[FRIAM] Article on Epstein

[Douglas Roberts]

Josh presented this work to us at our of our NIH MIDAS meetings not too long
ago.  Interesting stuff, but I frankly don't see what all the FRIAMers are
so agog about.  We've all known for a while that interesting behaviors can
be observed from even the most simple A-Life CA simulations (note that is
did not use the word "emerge" once in the above sentence.  Up until this
point, that is).

What befuddles me is how much 'complexity scientists' seem to get off on how
simple simulations can sometimes produce interesting results, rather than
getting sufficiently cranked up to write *really* big, *really* complex
societal models, and to then use them to do *really* big and complex
simulation studies.

This is not meant to imply any criticism against Josh's work -- it is quite
interesting, and he is a very good presenter.  It's just that after I see a
set of simulation results for a simple simulation of a very simple
artificial society, it makes me want to see what a more realistic, higher
resolution one can do.

I understand Josh's motivations for doing simple simulations.  As he states
in the article, "the trick [was] to get a lot *out*, while putting in as
little as possible", which is cool, sure.  To me, however it's all about
putting as much in as can be rationally justified, and then turning the
crank to see what pops out.

Michael A:  I agree, this thread would make an interesting WedTech topic.

--Doug

-- 
Doug Roberts, RTI International
droberts at rti.org
doug at parrot-farm.net
505-455-7333 - Office
505-670-8195 - Cell

On 6/27/07, Michael Agar <magar at anth.umd.edu> wrote:
>
> Good Lord. A shocking line to encounter on arrival in a Florida motel.
>
> (That might be a way to start a Carl Hiassen mystery.)
>
> Probably the most interesting things that go on in workshops for
> social/behavioral researchers who know a lot about their area but little
> about complexity/ABM is in the discussion space between domain knowledge
> and the concept of an ABM. Don't know what to call it, but it's got
> something to do with clarity and creativity that feeds back into their
> domain.
>
> This thread would make an interesting Wedtech conversation.
>
> Mike
>
>
> >>> robert at holmesacosta.com 06/26/07 7:24 PM >>>
> Good question - an explanation that's grounded in actual field research
> I
> guess.
>
> IMHO, an ABM can never offer an explanation for a social behaviour. All
> it
> can ever do (and I'm not being dismissive, I think this is important) is
> offer a suggestion for an explanation that can subsequently be confirmed
> or
> denied by real social research/anthropology/enthnological field research
> program.
>
> I don't think this is a particularly strong claim. The logic behind the
> a
> sugarscape or Netlogo style ABM seems to be (i) apply some micro rules
> to
> checkers running round a checker board, (ii) generate an unexpected
> macro
> behaviour, (iii) offer the micro rules as an explanation of the macro
> rules
> then (iv) claim that this checker-board behaviour is analagous to
> behaviour
> of real people/animals/companies/other real world entities.
>
> Step (i) through (iii) are OK (though most ABM papers I see aren't as
> upfront about the many-to-one nature of the explanation as Carl is in
> his
> email) but (iv) strikes me as a bit of a stretch; certainly I'd like
> more
> than vague assurances from the researcher that yes it's valid, honest.
> It
> doesn't strike me as unreasonable to ask for some evidence that the leap
> in
> (iv) is reasonable. But how often do we see that in the literature? As I
> suggest above, there's plenty of social research techniques that could
> generate that evidence. But I get the impression that the detailed
> comparison of model with reality that you get in (say) the Ancestral
> Pueblo
> study is the exception rather than the rule.
>
> And this is why we need more Mike Agars in this world.
>
> Robert
>
>
>
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