Economics and the Environment: Global Erodynamic Models

Simple dynamical systems theory evolved from celestial mechanics in the work of Poincaré a century ago. Complex dynamical systems theory (also known as systems dynamics) began during World War II, with the work of Von Bertalanffy on general systems theory and Wiener on cybernetics. Cellular dynamical systems theory developed in the early days of biological morphogenesis in the work of Rashevsky and Turing. Since the advent of massively parallel computation, these modeling strategies have been increasingly used to simulate highly complex natural systems. The challenge to understand our global problems — combining physical systems of the atmosphere and ocean (Chaos) with biological systems of the biosphere (Gaia) and the social systems of human and other species (Eros) — will test and extend our mathematical and scientific capabilities. The name erodynamics has been coined to describe this application of dynamical systems theory to the complex global system of our human civilization and environment. In this minicourse we develop the basic concepts of erodynamics in the frame of economics and the environment.