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.