Modeling the Individual for the Whole: Apocalypse Group Dynamics in ABM

One of the major issues that Bonabeau brings up in his conclusion is the notion that ABMs model a system by simulating the actions of the individual units of analysis and not the group as a whole on the aggregate level. Because of the individual simulation of agents, this process is very computation-intensive and leads to high hardware costs or investment in cloud-computing infrastructure.  He notes that while aggregate-level analysis could be done with just a few equations, it is more complicated and time-consuming to describe individual units.

In the example of modelling a Zombie Apocalypse, I would like to see how the actions of the individual agents affect the outcome for the group as a whole.  As commonly portrayed in Zombie Sci-Fi, even a close encounter with an infected agent can have dire consequences for the entire group that the affected agent belongs to, due to the slow nature of death by the pathogen, and the way in which it manifests itself in its recently dead hosts, thus putting the entire group at risk from an un-noticed bite victim.  I would like to see how the agents would adapt as a group, if one were to add in the preference for both non-infected and infected agents to remain in close proximity to like agents.

 

-Rsmithlal

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