The name is absent

4.2. Properties of I&I.

“Now they were simple black dots, ordered in a capricious manner, animated with collective
life”

—Boris Vian, in ''lΛιmιch(∙-c(i^,ur"

I&I is a very simple model for social action, where many social behaviours and processes
emerge by the sole induction and imitation of behaviours.

Many properties emerge with I&I, depending on the ASM or BPS which controls the
individuals in a society interacting through I&I. This is, if the BPS presents a lot of emergent
properties, they will be able to be combined with the properties of I&I, providing a large
number of specific emergent social behaviours, depending on the BPS and the social
environment.

I&I is a context-free model for social action. Since it is defined in a generic way, it can
be implemented in any group of adaptive autonomous agents, in order to make them social.

I&I models both weak social action and strong social action (Castelfranchi, 1998).

I&I can model emergent social hierarchies, by setting different imitation and induction
parameters (- and *, respectively).

The degree of sociality of an individual can be regulated with the imitation parameters
(-k’s).

There is emergence of group beliefs (Tuomela, 1992) and misbeliefs (Doran, 1998).

The learning of the imitation parameters (-k’s) provides the model with social
adaptation.

The wide repertoire of properties, mostly emergent, in such a simple model, allows us
to try to understand and control better social processes and phenomena. When such a model
is implemented in an artificial society, the possibilities of study and experimentation offer many
advantages over natural societies, basically because in an artificial society one can control
experiments in a much more precise way than in a natural one.

4.3. About I&I

“Ev(ry sociιl r(gim( cr(ιt(s probl(ms"

—K(nn(th Arrow

Our I&I model has very simple rules, but in experiments developed (to be shown in
Section 6.2), we have seen that the social behaviours simulated are quite complex. Our artificial
societies emerge from the imitation and induction of behaviours.

One of the main conclusions obtained after experimenting with I&I is that a society, as
it evolves, is shaped more by its environment, than by the individuals themselves. Of course, the
society can also influence individuals.

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