This volume explores the field of artificial intelligence and features in-depth coverage of important theoretical areas including computational organization, computational economics, computational approaches in social science, and game theory. The conception of the multi-agent system is particularly attractive, as it promises autonomy based on the conceptual speciality of a rational agent as well as collective behaviour through interactions. The book draws out themes, especially the ideas of connectivity and natural computation, that reveal deep, underlying similarities between phenomena that have formerly been treated as completely distinct.