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mathematica conference talk



a number of people have been going to the web site for the mathematica
conference http://www.wolfram.com/conference98/ to look at the
conference program and have then sent me e-mail asking for details on
my talk. i think its because the subject seems a bit strange for a
mathematica conference.

btw - the title has been changed [see below] (hopefully the new title
will be put on the web site soon)].

so i thought i might post the abstract for the talk and a list of the
topics i wil cover.

note: the topics are essentially the table of contents of he new book i
have written with lou d'andria [is that a groan of 'oh no, not another
one' i  hear] called "Simulating Society: A Mathematica Toolkit for
Modeling Socioeconomic Behavior" which is due out on june 16th.

see you in chicago [one of the best cities in the world].

-richard-

-------------------------------

                                    WorldWide Mathematica Conference
                                                         Chicago, IL
                                                 June 18 - 21, 1998 


                             SOCIAL LEARNING AND SOCIAL CAPITAL 
                          Socieconomic Simulations Using Mathematica 

                                               by

                                     Richard J. Gaylord

                                 Thursday Afternoon June 18, 1998
                                    Hotel Inter-Continental Chicago
                                           

                                                  
                                                      Abstract

Computer simulation provides a powerful theoretical tool for studying
human social behavior. In this talk, we'll look at simulation models of
social phenomena, using a bottom-up or agent-based approach. This
approach differs from traditional socioeconomic modeling in that it
assumes that: (1) people are heterogeneous, each having his or her own
identity, traits, tastes, and memories, (2) people can think rationally
or irrationally, intelligently or naively, (3) people can directly
interact unilaterally or multilaterally, without the intervention of a
central authority, (4) people can change their behavior as they learn
from experience and adapt, and (5) people are mobile and can move
around simultaneously or asynchronously.

We'll develop and discuss simulation models of a variety of social
phenomena, including:

Social Learning - How do people come to share meme values, including
beliefs, attitudes and tastes? One mechanism for the spreading of memes
involves contagion. We will look at cultural transmission via the
bilateral interaction between individuals in a mobile society when
everyone has equal social status and also when there are role models
who are emulated. 

Social Capital - Why causes neighborhoods and ghettos to form, fads and
fashions to come and go, and social norms to develop and persist? We
will look how these phenomena can occur in a mobile community  via the
interaction between an individual and a group of other people en masse.


Non-Local Phenomena - The behavior of individuals in many traditional
social situations, including at a social gathering such as a party or a
film festival on a cruise ship, or in an organization such as a
community or a company, can be modeled in terms of cellular automata
with local interactions and local movements. However, modern modes of
transportation such as cars and airplanes, allow non-local movement,
and new forms of telecommunications such as the telephone, the Internet
and satellite transmission allow non-local interactions. We will show
how non-local effects can be incorporated into simulation models of
social behavior.

---------------------

TOPICS

(* i will cover all of these topics in the presentation,time permitting
*)


INTRODUCTION
Chapter 1: Modeling A Society of Mobile, Heterogeneous Individuals      

     principles and techniques
CULTURAL EXCHANGE
Chapter 2: Transmitting
Culture                                                                 


     value and belief exchange
     the influence of social status and the emulation of role models
SOCIOECONOMIC TRANSACTIONS
Chapter 3: Deciding Whether To Interact (the optional prisoner's
dilemma)         
     gossip and reputation 
     the use of signals of intent 
Chapter 4: Choosing How To
Behave                                                                  


     reciprocity and the use of history-based interaction strategies 
     aspirations and expectations 
GROUP INTERACTIONS
Chapter 5: Grouping Together and
Conforming                                                              


     neighborhood formation
     social norm development  and the spread of fads and fashions
NONLOCALITY
Chapter 6: Social Networking and Moving To Far-Flung Locations          

     interactions  with social neighborhoods of friends and family
     movement over varying distances

-- 
richard j. gaylord, university of illinois, gaylord@uiuc.edu

"What I cannot create, I do not understand"
           -Richard P. Feynman-



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