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Agent_Zero

Author Joshua M. Epstein
Release Date: 2014/02/01
ISBN: 9781400848256
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Book Description

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 (e.g., a new synthesis of neurally grounded internal modules), what it eschews (e.g., 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.

Table of Contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Dedication Page
  5. Contents
  6. Foreword
  7. Preface
  8. Acknowledgments
  9. Introduction
    1. Motivation
      1. Generate Social Dynamics
      2. A Core Target
    2. The Model Components
    3. Model Overview
      1. Skeletal Equation
      2. Specific Components
    4. Organization
      1. Part I: Mathematical Model
      2. Part II: Agent-Based Model
      3. Part III: Extensions
      4. Replicability and Research Resources on the Princeton University Press Website
      5. Part IV: Future Research and Conclusions
  10. Part I. Mathematical Model
    1. I.1. The Passions: Fear Conditioning
      1. Fear Circuitry and the Perils of Fitness
      2. Nomenclature of Conditioning
      3. The Rescorla-Wagner Model
      4. Social Examples
      5. Fear Extinction
    2. I.2. Reason: The Cognitive Component
    3. I.3. The Social Component
      1. Simple Version of the Core Target
      2. Examples of Fear Contagion
      3. Mechanisms of Fear Contagion
      4. Conformist Empirical Estimates
      5. Generalizing Rescorla-Wagner
      6. The Central Case
      7. Tolstoy: The First Agent Modeler
      8. A Mathematical Aside on Social Norms as Vector Fields
      9. Extinction of Majorities
    4. I.4. Interim Conclusions
  11. Part II. Agent-Based Computational Model
    1. Affective Component
    2. “Rational” Component
    3. Social Component
    4. Action
    5. Pseudocode
    6. II.1. Computational Parables
      1. Parable 1: The Slaughter of Innocents through Dispositional Contagion
      2. Parable 2: Agent_Zero Initiates: Leadership as Susceptibility to Dispositional Contagion
      3. Run 3. Information Cuts Both Ways
      4. Run 4. A Day in the Life of Agent_Zero: How Affect and Probability Can Change on Different Time Scales
      5. Run 5. Lesion Studies
  12. Part III. Extensions
    1. III.1. Endogenous Destructive Radius
    2. III.2. Age And Impulse Control
    3. III.3. Fight Vs. Flight
      1. Case 1: Fight
      2. Case 2: Flight
      3. Capital Flight
    4. III.4. Replicating The Latané-Darley Experiment
      1. Threshold Imputation
      2. The Dialogue
    5. III.5. Memory
    6. III.6. Couplings: Entanglement Of Passion And Reason
      1. Mathematical Treatment
    7. III.7. Endogenous Dynamics Of Connection Strength
      1. Affective Homophily
      2. General Setup
      3. Agent-Based Model: Nonequlibrium Dynamics
    8. III.8. Growing The 2011 Arab Spring
    9. III.9. Jury Processes
      1. Phase 1. Public Phase
      2. Phase 2. Courtroom Trial Phase
      3. Phase 3. Jury Phase
    10. III.10. Emergent Dynamics Of Network Structure
      1. Network Structure Dynamics as a Poincaré Map
      2. Relation to Literature
    11. III.11. Multiple Social Levels
      1. Agent_Zero as Witness to History
    12. III.12. The 18th Brumaire Of Agent_Zero
    13. III.13. Introduction Of Prices And Seasonal Economic Cycles
      1. Prices
      2. A Christmas Story
    14. III.14. Spirals Of Mutual Escalation
  13. Part IV. Future Research and Conclusion
    1. IV.1. Future Research
    2. IV.2. Conclusion
      1. Civil Violence
      2. Economics
      3. Health Behavior
      4. Psychology
      5. Jury Dynamics
      6. The Formation and Dynamics of Networks
      7. Mutual Escalation Dynamics
      8. Birth and Intergenerational Transmission
    3. IV.3. Toward New Generative Foundations
  14. Appendix I. Threshold Imputation Bounds
  15. Appendix II. Mathematica Code
  16. Appendix III. Agent_Zero NetLogo Source Code
  17. Appendix IV. Parameter Settings for Model Runs
  18. References
  19. Index
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