From: "Gatherer, D. (Derek)" <D.Gatherer@organon.nhe.akzonobel.nl>
To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
Subject: Memetics in Private Eye
Date: Thu, 4 Nov 1999 08:59:39 +0100
Following numerous requests (well okay, one) here is that Private Eye
snippet in full:
In order to address the question whether Hayek might have been an
Agent-based Computational Economist (ACE) avant-la-lettre, the lecture will
consider an ACE model of information contagion. Information contagion has
been presented in the literature, alongside increasing returns, network
externalities, and information cascades, as an explanation for particular
patterns of macro-behaviour that may seem at odds with the underlying
micro-motives. But whereas these other explanations have been shown to have
proper micro-foundations, information contagion seems to occur only when
certain ad hoc rules of thumb for individual behaviour are assumed. The
lecture will show how information contagious behaviour can emerge in a
co-evolutionary process of interacting adaptive agents; how this is related
to various Hayekian themes; and how ACE reasearch in general is an
application of Hayek's methodological insights.
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