The paper relates virtual dialogues about social simulation, with the implicit reference to Galieo\'s \'dialogues concerning two new sciences\'.

Understanding the rate of adoption of a telecommunications service in a population of customers is of prime importance to ensure that appropriate network capacity is provided to maintain quality of service. This problem goes beyond assessing the demand for a product based on usage and requires...

In this paper we investigate different learning schemes in dynamic game theory and consider their relative importance when constructing strategic decision models for economic and business applications. The different models of learning dynamics we have formulated fall into three main categories:...

We propose a new approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) algorithm that aims at minimizing the number of model runs for reaching a given quality of the posterior approximation. This algorithm automatically determines its sequence of tolerance levels and makes use of an easily interpretable...

We propose an opinion dynamics model that combines processes of vanity and opinion propagation. The interactions take place between randomly chosen pairs. During an interaction, the agents propagate their opinions about themselves and about other people they know. Moreover, each individual is...

In Deffuant et al. (J. Artif. Soc. Soc. Simulation 5 (2002) 4), we proposed a simple model of opinion dynamics, which we used to simulate the influence of extremists in a population. Simulations were run without any specific interaction structure and varying the simulation parameters, we...

We propose a new opinion dynamic model based on the experiments and results of Wood et al. (1996). We consider pairs of individuals discussing on two attitudinal dimensions, and we suppose that one dimension is important, the other secondary. The dynamics are mainly ruled by the level of...

We present a model of opinion dynamics in which agents adjust continuous opinions as a result of random binary encoun ters whenever their difference in opinion is below a given threshold. High thresholds yield convergence of opinions towards an average opinion, whereas low thresholds result in...

We compare the individual-based \'threshold model\' of innovation diffusion in the version which has been studied by Young (1998), with an aggregate model we derived from it. This model allows us to formalise and test hypotheses on the influence of individual characteristics upon global...

A contribution to the JASSS forum, in reaction to the paper in FASZ about our model of extremism