Dear All and Edmund Chattoe,

I dare to answer this after due consideration, because I have I suppose a rather different background and outlook on things than most participants in this list, and I feel that my reactions might possibly be of some value to the list in this special instance.

Last winter I did a "quick and dirty" survey over the area of "Social Simulation" in Swedish:
http://www.rivendell.nu/wcab/drafts/socsim.html
mostly as an exercise to start to clear my own thoughts, partly because this area of research seems to be unkown in Sweden (here all the Swedish researchers can correct me!), and finally because I have a feeling that the area is nearing the point where commercialization should be possible, if it is indeed not already happening. For those who do not read Swedish, a look at the links (mostly, though not only, to JASSS) will give you the idea that I have tried to give an hierarchical view of empirical attempts in the area, in increasing degree of complexity (ah!, what a wonderful word these days!). And I have added some loose thoughts and semistructured ideas of my own as to how commercial exploitation of these ideas and simulation techniques might be undertaken. Please bear in mind that this is only a rough draft, and intended mainly to be a thought-provoker for non-initiates in the area.

One of the main things that struck me when I was doing this overview, was that I found absolutely nothing pertaining to the level of complexity corresponding to what I termed the "family and/or workgroup". That is, a level I would describe anthropologically as consisting of  "more than 2, but less than many", individuals.

Which could suggest several things, such as a lack of interest in research at this level of complexity for some reason, or - as I asked in Swedish - the absence of a reality corresponding to this theoretical level?

I leave to the anthropologists the discussion as to whether the "family" does in fact exist or not?
And if it does, in which contexts, and in which types of societies? Or if the "family" perhaps is better described/simulated as a more or less loose collection of rather stronger pair relationsships?

Another, related, tangent: For those not acquainted with commercial state of the art "factory simulation" packages like Quest, I could add that it is now commonplace to simulate ergonomy in workcells, where the simulation can even differentiate as to height, weight, and gender of the workers. Even simulation of psychological/social factors such as the moose hunting season (abnormal absenteeism), etc., are routinely taken into account as seasonal variations in the reliability of the workforce as a whole. But not - yet, as far as I know - on an individual basis.

Oh, yes, my other main thesis was that temperament theory (Keirseys, or others, if Keirsey is not in fashion today) might well be a good empirical foundation to build practical tools for simulating real human interaction on a pair (one-on-one) level.  "(Probably because microsimulation typically avoids behavioural assumptions.)" might thus find it's solution?

Regards,

William C. Case

CV: http://www.rivendell.nu/wcab


----- Original Message -----
From: "Edmund Chattoe" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2000 1:47 PM
Subject: Simulating Families?


> Dear All,
>
> I am looking for simulations which could be said (even loosely) to capture
> family behaviour. At present, the obvious areas are microsimulation and
the
> sort of anthropological simulations of family practice exemplified by the
> work of Cathy Small, Dwight Read and others.
>
> My two questions are:
>
> 1) Have I missed other areas where I ought to look? Is there any CA
> modelling which attempts differentiated social structure? Multi-Agent
> models? (Would one say that EOS dealt with families or just
> undifferentiated "groups"?)
>
> 2) Could people direct me towards any microsimulations that more
> specifically deal with family distribution or other "family relevant"
> issues? My naive take is that while microsimulation deals with families as
> units of analysis, such models delving into family structure are in short
> supply. (Probably because microsimulation typically avoids behavioural
> assumptions.)
>
> I will summarise findings back to the list.
>
> ATB,
>
> Edmund
>
> =========================================================================
> Edmund Chattoe:  Department of Sociology,  University of Oxford, 3 George
> Street Mews, Oxford, Oxon, OX1 2AA, tel: 01865-278833, fax: 01865-278831,
> http://www.sociology.ox.ac.uk, Review Editor, J. Artificial Societies and
> Social Simulation (JASSS) http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/JASSS/,  "So act as
> to treat humanity, whether in your own person or in another, always as an
> end, and never as only a means."  (Immanuel Kant, Fundamental Principles)
> ==========================================================================
>


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