Growing Artificial Societies: Social Science from the
Bottom Up
von Joshua M. Epstein
(Autor), Robert L. Axtell (Künstler)
How do social
structures and group behaviors arise from the interaction of individuals?
Growing Artificial Societies approaches this question with cutting-edge
computer simulation techniques. Fundamental collective behaviors such as group
formation, cultural transmission, combat, and trade are seen to
"emerge" from the interaction of individual agents following a few
simple rules. In their program, named Sugarscape, Epstein and Axtell begin the
development of a "bottom up" social science that is capturing the
attention of researchers and commentators alike. The study is part of the 2050
Project, a joint venture of the Santa Fe Institute, the World Resources
Institute, and the Brookings Institution. The project is an international
effort to identify conditions for a sustainable global system in the next
century and to design policies to help achieve such a system. Copublished with
the Brookings Institution
