The Dark Side of the Force: When computer simulations lead us astray and "model think" narrows our imagination
- Preconference draft, Models and Simulations, Paris, June 12-14 -
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1 Introduction
Computer simulations have become a popular tool in various branches
of science, including even the social sciences. The reasons are easy
to understand: Computer simulations provide a simple and yet powerful
tool to explore the implications of theoretical assumptions. They are
cheaper than experiments and often easier to construct and to handle
than mathematical models. At the same time they confine the realm of
what can be modeled only to what can be described algorithmically,
which gives them a very broad scope. With this tool at hand it should
be possible to bring into the reach of exact treatment even such questions
that have traditionally seemed to defy the use of formal methods.
However, upon closer inspection it becomes apparent that computer simulations
do not always deliver what they promise. Often they remain in the state
of purely theoretical “toy simulations” and never get to
the ground of empirical testability. In the following, I will first
try to put forward a few straight forward criteria for proper explanatory
computer simulations. After that I will analyze some examples of computer
simulations that fail to meet these criteria and I will try to point
out the bad consequences this failure has.
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