[FRIAM] Simulation and policy-making

[Robert Holmes]

On 8/9/06, McNamara, Laura A <lamcnam at sandia.gov> wrote:
>
> Computational social science doesn't lend itself to V&V the way that
> physics-based mod-sim does, so creativity in V&V is required...


I agree, and I think the approach that RAND take is as good as any. My
concern though is that any social science model is inevitably subjective at
a deep, deep level. You want a simulation that shows it's a good idea to
invade Iraq? No problem, I'll interview a bunch of experts, code up
realistic micro-rules and give you a simulation that shows yes, that's a
sensible policy. You want a simulation that shows it's not a good idea to
invade Iraq? No problem, I'll just interview a different set of experts, get
some different micro-rules in there and voila, I've shown invasion is a Bad
Thing.

Like I said, I'm getting more and more convinced that social science ABMs
just project the prejudices of their authors/funders. Or does anyone have an
example of an objective 'uncorrupted' social science ABM?

Robert
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