[FRIAM] ABMs and Plays

[Jochen Fromm]

I am currently reading the Shakespeare 
biography from Peter Ackroyd. While reading this
interesting work, I wondered if agent based models 
and plays can be considered as two extremes on 
one scale. In both we witness the outcome of a 
small number of agents or actors interacting 
with each other in a particular environment
according to certain rules and intentions. 
Shakespeares' plays are basic "models" for the 
complexity which arises through "love in hate" 
(Romeo and Juliet), "hesitation in action" (Hamlet)
or "striving against destiny" (Macbeth). In 
Shakespeares' words "Though this be madness, 
yet there is method in't." Is it?

-J.

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