Agent-Based Modeling in Philosophy (11-13 December 2014)
Idea and Motivation
In the past two decades, agent-based models (ABMs) have become ubiquitous in philosophy and various sciences. ABMs have been applied, for example, to study the evolution of norms and language, to understand migration patterns of past civilizations, to investigate how population levels change in ecosystems over time, and more. In contrast with classical economic models or population-level models in biology, ABMs are praised for their lack of assumptions and their flexibility. Nonetheless, many of the methodological and epistemological questions raised by ABMs have yet to be fully articulated and answered. For example, there are unresolved debates about how to test (or "validate") ABMs, about the scope of their applicability in philosophy and the sciences, and about their implications or our understanding of reduction, emergence, and complexity in the sciences. This conference aims to bring together an interdisciplinary group of researchers aimed at understanding the foundations of agent-based modeling and how the practice can inform and be informed by philosophy.
Program
Wednesday, 10 December
| Time | Topic |
|---|---|
| 09:30 - 12:00 | Modelling the Evolution of Social Contract and the Stag Hunt Part 1 (instructed by Conor Mayo-Wilson, University of Washington/MCMP and Kevin Zollman, Carnegie Mellon University/MCMP) |
| 13:30 - 15:30 | Modelling the Evolution of Social Contract and the Stag Hunt Part 2 |
| 16:00 - 18:00 | Intro to Programming Agent Based Models in Python (instructed by Aidan Lyon, University of Maryland/MCMP) |
Thursday, 11 December
| Time | Topic |
|---|---|
| 10:00 - 10:10 | Welcome. |
| 10:10 - 10:50 | Felipe Romero: The Fragility of Scientific Self-Correction |
| 10:50 - 11:10 | Coffee Break |
| 11:10 - 11:50 | Manolo Martínez: Signalling Games and Modality |
| 11:50 - 12:30 | Carlos Santana: Modeling the Evolution of Language with and without much Empirical Data |
| 12:30 - 14:00 | Lunch |
| 14:00 - 14.40 | Krist Vaesen, Wybo Houkes and Adrien Querbes: No Strength in Numbers after all? A Robustness Analysis of the Demographic Effect on Scientific and Technological Change |
| 14:40 - 15:20 | Alexander Reutlinger and Dominik Hangleiter: Agent-based Simulations in the Sciences: Explanation without Understanding |
| 15:20 - 16:00 | Aidan Lyon and Eric Pacuit: Deliberating in a Prediction Market |
| 16:00 - 16:15 | Coffee Break |
| 16:15 - 17:45 | Scott Page: Collective Accuracy: Agent Based & Emergent vs Statistical and Assumed (Watch the lecture @ LMUcast) |
Friday, 12 December
| Time | Topic |
|---|---|
| 09:00 - 09:40 | Cailin O'Connor: Evolving to Generalize: Trading Precision for Speed |
| 09:40 - 10:20 | Ty Branch: Agent-Based Modeling for Weak Emergence |
| 10:20 - 10:40 | Coffee Break |
| 10:40 - 11:20 | Pierrick Bourrat: Endogenizing Reproduction and Inheritance: An Agent Based Modeling Approach |
| 11:20 - 12:50 | Kevin Zollman: The Formation of Epistemic Networks |
| 12:50 - 14:00 | Lunch |
| 14:00 - 14:40 | Rebecca Macintosh: Evolutionary Game Theory's Moral Meddlings |
| 14:40 - 15:20 | Corinna Elsenbroich and Rainer Hegselmann: Agent-based Models in Moral Philosophy |
| 15:20 - 16:00 | Hannah Übler: Simulating Trends in Artificial Influence Networks |
| 16:00 - 16:15 | Coffee Break |
| 16:15 - 17:45 | Rosaria Conte: Minding Norms. Mechanisms and Dynamics of Social Order in Agent Societies (Watch the lecture @ LMUcast) |
| 19:00 | Conference Dinner |
Saturday, 13 December
| Time | Topic |
|---|---|
| 09:00 - 09:40 | Rogier De Langhe: From Theory Choice to Theory Search |
| 09:40 - 10:20 | Samuli Pöyhönen: Navigating an Epistemic Landscape: Foraging vs. Broadcasting as Models of Socially Distributed Problem-Solving |
| 10:20 - 10:40 | Coffee Break |
| 10:40 - 11:20 | Bert Baumgaertner: Belief Amplification and Imitation in an Extended Voter Model |
| 11:20 - 12:50 | Jason Alexander: The Structural Evolution of Morality (Watch the lecture @ LMUcast) |
| 12:50 - 14:00 | Lunch |
| 14:00 - 14:40 | Remco Heesen: Three Ways To Become An Academic Superstar |
| 14:40 - 15:20 | Elena M. Tur, Paolo Zeppini and Koen Frenken: Diffusion of Ideas, Social Reinforcement and Percolation |
| 15:20 - 16:00 | Thomas Boyer and Cyrille Imbert: Explaining Scientific Collaboration from the Microscale: Do two Heads need to be more than twice better than one? |
| 16:00 - 16:15 | Coffee Break |
| 16:15 - 17:45 | Michael Weisberg: Agent-based Models and Confirmation Theory (Watch the lecture @ LMUcast) |
Acknowledgement
The conference is supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation through an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship and by the Center for Advanced Studies (CAS).