The Human Science of Simulation: a Robust Hermeneutics for Artificial Societies

The inability to verify simulation behavior limits the veracity of our claims to the theories and assumptions underlying the design of artificial societies. Those theories in turn suffer from their own cultural preconceptions, such as the location of agency at the cognitive level. The following essay highlights these concerns in the work of Jim Doran and Nigel Gilbert, and points to a solution. I contend that artificial societies are subjective exercises in imagination, our description of their dynamics on par with the 'thick descriptions' of cultural anthropology. Hermeneutics, the interpretive methodology employed in that discipline, can assist designers to negotiate the interstices between micro-and macro-level perspectives on agency. The resulting interpolation of theories reduces the impact of observer bias, giving rise to robust descriptions of agent behavior. Finally I address the computation of hermeneutics through its resonance with the Local Realism of philosopher William Wimsatt.