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Artificial Societies

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Encyclopedia of Machine Learning and Data Mining

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Synonyms

Agent-based computational models; Agent-based modeling and simulation; Agent-based simulation models

Definition

An artificial society is an agent-based, computer-implemented simulation model of a society or group of people, usually restricted to their interaction in a particular situation. Artificial societies are used in economics and social sciences to explain, understand, and analyze socioeconomic phenomena. They provide scientists with a fully controllable virtual laboratory to test hypotheses and observe complex system behavior emerging as result of the agents’ interaction. They allow formalizing and testing social theories by using computer code, and make it possible to use experimental methods with social phenomena, or at least with their computer representations, on a large scale. Because the designer is free to choose any desired agent behavioras long as it can be implemented, research based on artificial societies is not restricted by assumptions typical in...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Warwick, Coventry, UK

    Jürgen Branke

Authors
  1. Jürgen Branke
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Claude Sammut

  2. Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Geoffrey I. Webb

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Branke, J. (2017). Artificial Societies. In: Sammut, C., Webb, G.I. (eds) Encyclopedia of Machine Learning and Data Mining. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-7687-1_922

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