Computer Simulations and Creative Theory
Decades ago, several computationally sophisticated social theorists believed that computer simulations, many of which employed artificial intelligence principles, could be used to test and improve the rigor of theories in the social sciences. Examples include books like World Dynamics (1971) by Jay Forrester, Micromotives and Macrobehavior (1978) by Thomas Schelling, and The Evolution of Cooperation (1984) by Robert Axelrod.1 Although a European journal exists in this area, The Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, and other journals sometimes publish social simulation studies, this methodology has not become a common tool for theorizing in sociology, political science, and ...
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