Ian Parker wrote

> Mathematically the number of "prisoners" in
> "Prisoner's dilemma" cooperating or not reflects the prevalence of
> cooperators or non cooperators present. Evolution *should* tend to Von
> Neumann's zero sum condition.

The classical PD is of no concern in social simulation, it's just an
archetype you use to design a setting or to analyse results.

(BTW, PD is usually a non-zero-sum game)

> This is an example of Calculus solving a
> problem far neater and more elegantly than GAs which should only be used
> where there is no good or obvious Calculus solution.

Most problems are of nonlinear nature and require many equations.
So you end up not with "neat and elegant" solutions but with loads of
numerical approximations and heuristics (like socsim).

> Second observation about societal punishment eliminating free loaders. The
> fact of the matter is that "*freeloading*" is less of a problem in
> advanced societies than misplaced unselfishness.

Fact of the matter, hm? Freeloading is an inherent problem in many
social configurations. 9/11 brought down two towers, freeloading can
bring down an entire country.

> simulations seem :-
>
> 1) To be better done by Calculus.

You usually use both, equations and heuristics. It depends on the
problem, your resources, your questions, the people working with it
a.s.o.

> 2) Not to be useful in providing simulations of things we are interested
> in.

...of things _you_ are interested in.




-------------------------------------------
agi
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