Re: Rough Update and Question

[Tim Kohler]

on 10/9/02 1:16 PM, address@hidden at address@hidden wrote:

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> I've been playing with getting it installed and running (the configure
> file for MacOS X doesn't like where I've stuck things and won't accept
> me telling it where I have them), along with some of the source code.
> I need to set up a Linux box so that I can get it installed there, but
> that's further down the road.
> 
> Unfortunately other than a little work over the last year I have very
> little experience with Agent-Based modeling.  I got interested in it
> right before the summer started thanks to my best friend and worked on
> a project for the Alliance for Youth Achievement, but my background is
> principally mathematics and computer science.
> 
> Presently I am working my way through Dynamics in Human and Primate
> Societies, along with Bar-Yam's Complex Systems textbook, but I think I
> need more references to understand some of the concepts here,
> specifically those in dynamic modeling (I know, different field, but
> references are made pretty often).
> 
> Can anyone recommend work in the field of dynamic modeling that would
> discuss some of the questions, concepts, and equations posed?  I have a
> strong background in mathematics, but only a limited background in
> social or biological fields.  Bar-Yam goes into some of it, but more
> focused information would be useful.
> 
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Sincerely,
> David
> - --------------------------


Hi David. I'm glad you're looking at that book that George and I put
together and I hope it's helpful. If it's systems-dynamics models you're
interested in, though, you won't find much of that there. You might find
Wolfgang Weidlich's _Sociodynamics_ (2000, Harwood) helpful in that area.
Many useful models are covered from a more biological perspective in Steven
Frank's very elegantly written _Foundations of Social Evolution_ (Princeton,
1998).

Good luck,
Tim Kohler, Professor
Dep't. of Anthropology
WSU, Pullman, WA  99164-4910


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