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I have no doubt that the problems are non-trivial.  An earlier vision of the same type of approach was Kenneth Arrow's vision of modeling societies, sometimes referred to as "Peasants under Glass" back in the '90s.  Were it easy it would have been done by now.

I don't think that a complete solution is necessary.  The one thing I remember from college is that complex equations are most easily solved at boundaries.  In the case of Raleigh's wave equation for acoustics, which involves the interrelations of pressure variations and the variations of air movement or "volume velocity," this is typically done at a rigid boundary or wall at which volume velocity is zero.  An amazing number of practical measurements and useful techniques come out of this simplifying assumption.

A similar approach might prove fruitful in economic modeling.  What I had in mind was a system of interacting agents in which the A.I. agents automated certain aspects of their response with other agents but in which the controller for each agent could intervene on whatever basis seemed appropriate to that controller.  The goal would be to define sub-sets of assumptions that would tend towards stability under a wide range of perturbations, including the desire of individual agent controllers, or players, to win.

In this fashion it may be possible to empirically move from very crude and simple systems to increasingly complex systems while maintaining stability.  In such a game I would at best be a mediocre player.  

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Fri Apr 24th, 2009 at 11:03:41 AM EST
[ Parent ]
What I had in mind was a system of interacting agents in which the A.I. agents automated certain aspects of their response with other agents but in which the controller for each agent could intervene on whatever basis seemed appropriate to that controller.  The goal would be to define sub-sets of assumptions that would tend towards stability under a wide range of perturbations, including the desire of individual agent controllers, or players, to win.

Well I want a sound reproduction system with 100% accuracy.  So ... GET TO WORK, dammit!

(LOL)

Your requirement are easy to 'spec' but - alas - a wee tad harder to accomplish.

;-)

by ATinNM on Fri Apr 24th, 2009 at 11:15:07 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Well I want a sound reproduction system with 100% accuracy.  So ... GET TO WORK, dammit!
Well, at least the initial phases of the "research", if carried out with a number of subjects, would be enjoyable, but the long term expenses would well exceed my budget, and my wife would object, to say the least.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Fri Apr 24th, 2009 at 11:35:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]
And of course for the audio reproduction system, in analog systems at least, been there, done that to a significant degree.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Sun Apr 26th, 2009 at 12:02:22 AM EST
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