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Generative Social Science: Studies in Agent-Based Computational Modeling (Princeton Studies in Complexity)
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 300.113
EAN: 9780691125473
ISBN: 0691125473
Label: Princeton University Press
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: January 08, 2007
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Studio: Princeton University Press
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Editorial Review:Agent-based computational modeling is changing the face of social science. In Generative Social Science, Joshua Epstein argues that this powerful, novel technique permits the social sciences to meet a fundamentally new standard of explanation, in which one "grows" the phenomenon of interest in an artificial society of interacting agents: heterogeneous, boundedly rational actors, represented as mathematical or software objects. After elaborating this notion of generative explanation in a pair of overarching foundational chapters, Epstein illustrates it with examples chosen from such far-flung fields as archaeology, civil conflict, the evolution of norms, epidemiology, retirement economics, spatial games, and organizational adaptation. In elegant chapter preludes, he explains how these widely diverse modeling studies support his sweeping case for generative explanation. This book represents a powerful consolidation of Epstein's interdisciplinary research activities in the decade since the publication of his and Robert Axtell's landmark volume, Growing Artificial Societies. Beautifully illustrated, Generative Social Science includes a CD that contains animated movies of core model runs, and programs allowing users to easily change assumptions and explore models, making it an invaluable text for courses in modeling at all levels.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - Instead of Can You Explain It, Can You Build It?
Sometimes I encounter books that are extremely important, that give me an appreciation for a knowledge domain I do not know enough about, and that I simply cannot read and review.
This book, and Complex Adaptive Systems: An Introduction to Computational Models of Social Life (Princeton Studies in Complexity) are two such books. This one starts with:
"instead of explaining it, can you grow it?"
Howard Bloom, in Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the ... Read More
Rating: - Mesmerising
What a mesmerising book. Well written, nicely presented, good graphics, only a couple of minor typographical errors. It takes some effort to wade through it, but the rewards are there. As I read, I started to compare what was being said with what was going on in my own life, whether at work or at home - the things I do just happen to coincide with some of the things Epstein was writing about. The insight from the examples provided was quite eye opening. Things that were happening around me made ... Read More
Rating: - Excellent example of cross-disciplinary social science using theory
It's refreshing and exciting, in a quiet intellectual kind of way, to encounter a book that includes philosophy of science, music theory, Anasazi disappearance mysteries, ethnic cleansing, and an explanation of why CEOs exist. Josh has produced the book I've been wanting to read any time during the last 20 years, which have been a bit barren from the theory and modeling perspective in social science. He also makes clear the mathematical and philosophical basis of the agent-based approach, producing a ... Read More
Rating: - Excellent survey of the author's work
This book did a good job of introducing me to the current state of agent-based modeling. It also, perhaps inadvertently, highlighted some of the current weaknesses of the field. In particular, the models shown in each paper rarely shared common features, and there was little consistency in method.
Epstein argues persuasively that agent-based modeling is a tool, not a methodological approach, and you should no sooner expect consistent usage here than with differential calculus. That said, ... Read More
Rating: - A Landmark Publication
Josh Epstein's new Opus is a landmark publication in the emerging field of multiagent-based simulation of dynamic social systems. Since Josh is not only one of this still nascent (though burgeoning) field's ablest and most creative practitioners, but also among its most thoughtful critics, the reader of has two treats in store: (1) a generous, and wide-ranging, sampling of case studies (including social networks and evolution, population growth, emergence of economic classes, civil unrest, timing of retirement, ... Read More
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