Abstract for SwarmFest'00

[Miles Parker]

hmm..I think I see a bit of a theme developing here;  As I begin (argh) to work 
on my talk, I find myself treading further than I reckoned into theoretical 
waters, if not as deeply as Roger and Glen...so the following is subject to 
change, but not much....I need to save most of my time for the more practical 
aspects..

Ascape: Abstracting Complexity

Miles T. Parker
Center on Social and Economic Dynamics
The Brookings Institution
March 2000

Abstract

Software tools used in science typically take a kitchen-sink approach to 
design. From statistics to mathematics to engineering to agent modeling, even 
those tools that have a strong organizing theme tend towards supporting every 
contingency and methodology. This impulse towards generalization and breadth is 
laudable and neccessary. But there is a harmonious case to be made for the 
discipline of abstraction, parsimony, and depth, and that is the case I make 
for Ascape.

I discuss a few key abstractions enforced in Ascape, and the opportunities they 
create for expressibility and simplicity. While these abstractions seem 
especially suited to the domain of social and economic systems, they are not 
limited to it. By demonstrating recent work in Ascape and building a simple 
Ascape model, I show how these apparantly constraining abstractions benefit the 
Ascape user and developer experience.



Miles T. Parker
Software Engineer
The Brookings Institution  1775 Mass. Ave. NW  Washington, DC  20036
http://www.brook.edu/es/dynamics/models/ascape
mailto:address@hidden  voice 202.797.6136  fax 202.797.6319

>>> address@hidden 02/23/00 07:21PM >>>

Hey!
Here's an abstract for a talk I'm going to try to give at
SwarmFest'00.  I'm asking everybody to bear with me on this
one.  [grin]  I'm not going to pretend to be talking about anything
defensible as scientific or engineering.  It's more of a fuzzy
"statement of the situation as I see it."  I don't feel so bad
giving a talk like this at a users' group meeting.  Plus, it's
going to be part of a justification for a potential new development
vision for the SDG.

glen
p.s. Apologies to Douglas Adams.

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

Life, The Universe, and Everything: Computation and Simulation

Glen E. Ropella
The Swarm Corporation
address@hidden 

Abstract

As computational resources become more ubiquitous, we must develop
the ability to delegate responsibility to automata.  The current state
of computational design prohibits this delegation because we just
can't develop the trust that is a necessary prerequisite for such
delegation.  Therefore, we need to examine "trust" in the context of
our computational artifacts.  Trust is built on expectations.
Expectations are built by abduction from an often dynamic set of
observables.  Simulation, particularly the kind used by agent-based
modelers, provides a powerful context in which to experiment with the
process by which expectations and trust are built.  And if we can
develop this "estimation theory" beyond mathematical modeling, we
should be able to advance the state-of-the-art not only in simulation
and modeling, but in parallel systems analysis and design, as well.


--
glen e. p. ropella =><= The front line is everywhere. Hail Eris!
Home: http://forager.swarm.com/~gepr              (505) 424-0448
Work: http://www.swarm.com                        (505) 995-0818


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                  ==================================
   Swarm-Modelling is for discussion of Simulation and Modelling techniques
   esp. using Swarm.  For list administration needs (esp. [un]subscribing),
   please send a message to <address@hidden> with "help" in the
   body of the message.
                  ==================================