50 Years of Social Simulation: Why We Need Agent-Based
Social Simulation (and Why Other Approaches Fail),
by Klaus G. Troitzsch (University of Koblenz-Landau,
Germany)
Abstract:
This session
will consist of two lectures. The first lecture will
give an overview of all the simulation approaches that
have been applied to social and economic phenomena in
the past 50 years, discuss some of the outstanding
examples and their shortcomings (but also their merits).
This includes System Dynamics, microanalytical
simulation, discrete event analysis, sociophysics and
cellular automata (in the strict sense) all of which
contribute to more recent developments in agent-based
simulation. The second lecture deals with the
peculiarities of human social systems and discusses the
requirements for computational social science, mainly
discussing how humans interact with each other, build up
different kinds of social systems and create and detect
emerging phenomena such as norm and institutions.
Readings:
Online:
Troitzsch,
Klaus G. (2009): Perspectives and Challenges of
Agent-Based Simulation as a Tool for Economics and Other
Social Sciences. In: Proc. of the 8th Int. Conf. on
Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (AAMAS 2009).
S. 35-42.
http://userpages.uni-koblenz.de/~kgt/Pub/AAMAS/PCABSTEOSS.pdf
Troitzsch, Klaus
G. (2010): Communication and Interpretation as Means Of
Interaction in Human Social Systems, to appear in Armano
Srbljinovic et al., eds.: Complex Societal Dynamics:
Security Challenges and Opportunities. NATO Science for
Peace and Security Series, Amsterdam: IOS Press 2010.
http.//userpages.uni-koblenz.de/~kgt/Pub/CIM.pdf
Printed:
Troitzsch, Klaus
G. (2009): Multi-Agent Systems and Simulation: a Survey
From an Application Perspective. In: Uhrmacher, Adelinde;
Weyns, Danny: Agents, Simulation and Applications.
London: Taylor and Francis. S. 53--75.
Troitzsch, Klaus G.
(2009): Social Processes, Simulation Models of. In:
Meyers, Robert: Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems
Science. Bd. 9. S. 8405--8420.