PhilSci Archive

Pandemics and Flexible Lockdowns: In Praise of Agent-based Modeling

Douven, Igor (2023) Pandemics and Flexible Lockdowns: In Praise of Agent-based Modeling. [Preprint]

[img]
Preview
Text
PANDEM.pdf

Download (2MB) | Preview

Abstract

Philosophers have recently questioned the methodological status of agent-based modeling. Meanwhile, this methodology has been central to various studies of the COVID-19 pandemic. Few agent-based COVID-19 models are accessible to philosophers for inspection or experimentation. We make available a package for modeling the COVID-19 pandemic and similar pandemics and give an impression of what can be achieved with it. In particular, it is shown that by coupling an agent-based model to a standard optimizer we are able to identify strategies for implementing non-pharmacological interventions that flexibly lower or raise social activity, depending on how the outbreak develops, while balancing various desiderata that cannot be fully satisfied together. The simulation outcomes to be presented testify to the power of agent-based modeling and thereby help to push back against the recent philosophical critique of this methodology.


Export/Citation: EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL
Social Networking:
Share |

Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Douven, Igor
Keywords: agent-based models; COVID-19; mitigation strategies; multi-objective optimization; non-pharmacological interventions; pandemic response
Subjects: General Issues > Computer Simulation
Depositing User: Dr Igor Douven
Date Deposited: 12 Jul 2023 12:18
Last Modified: 12 Jul 2023 12:18
Item ID: 22306
Subjects: General Issues > Computer Simulation
Date: 2023
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/22306

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item