When Modeling Social Systems, Models ≠ the Modeled: Reacting to Wolfram's A New Kind of Science

December 31, 2001 · Emergence Dr Michael Lissack1, Kurt Richardson 1 ISCE Lissack M, Richardson K. When Modeling Social Systems, Models ? the Modeled: Reacting to Wolfram's 'A New Kind of Science'. Emergence: Complexity and Organization. 2001 Dec 31 [last modified: 2016 Nov 21]. Edition 1. doi: 10.emerg/10.17357.adcea468db541711721a8b89c17eb24e. Much media attention has been directed to the May 2002 release of Stephen Wolfram’s A New Kind of Science. What has not been particularly highlighted is that this book is the latest shot in an ongoing dispute between the hard physical sciences and the “soft” social sciences such as sociology, anthropology, and other observation-based studies of human affairs. Wolfram (2002: 9) writes:

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