Agent Based Simulation of Complex Social Systems

2014

– e aim of this paper is to discuss the “Framework for M&S with Agents ” (FMSA) proposed by Zeigler et al. [2000, 2009] in regard to the diverse epistemological aims of agent simulations in social sciences. We fi rst show that there surely are great similitudes, hence that the aim to emu-late a universal “automated modeler agent ” opens new ways of interactions between these two domains of M&S with agents. E.g., it can be shown that the multi-level conception at the core of the FMSA is similar in both con-texts: notions of “levels of system specifi cation”, “behavior of models”, “simu-lator ” and “endomorphic agents ” can be partially translated in the terms linked to the “denotational hierarchy ” (DH) and recently introduced in a multi-level centered epistemology of M&S. Second, we suggest considering the question of “credibility ” of agent M&S in social sciences when we do not try to emulate but only to simulate target systems. Whereas a stringent and standardized treatment of the...

International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems, 2006

The difficulties in constructing and analyzing simulations of social theory and phenomena, even the most simplified, have been underlined in the literature. The experimental reference of simulation remains ambiguous, insofar as the logic of its method turns computer programs into something more than a tool in the social sciences, defining them as the experimental subject itself. The goal of this paper is to construct a methodological perspective that is able to conciliate the formal and empirical logic of program verification in computer science, with the interpretative and multiparadigmatic logic of the social sciences. This is a condensed and revised version of David et al. (2006). We demonstrate that the method of simulation implies at least two distinct types of program verifications, which we call empirical and intentional verification. Furthermore, we clarify the experimental reference of simulation by demonstrating that the process of intentional verification is contingent upon both the behaviors of the programs and the observed social phenomena.

Complex Systems: Activity-Based Modeling and …, 2010

Th e aim of this paper is to discuss the "Framework for M&S with Agents" (FMSA) proposed by in regard to the diverse epistemological aims of agent simulations in social sciences. We fi rst show that there surely are great similitudes, hence that the aim to emulate a universal "automated modeler agent" opens new ways of interactions between these two domains of M&S with agents. E.g., it can be shown that the multi-level conception at the core of the FMSA is similar in both contexts: notions of "levels of system specifi cation", "behavior of models", "simulator" and "endomorphic agents" can be partially translated in the terms linked to the "denotational hierarchy" (DH) and recently introduced in a multi-level centered epistemology of M&S. Second, we suggest considering the question of "credibility" of agent M&S in social sciences when we do not try to emulate but only to simulate target systems. Whereas a stringent and standardized treatment of the heterogeneous internal relations (in the DH) between systems of formalisms is the key problem and the essential challenge in the scope of Agent M&S driven engineering, it is urgent too to address the problem of the external relations (and of the external validity, hence of the epistemic power and credibility) of such levels of formalisms in the specifi c domains of agent M&S in social sciences, especially when we intend to introduce the concepts of activity tracking.

Activity-Based Modeling and Simulation, 2010

e aim of this paper is to discuss the "Framework for M&S with Agents" (FMSA) proposed by in regard to the diverse epistemological aims of agent simulations in social sciences. We fi rst show that there surely are great similitudes, hence that the aim to emulate a universal "automated modeler agent" opens new ways of interactions between these two domains of M&S with agents. E.g., it can be shown that the multi-level conception at the core of the FMSA is similar in both contexts: notions of "levels of system specifi cation", "behavior of models", "simulator" and "endomorphic agents" can be partially translated in the terms linked to the "denotational hierarchy" (DH) and recently introduced in a multi-level centered epistemology of M&S. Second, we suggest considering the question of "credibility" of agent M&S in social sciences when we do not try to emulate but only to simulate target systems. Whereas a stringent and standardized treatment of the heterogeneous internal relations (in the DH) between systems of formalisms is the key problem and the essential challenge in the scope of Agent M&S driven engineering, it is urgent too to address the problem of the external relations (and of the external validity, hence of the epistemic power and credibility) of such levels of formalisms in the specifi c domains of agent M&S in social sciences, especially when we intend to introduce the concepts of activity tracking.

2009

This volume is one of the results coming out of the II SSASA Meeting which took place at the Autonomous University of Barcelona on November 2008. This is an annual meeting allowing students and researchers to learn and debate issues and methodologies in the domain of social simulation and the analysis of artificial societies (SSASA), particularly in the sub-domain of Multi-Agent Based Social Simulation (MABSS) focusing on studying social phenomena. In fact, any of the MABSS projects necessarily entails the involvement of researches from diverse disciplines. It is and interdisciplinary effort to reconcile diverse perspectives between Artificial Intelligence, Computer Engineering, Maths, Logics, Sociology, Economy, Social Psychology and the rest of the social sciences. All these perspectives, having social phenomena as a common research domain, provide a context full of coincidences, challenges, possibilities, problems and disagreements. In summary, it is a stimulating academic contex...

The article discusses agent-based simulation as a tool of sociological understanding. Based on an inferential account of understanding, it argues that computer simulations increase our explanatory understanding both by expanding our ability to make what-if inferences about social processes and by making these inferences more reliable. However, our ability to understand simulations limits our ability to understand real world phenomena through them. Thomas Schelling’s checkerboard model of ethnic segregation is used to demonstrate the important role played by abstract how-possibly models in the process of building a mechanistic understanding of social phenomena.

A classification criterion for multi-agents based social simulation models MABSS is put forward. Then, it is used to present the contributions and main debates in the II SSASA'08 "Meeting

2010

Th e aim of this paper is to discuss the "Framework for M&S with Agents" (FMSA) proposed by Zeigler et al. (2000, 2009) in regard to the diverse epistemological aims of agent simulations in social sciences. We fi rst show that there surely are great similitudes, hence that the aim to emu- late a universal "automated modeler agent" opens new ways of interactions between these two domains of M&S with agents. E.g., it can be shown that the multi-level conception at the core of the FMSA is similar in both con- texts: notions of "levels of system specifi cation", "behavior of models", "simu- lator" and "endomorphic agents" can be partially translated in the terms linked to the "denotational hierarchy" (DH) and recently introduced in a multi-level centered epistemology of M&S. Second, we suggest considering the question of "credibility" of agent M&S in social sciences when we do not try to emulate but only to ...

ERN: Simulation Methods (Topic), 2006

Traditional (i.e. analytical) modelling practices in the social sciences rely on a very well established, although implicit, methodological protocol, both with respect to the way models are presented and to the kinds of analysis that are performed. Unfortunately, computer-simulated models often lack such a reference to an accepted methodological standard. This is one of the main reasons for the scepticism among mainstream social scientists that results in low acceptance of papers with agent-based methodology in the top journals. We identify some methodological pitfalls that, according to us, are common in papers employing agent-based simulations, and propose appropriate solutions. We discuss each issue with reference to a general characterization of dynamic micro models, which encompasses both analytical and simulation models. In the way, we also clarify some confusing terminology. We then propose a three-stage process that could lead to the establishment of methodological standards...

Journal of Artificial Societies and Social …, 2005

The classical theory of computation does not represent an adequate model of reality for simulation in the social sciences. The aim of this paper is to construct a methodological perspective that is able to conciliate the formal and empirical logic of program verification in computer science, with the interpretative and multiparadigmatic logic of the social sciences. We attempt to evaluate whether social simulation implies an additional perspective about the way one can understand the concepts of program and computation. We demonstrate that the logic of social simulation implies at least two distinct types of program verifications that reflect an epistemological distinction in the kind of knowledge one can have about programs. Computer programs seem to possess a causal capability (Fetzer, 1999) and an intentional capability that scientific theories seem not to possess. This distinction is associated with two types of program verification, which we call empirical and intentional verification. We demonstrate, by this means, that computational phenomena are also intentional phenomena, and that such is particularly manifest in agent-based social simulation. Ascertaining the credibility of results in social simulation requires a focus on the identification of a new category of knowledge we can have about computer programs. This knowledge should be considered an outcome of an experimental exercise, albeit not empirical, acquired within a context of limited consensus. The perspective of intentional computation seems to be the only one possible to reflect the multiparadigmatic character of social science in terms of agent-based computational social science. We contribute, additionally, to the clarification of several questions that are found in the methodological perspectives of the discipline, such as the computational nature, the logic of program scalability, and the multiparadigmatic character of agent-based simulation in the social sciences.