315 - Modeling Socio-Technical Systems

omega tau science & engineering podcast

Guests: Igor Nikolic Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Mario Winkler

Socio-technical systems are systems where (groups of) humans interact with (non-trivial) technical systems; an example is the power grid. The people, the technical system and the combination might easily lead to complex behavior that is hard to predict and control over the long term. However, as illustrated by, for example, the need to transition our energy infrastructure to a more sustainable structure, it is necessary for society to “control” such systems. Igor Nikolic is a professor at the TU Delft where he uses agent-based modeling approach to try to understand, and thus help control and evolve such systems. We discuss the systems, the challenges as well as the modeling approaches.

Introduction

00:02:45

Igor Nikolic TU Delft | Private website | Twitter | TU Delft, Department Multi-Actor Systems | Sociotechnical system | Complexity | Complexity | Sante Fe Institute Home | Sante Fe Institute Wikipedia | Cell Automata | Joshua M. Epstein | Anasazi model | Agent-based model | Swarm behaviour | Boids | Flocks, Herds, and Schools: A Distributed Behavioral Model by Craig Reynolds | Inverse problem | Emergence | Socio-technical systems | Thomas P. Hughes | Social technology | Path dependency | Path dependency | Nonholonomic system | Foucault pendulum | Evolution | Laryngeal nerve | Richard Dawkins video | Dunbar's number (Steve Jobs - Computers Are Bicycles For The Mind) | Stephen Hawking quote | Wicket problem | Market (economics) | Privatisation of British Rail | 34C3 Talk | Neoclassical economics | Grigore Roșu | K Framework

Sustainable problem

01:00:40

Steam engine | Capitalism | Circular economy | Rachel Carson "Silent Spring" | DDT | The Blue Marble | CO2 in Earth's atmosphere | Economic globalization | Attractor | Chaos theory | Wallace and Gromit (Train Chase)

Research area, Models, Simulations

01:12:21

System dynamics | SimCity 2000 | Will Wright | John von Neumann | John Conway | Game of Life | State machine | Turing completeness | Object-oriented programming | Netlogo | Swarm | Repast | Nick Jennings | A New Kind of Science | Stephen Wolfram "A new kind of science" | Rule <110 | Turing machine | Mathematica | Model | Simulation | The law of conservation of misery | Neural network | Econometrics | Process philosophy | Panta rhei, "everything flows" | Alfred North Whitehead quote | Niels Bohr quotes | Monte Carlo method | J. Doyne Farmer | Nature article | Antifragile | Randomness | Pseudorandomness | Statistical sampling | Domain specific language | Hypercube sampling | Machine learning

Multi-Modelling

01:57:09

Scott Page "The Difference" | Scott Page "The Model" Thinker | Ontology alignment | Propagation of uncertainty | Genetic algorithm | High Level Architecture | Publish–subscribe pattern | Data Distribution Service, DDS | SIM0MQ | MQTT | MATPOWER

TEDx Talk Insights, Simplicity, Complexity

02:05:15

(Igor Nikolic - TEDxRotterdam 2010) | Intractability | YOLO | Allen, Tainter, Hoekstra "Supply-Side Sustainability" | omegatau 184 "Societal Complexity and Collapse" | Orthogonality | Post-normal science | MAIA framework | Baby boomers | Lawrence Lessig