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Agent_Zero: Toward Neurocognitive Foundations for Generative Social Science
The Final Volume of the Groundbreaking Trilogy on Agent-Based Modeling
In this pioneering synthesis, Joshua Epstein introduces a new theoretical entity: Agent_Zero. This software individual, or "agent," is endowed with distinct emotional/affective, cognitive/deliberative, and social modules. Grounded in contemporary neuroscience, these internal components interact to generate observed, often far-from-rational, individual behavior. When multiple agents of this new type move and interact spatially, they collectively generate an astonishing range of dynamics spanning the fields of social conflict, psychology, public health, law, network science, and economics.
Epstein weaves a computational tapestry with threads from Plato, Hume, Darwin, Pavlov, Smith, Tolstoy, Marx, James, and Dostoevsky, among others. This transformative synthesis of social philosophy, cognitive neuroscience, and agent-based modeling will fascinate scholars and students of every stripe. Epstein's computer programs are provided in the book or on its Princeton University Press website, along with movies of his "computational parables."
Agent_Zero is a signal departure in what it includes (eg, a new synthesis of neurally grounded internal modules), what it eschews (eg, standard behavioral imitation), the phenomena it generates (from genocide to financial panic), and the modeling arsenal it offers the scientific community.
For generative social science, Agent_Zero presents a groundbreaking vision and the tools to realize it.
In this pioneering synthesis, Joshua Epstein introduces a new theoretical entity: Agent_Zero. This software individual, or "agent," is endowed with distinct emotional/affective, cognitive/deliberative, and social modules. Grounded in contemporary neuroscience, these internal components interact to generate observed, often far-from-rational, individual behavior. When multiple agents of this new type move and interact spatially, they collectively generate an astonishing range of dynamics spanning the fields of social conflict, psychology, public health, law, network science, and economics.
Epstein weaves a computational tapestry with threads from Plato, Hume, Darwin, Pavlov, Smith, Tolstoy, Marx, James, and Dostoevsky, among others. This transformative synthesis of social philosophy, cognitive neuroscience, and agent-based modeling will fascinate scholars and students of every stripe. Epstein's computer programs are provided in the book or on its Princeton University Press website, along with movies of his "computational parables."
Agent_Zero is a signal departure in what it includes (eg, a new synthesis of neurally grounded internal modules), what it eschews (eg, standard behavioral imitation), the phenomena it generates (from genocide to financial panic), and the modeling arsenal it offers the scientific community.
For generative social science, Agent_Zero presents a groundbreaking vision and the tools to realize it.
272 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2014
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110 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 1, 2019
On overall it is worth reading for a good review of ABM s applications and future research areas that will follow (it's sort of the habit of Pr. Epstein and raise a challenge by the end of each book of the triad 'so far')
I think that modeling the "Arab Spring" is probably a first corner-stone that can lead to establish once and for all the legitimate use of computational social science in general... (The book is explanatory and doesn't advocate any of this)...
The field is quickly moving from simple parables to a well grounded science...
I think that modeling the "Arab Spring" is probably a first corner-stone that can lead to establish once and for all the legitimate use of computational social science in general... (The book is explanatory and doesn't advocate any of this)...
The field is quickly moving from simple parables to a well grounded science...
Want to read
April 18, 2021recommendation: [EP90 Joshua Epstein on Agent-Based Modeling - The Jim Rutt Show](https://jimruttshow.blubrry.net/joshu...)
March 2, 2015
Particularly impressed by the generation of the lynch mob scenario (generalizes to a wealth of other scenarios) illustrating the power of dispositional contagion wherein:
"The agent at the front of the lynch mob has no particular grievance V or evidence P, and left to his own devices would never act. Notice that this is not “the banality of evil.” Agent 0 is not “just following orders,” because none are issued. And he is not imitating the behavior of others, because he is the first to behave! The deeper point, as emphasized throughout, is that no agent is imitating the behavior of others, regardless of the order in which they activate."
Very relevant in this day and age, just think of terror, the abundance of grand man theories, and anti-vaccination craze.
"The agent at the front of the lynch mob has no particular grievance V or evidence P, and left to his own devices would never act. Notice that this is not “the banality of evil.” Agent 0 is not “just following orders,” because none are issued. And he is not imitating the behavior of others, because he is the first to behave! The deeper point, as emphasized throughout, is that no agent is imitating the behavior of others, regardless of the order in which they activate."
Very relevant in this day and age, just think of terror, the abundance of grand man theories, and anti-vaccination craze.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews