21st-Century COE Program
" Creation of Agent-Based Social Systems Sciences (ABSSS)"
Hiroshi Deguchi, Head of the COE program
Mission of our research program.
The purpose of this research program is to study, by using the bottom up approach,
a variety of different social systems found in the 21st century and to understand
the principles and techniques of their institutional design.@The research program will
develop a theory of agent-based modeling (ABM) and a framework of agent-based simulation.
In agent-based simulation machine agents are used as players and in addition to machine agents,
key persons with a vested interest in the issue being modeled, such as a policy maker
and other stakeholders, participate in the model as player agents. Through this interaction
it is possible to share, interpret, understand and analyzes the issues as they are played out
among the human players. By using a method, based on agent-based modeling, there is
an opportunity to understand from constructive points of view the various types of systems
in our global society. For this purpose, emphasis is not only given to a bottom up approach,
but also to a functional approach and an attempt is made to bridge the gap between
constructive and functional, micro and macro, interpretive and rational modeling.
By focusing on the traceability of the various processes found within a social system,
frameworks are created for problem solving that enable the design, in a process traceable form,
of different types of organization and institutions.
What is Agent-Based Social Systems Sciences (ABSSS)?
In "agent-based social systems sciences" (ABSSS), we understand both an organization and
an individual as autonomous agents having an internal model governed by rules of behavior.
Through mutual competition, coordination and the cooperation of agents it is possible to
explore the different systems in our society and to analyze the construction process of
organizations and institutions from a complex adaptive systems point of view.
In this approach, learning, adaptation and evolution of the process are all considered and
in addition social systems theory, including learning and the evolutionary process of
agents are also explored. With this new technology of agent-based simulation where human
agents can participate in a model as players and the processes of agents become traceable,
the principles and tools of new society design can be observed. This trans-disciplinary
approach results in the establishment of a foundation of agent-based social systems science.
International standards will also be developed for an educational courseware of agent-based
social systems science.
Through this research program we will contribute toward providing a research hub for
creating a network of excellence in this field and we aim to establish a "Center for Agent-Based Social Systems Scienceh, where a consortium made up of members of industry,
government and academia can be developed to apply ABSSS to issues in the real world.
It is our earnest hope that many people will share our vision, join us and commit themselves
to successfully establishing this program.
