Re: Simulating Individual Behavior

[Jan Kreft]

Stephen C. Upton wrote:

> ........
> There have been several attempts to model the campaign level using ABM's.
> However, for computational reasons,these were arguably unsuccessful.  But
> the attempts bring up some good questions:
> At what level do you model your agent or their interactions? Is a Battalion
> sufficient or do I need to model individual tanks?
> How much detail is required?  (More detail, More detail is the current
> rallying cry)
> How does that level of detail relate to system characteristics, e.g.,
> location of strange attractors, etc.?
> How do you know when you have the level of detail and interactions correct,
> especially if there isn't a whole lot of data, at either the agent level or
> the system level?

You can only know that if you vary the level of detail and look at the
results. Maybe there is some sort of optimum, then that's what you would
have to search for.
 
> .........
> Finally, we are all probably guilty of thinking our models represent the
> real world in some useful fashion. We should always maintain a certain
> amount of sceptism for any model and remember the paraphrase, modeling is
> for understanding.

Yes!

Cheers,

Jan.



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