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Simulation Models as Opaque Thought Experiments
Open accessAbstract
We review and critique a range of perspectives on the scientific role of individual-based evolutionary simulation models as they are used within artificial life. We find that such models have the potential to enrich existing modelling enterprises through their strength in modelling systems of interacting entities. Furthermore, simulation techniques promise to provide theoreticians in various fields with entirely new conceptual, as well as methodological, approaches. However, the precise manner in which simulations can be used as models is not clear. We present two apparently opposed perspectives on this issue: simulation models as "emergent computational thought experiments" and simulation models as realistic simulacra. Through analysing the role that armchair thought experiments play in science, we develop a role for simulation models as opaque thought experiments, that is, thought experiments in which the consequences follow from the premises, but in a non-obvious m...
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Cited by
Moore, J. H., & Williams, S. M. (2005) · BioEssays · doi:10.1002/bies.20236 · Cited by 340
Auchincloss, A. H., & Diez Roux, A. V. (2008) · American Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1093/aje/kwn118 · Cited by 334
Enactive artificial intelligence: Investigating the systemic organization of life and mind
Froese, T., & Ziemke, T. (2009) · Artificial Intelligence · doi:10.1016/j.artint.2008.12.001 · Cited by 317
The evolved radio and its implications for modelling the evolution of novel sensors
Bird, J., & Layzell, P. (2003) · Proceedings of the 2002 Congress on Evolutionary Computation. CEC'02 (Cat. No.02TH8600) · doi:10.1109/cec.2002.1004522 · Cited by 42
Hidden Concepts in the History and Philosophy of Origins-of-Life Studies: A Workshop Report
Mariscal, C., Barahona, A., Aubert-Kato, N., Aydinoglu, A. U., Bartlett, S., Cárdenas, M. L., Chandru, K., Cleland, C., Cocanougher, B. T., Comfort, N., et al. (2019) · Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres · doi:10.1007/s11084-019-09580-x · Cited by 36
Metadata
- Authors
- Di Paolo, E. A., Noble, J., & Bullock, S.
- Venue
- Artificial Life VII
- Publisher
- The MIT Press
- Published
- 2000-08-01
- Pages
- 497-506
- OpenAlex
- W1557023445
- Cited by
- 223
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 59.03
- Type
- book chapter
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
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