Justin Li

Understanding Humans

2008-05-01

I've been slowly reading material on multi-agent models of society, which requires a simulation of certain human activities. Not all, but some.

The thought struck me today that this modeling of humans is a little controversial, depending on how I phrase it. One could say that I'm reducing human behavior into a set of rules, which is true in the literal sense. But in doing so I'll also be discovering and understanding more about human psychology and social behavior, which seems like a more academic goal.

Personally, as a transhumanist, I don't think behavior as rules is a bad thing at all.