Neminem laedere. An evolutionary agent-based model of the interplay between punishment and damaging behaviours

This article aims at contributing to the discussion about the relationships between ICT, computer science and policy-making by focusing on agent-based social simulation. Enabled, from a technical point of view, by the developments of Distributed Artificial Intelligence in the 1990s and by the features of the object-oriented programming paradigm, agent-based social simulations are a tool for the analysis of social dynamics that can be used also to support the design and the evaluation of public policies. After a brief description of social simulation paradigm and of its impact on social sciences, the paper presents a simple agent-based model devised to analyze, even if in a very abstract way, a phenomenon that can rouse the interest of legal scientists: the interplay between damaging behaviors, punishment and social mechanisms of learning and imitation. Our goal is to show how agent-based simulation can be used not only to illuminate basic mechanisms underlying social phenomena but also to reflect, in an innovative way, on how society can deal with them.

[1]  Scott Moss,et al.  Policy analysis from first principles , 2002, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[2]  Victor Lesser.  ICMAS-95 : proceedings First International Conference on Multi-Agent Systems, June 12-14, 1995, San Francisco, California , 1995 .

[3]  Anand S. Rao,et al.  BDI Agents: From Theory to Practice , 1995, ICMAS.

[4]  Nicholas R. Jennings,et al.  Foundations of distributed artificial intelligence , 1996, Sixth-generation computer technology series.

[5]  R. Franck.  The Explanatory Power of Models , 2002 .

[6]  L. Haworth,et al.  Social Theory and Social Structure. Robert Merton , 1959 .

[7]  J. Casti.  Would-Be Worlds: How Simulation Is Changing the Frontiers of Science , 1996 .

[8]  Peter Tyson,et al.  Artificial societies , 1997 .

[9]  M. Batty.  Generative social science: Studies in agent-based computational modeling , 2008 .

[10]  Reinhard Zimmermann,et al.  The Law of Obligations: Roman Foundations of the Civilian Tradition , 1996 .

[11]  E. Hoebel,et al.  The law of primitive man : a study in comparative legal dynamics , 1955 .

[12]  Martin Neumann,et al.  Homo Socionicus: a Case Study of Simulation Models of Norms , 2008, J. Artif. Soc. Soc. Simul..

[13]  Goldberg,et al.  Genetic algorithms , 1993, Robust Control Systems with Genetic Algorithms.

[14]  Domenico Parisi,et al.  What to Do With a Surplus , 1997 .

[15]  David M. Messick,et al.  Frontiers in Social Dilemmas Research , 1996 .

[16]  Melanie Mitchell,et al.  An introduction to genetic algorithms , 1996 .

[17]  Bruce Edmonds.  What Social Simulation Might Tell Us about How Law Works , 2013 .

[18]  Fernando Buarque de Lima Neto,et al.  Migration and social networks — An explanatory multi-evolutionary agent-based model , 2011, 2011 IEEE Symposium on Intelligent Agent (IA).

[19]  J. Sterman.  Business Dynamics , 2000 .

[20]  Freda Adler,et al.  Advances in Criminological Theory , 1996 .

[21]  K. Llewellyn.  Jurisprudence : Realism in Theory and Practice , 1962 .

[22]  Claudio Cioffi-Revilla,et al.  A Methodology for Complex Social Simulations , 2010, J. Artif. Soc. Soc. Simul..

[23]  Herbert Dawid,et al.  EURACE: A massively parallel agent-based model of the European economy , 2008, Appl. Math. Comput..

[24]  P. Richerson,et al.  Punishment allows the evolution of cooperation (or anything else) in sizable groups , 1992 .

[25]  O. Wolkenhauer.  Why model? , 2013, Front. Physiol..

[26]  Martin Spielauer,et al.  What is Social Science Microsimulation? , 2011 .

[27]  Pinata Winoto.  Genetic Algorithm and Social Simulation , 2002, PRICAI.

[28]  Gerhard O. W. Mueller,et al.  The Law of Primitive Man , 1955 .

[29]  J. Forrester.  Principles of systems : text and workbook, chapters 1 through 10 , 1968 .

[30]  Thorbjørn Knudsen,et al.  The Complex Evolution of a Simple Traffic Convention: the Functions and Implications of Habit , 2004 .

[31]  A. Pentland,et al.  Computational Social Science , 2009, Science.

[32]  R. Boyd,et al.  Explaining altruistic behavior in humans , 2003 .

[33]  Michael Keating,et al.  Approaches and Methodologies in the Social Sciences: Comparing approaches, methodologies and methods. Some concluding remarks , 2008 .

[34]  John D. Sterman,et al.  System Dynamics: Systems Thinking and Modeling for a Complex World , 2002 .

[35]  Manuel Cebrián,et al.  The Genetic Algorithm as a General Diffusion Model for Social Networks , 2010, AAAI.

[36]  Richard Bellamy,et al.  On crimes and punishments and other writings , 2006 .

[37]  Gresham M. Sykes,et al.  Juvenile Delinquency and Subterranean Values , 1961 .

[38]  Elizabeth Sklar,et al.  NetLogo, a Multi-agent Simulation Environment , 2007, Artificial Life.

[39]  Lin Liu.  Artificial Crime Analysis Systems: Using Computer Simulations and Geographic Information Systems , 2008 .

[40]  Paul Weirich,et al.  The Philosophy and Epistemology of Simulation: A Review , 2010 .

[41]  Guillaume Deffuant,et al.  Simulating Interacting Agents and Social Phenomena, The Second World Congress [Post-Conference Proceedings of the World Congress on Social Simulation, WCSS 2008, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA, 14-17 July 2008] , 2010, WCSS.

[42]  Petra Ahrweiler,et al.  Innovation in complex social systems , 2010 .

[43]  Sean Luke,et al.  Agent-Based Modeling Simulation of Social Adaptation and Long-Term Change in Inner Asia , 2006, WCSS.

[44]  Johannes Kaiser,et al.  Simulating complex social behaviour with the genetic action tree kernel , 2007, Comput. Math. Organ. Theory.

[45]  Mario Paolucci,et al.  Reputation in Artificial Societies , 2002, Multiagent Systems, Artificial Societies, and Simulated Organizations.

[46]  R. Axelrod.  The Complexity of Cooperation , 2011 .

[47]  Brian Z. Tamanaha,et al.  A general jurisprudence of law and society , 2001 .

[48]  Nick Malleson.  Computer Simulations of Criminal Deterrence: from Public Policy to Local Interaction to Individual Behaviour by Pieter Van Baal , 2007, J. Artif. Soc. Soc. Simul..

[49]  W. Hamilton,et al.  The evolution of cooperation. , 1984, Science.

[50]  James H Fowler,et al.  Altruistic Punishment and the Origin of Cooperation , 2005, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[51]  Joshua M. Epstein,et al.  Generative Social Science: Studies in Agent-Based Computational Modeling (Princeton Studies in Complexity) , 2007 .

[52]  Nicola Lettieri,et al.  Computational Social Science and its Potential Impact upon Law , 2012, Eur. J. Law Technol..

[53]  J. Henrich,et al.  Why Humans Cooperate: A Cultural and Evolutionary Explanation , 2007 .

[54]  Alex R. Piquero,et al.  Rational Choice and Criminal Behavior : Recent Research and Future Challenges , 2001 .

[55]  Maurice Hauriou,et al.  Aux sources du droit : le pouvoir, l'ordre et la liberté , 1933 .

[56]  John N. Drobak.  Computer Simulation and Gaming: An Interdisciplinary Survey with a View toward Legal Applications , 1972 .

[57]  W. Hamilton,et al.  The Evolution of Cooperation , 1984 .

[58]  Martin Neumann,et al.  A Classification of Normative Architectures , 2008, WCSS.

[59]  Neil MacCormick,et al.  An Institutional Theory of Law: New Approaches to Legal Positivism , 1986 .

[60]  D. Foley,et al.  The economy needs agent-based modelling , 2009, Nature.

[61]  Flaminio Squazzoni,et al.  Does Empirical Embeddedness Matter? Methodological Issues on Agent-Based Models for Analytical Social Science , 2005, J. Artif. Soc. Soc. Simul..

[62]  Martin Neumann,et al.  Norm Internalisation in Human and Artificial Intelligence , 2010, J. Artif. Soc. Soc. Simul..

[63]  Mary A. Burke,et al.  The emergence of local norms in networks , 2006, Complex..

[64]  E. Durkheim,et al.  Rules of Sociological Method , 1964 .

[65]  John R. Koza,et al.  Hidden Order: How Adaptation Builds Complexity. , 1995, Artificial Life.

[66]  Mark Buchanan,et al.  Economics: Meltdown modelling , 2009, Nature.

[67]  M. Tomasello.  Why We Cooperate , 2009 .

[68]  Jørgen Randers,et al.  Elements of the System Dynamics Method , 1997 .

[69]  John H. Holland,et al.  Hidden Order: How Adaptation Builds Complexity , 1995 .

[70]  Michael W. Macy,et al.  Natural Selection and Social Learning in Prisoner's Dilemma: Coadaptation with Genetic Algorithms and Artificial Neural Networks , 1996 .

[71]  Mario Paolucci,et al.  Normative reputation and the costs of compliance , 1998, J. Artif. Soc. Soc. Simul..

[72]  Andreas Harrer,et al.  Simulating Norms, Social Inequality, and Functional Change in Artificial Societies , 1999, J. Artif. Soc. Soc. Simul..

[73]  C. V. Butler,et al.  Socialism in Theory and Practice. , 1909 .

[74]  G. Nigel Gilbert,et al.  Agent-Based Models , 2007 .

[75]  R. Hegselmann,et al.  Simulating Social Phenomena , 1997 .

[76]  Harry Goldingay,et al.  Agent Based Models of Competition and Collaboration , 2010 .

[77]  François Bousquet,et al.  Companion modeling and multi-agent systems for integrated natural resource management in Asia , 2005 .

[78]  Klaus G. Troitzsch.  Legislation, Regulatory Impact Assessment and Simulation , 2013 .

[79]  Domenico Parisi,et al.  Individual versus social survival strategies , 1998, J. Artif. Soc. Soc. Simul..

[80]  Mario Paolucci,et al.  On the Immergence of Norms: A Normative Agent Architecture , 2007, AAAI Fall Symposium: Emergent Agents and Socialities.

[81]  Tibor Bosse,et al.  Social Simulation and Analysis of the Dynamics of Criminal Hot Spots , 2010, J. Artif. Soc. Soc. Simul..

[82]  Robert Franck,et al.  The explanatory power of models : bridging the gap between empirical and theoretical research in the social sciences , 2002 .

[83]  R. Axelrod,et al.  The Complexity of Cooperation: Agent-Based Models of Competition and Collaboration , 1998 .

[84]  Flaminio Squazzoni,et al.  Epistemological Aspects of Computer Simulation in the Social Sciences, Second International Workshop, EPOS 2006, Brescia, Italy, October 5-6, 2006, Revised Selected and Invited Papers , 2009, EPOS.

[85]  Claudio Cioffi-Revilla,et al.  Computational social science , 2010 .

[86]  Christophe Le Page,et al.  A Step-by-step Approach to Building Land Management Scenarios Based on Multiple Viewpoints on Multi-agent System Simulations , 2003, J. Artif. Soc. Soc. Simul..

[87]  R. Clarke,et al.  UNDERSTANDING CRIME DISPLACEMENT: AN APPLICATION OF RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY , 1987 .

[88]  Claudio Cioffi-Revilla.  Computational Social Science , 2010 .

[89]  Flaminio Squazzoni,et al.  Complexity-Friendly Policy Modelling , 2010 .

[90]  Roy Wilson.  Epistemological Aspects of Computer Simulation in the Social Sciences (Lecture Notes in Computer Science) by Flaminio Squazzoni (ed.) , 2009, J. Artif. Soc. Soc. Simul..

[91]  Lada A. Adamic,et al.  Computational Social Science , 2009, Science.

[92]  C. Hauert,et al.  Via Freedom to Coercion: The Emergence of Costly Punishment , 2007, Science.

[93]  Joshua M. Epstein,et al.  Learning to Be Thoughtless: Social Norms and Individual Computation , 2001 .

[94]  Bastin Tony Roy Savarimuthu,et al.  A categorization of simulation works on norms , 2009, Normative Multi-Agent Systems.

[95]  R. Boyd,et al.  The evolution of altruistic punishment , 2003, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[96]  D. Cressey,et al.  Principles of Criminology. , 1947 .

[97]  M. Felson,et al.  Routine activity and rational choice , 2004 .

[98]  Neil MacCormick,et al.  An Institutional Theory of Law , 1986 .

[99]  F. Squazzoni.  The Impact of Agent-Based Models in the Social Sciences after 15 Years of Incursions , 2010 .

[100]  T. Hirschi.  Causes of Delinquency. , 1970, British medical journal.

[101]  R. Axelrod.  Reviews book & software , 2022 .

[102]  Robin Widdison,et al.  Exploring law through computer simulation , 1999, Int. J. Law Inf. Technol..

[103]  Eric A. Posner,et al.  Law and Social Norms , 2002 .

[104]  Flaminio Squazzoni,et al.  EPOS-Epistemological Perspectives on Simulation: An Introduction , 2009, EPOS.

[105]  Mehdi Dastani,et al.  The BOID architecture: conflicts between beliefs, obligations, intentions and desires , 2001, AGENTS '01.

[106]  E. Sutherland,et al.  The Professional Thief , 1988 .

[107]  John H. Holland,et al.  Emergence. , 1997, Philosophica.

[108]  Robert J. Sampson,et al.  Crime in the Making: Pathways and Turning Points Through Life. , 1994 .

[109]  Annie S. Wu,et al.  The Current State of Normative Agent-Based Systems , 2011, J. Artif. Soc. Soc. Simul..

[110]  Massimo La Torre.  Institutionalism Old and New , 1993 .

[111]  William Spelman,et al.  Jobs or jails? The crime drop in Texas , 2005 .

[112]  D. Cressey.  Other people's money , 1953 .