024

45: Van Savage
C. S. Holling, “Resilience and Stability of Ecological Systems” (1973)

46: John Kaag
H. A. Simon, “The Organization of Complex Systems” (1973)

47: Randall Beer
F. G. Varela, H. R. Maturana, and R. Uribe, “Autopoiesis: The Organization of Living Systems, Its Characterization, and a Model” (1974)

48 Sidney Redner
D. Sherrington and S. Kirkpatrick, “Solvable Model of a Spin-Glass” (1975)

49: Axel Hutt
H. Haken, “Synergetics” (1976)

50: Nicholas Watkins
K. Hasselmann, “Stochastic Climate Models Part I. Theory” (1976)

51: Karl Sigmund
J. Maynard Smith, “The Theory of Games and the Evolution of Animal Conflicts” (1976)

52: Doug Erwin
S. J. Gould and N. Eldredge, “Punctuated Equilibria: The Tempo and Mode of Evolution Reconsidered” (1977)

53: Dan Stein
G. Parisi, “Infinite Number of Order Parameters for Spin-Glasses” (1979)

54: Neil Gershenfeld
N. H. Packard, J. P. Crutchfield, J. D. Farmer, and R. S. Shaw, “Geometry from a Time Series” (1980)

55: Michael Hochberg
R. Axelrod and W. D. Hamilton, “The Evolution of Cooperation” (1981)

56: D. Eric Smith
F. J. Dyson, “A Model for the Origin of Life” (1982)

57: David Sherrington
J. J. Hopfield, “Neural Networks and Physical Systems with Emergent Collective Computational Abilities” (1982)

58: Liz Bradley
M. J. Feigenbaum, “Universal Behavior in Nonlinear Systems” (1983)

59: Hector Zenil
S. Wolfram, “Universality and Complexity in Cellular Automata” (1984)

60: Stefan Thurner
I. Prigogine and G. Nicolis, “Self-Organisation in Nonequilibrium Systems: Towards a Dynamics of Complexity” (1985)

61: Sara I. Walker
C. G. Langton, “Studying Artificial Life with Cellular Automata” (1986)

62: David Kinney
J. Pearl, “Fusion, Propagation, and Structuring in Belief Networks” (1986)

63: Gunnar Pruessner
P. Bak, C. Tang, and K. Wiesenfeld, “Self-Organized Criticality: An Explanation of the 1/f Noise” (1987)

64: Chris Adami
S. Kauffman and S. Levin, “Towards a General Theory of Adaptive Walks on Rugged Landscapes” (1987)

65: Rob Axtell
C. Reynolds, “Flocks, Herds, and Schools: A Distributed Behavioral Model” (1987)

66: David C. Krakauer
M. Eigen, J. McCaskill, and P. Schuster, “Molecular Quasi-Species” (1988)

Forthcoming: Summer 2024

67: Scott Page
W. B. Arthur, “Competing Technologies, Increasing Returns, and Lock-In by Historical Events” (1989)

68: Rob de Boer
A. S. Perelson, “Immune Network Theory” (1989)

69: Sidney Redner
J. D. Farmer, “A Rosetta Stone for Connectionism” (1990)

70: Jessica C. Flack
J. A. Wheeler, “Information, Physics, Quantum: The Search for Links” (1990)

71: Vijay Balasubramanian
W. Bialek, F. Rieke, R. R. de Ruyter van Steveninck, and D. Warland, “Reading a Neural Code” (1991)

72: Richard Bookstaber
J. H. Holland and J. H. Miller, “Artificial Adaptive Agents in Economic Theory” (1991)

73: W. Brian Arthur
K. Lindgren, “Evolutionary Phenomena in Simple Dynamics” (1991)

74: Suresh Naidu
H. A. Simon, “Organizations and Markets” (1991)

75: Mirta Galesic
J. S. Lansing and J. M. Kremer, “Emergent Properties of Balinese Water Temple Networks: Coadaptation on a Rugged Fitness Landscape” (1993)

76: David Ackley
M. Mitchell, P. T. Hraber, and J. P. Crutchfield, “Revisiting the Edge of Chaos: Evolving Cellular Automata to Perform Computations” (1993)

77: Willemien Kets
W. B. Arthur, “Inductive Reasoning and Bounded Rationality” (1994)

78: Peter Sloot
J. P. Crutchfield, “The Calculi of Emergence: Computation, Dynamics, and Induction ” (1994)

79: Anil Somayaji
S. Forrest, A. S. Perelson, L. Allen, and R. Cherukuri, “Self–Nonself Discrimination in a Computer” (1994)

80: Evandro Ferrada
P. Schuster, W. Fontana, P. F. Stadler, and I. L. Hofacker, “From Sequences to Shapes and Back: A Case Study in RNA Secondary Structures” (1994)

81: Miguel Fuentes
M. Gell-Mann and S. Lloyd, “Information Measures, Effective Complexity, and Total Information” (1996)

82: David C. Krakauer
F. J. Odling-Smee, K. N. Laland, and M. W. Feldman, “Niche Construction” (1996)

83: Pablo Marquet
G.B. West, J. H. Brown, and B. J. Enquist, “A General Model for the Origin of Allometric Scaling Laws in Biology” (1997)

84: Charlie Strauss and Vijay Balasubramanian
D.H. Wolpert and W.G. Macready, "No Free Lunch Theorems for Optimization" (1997)

84: Nihat Ay
S. Amari, “Natural Gradient Works Efficiently in Learning” (1998)

85: Rajiv Sethi
S. Bowles, “Endogenous Preferences: The Cultural Consequences of Markets and Other Economic Institutions ” (1998)

86: Michelle Girvan
D. Watts and S. Strogatz, “Collective Dynamics of ‘Small-World’ Networks” (1998)

87: Chris Kempes
R. B. Laughlin, D. Pines, J. Schmalian, B. P. Stojkovic, and P. Wolynes, “The Middle Way” (1999)

88: Marty Anderies
E. Ostrom, “Collective Action and the Evolution of Social Norms” (2000) º