Rodrigo Castro
Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Switzerland/Department of Computer Science, University of Buenos Aires, and CIFASIS-CONICET, Argentina
Peter Fritzson
Department of Computer and Information Science, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
François Cellier
Computer Science Department, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Safa Motesharrei
National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC), Annapolis, MD, USA
Jorge Rivas
Department of Political Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3384/ecp14096477Published in: Proceedings of the 10th International Modelica Conference; March 10-12; 2014; Lund; Sweden
Linköping Electronic Conference Proceedings 96:50, p. 477-488
Published: 2014-03-10
ISBN: 978-91-7519-380-9
ISSN: 1650-3686 (print), 1650-3740 (online)
It is our predicament that we live in a finite world; and yet we behave as if it were infinite. Steady exponential material growth with no limits on resource consumption and population is the dominant conceptual model used by today’s decision makers. This is an approximation of reality that is no longer accurate and started to break down. The World3 model; originally developed in 1970s; includes many rather detailed aspects of human society and its interaction with a resource-limited planet. However; World3 is a rather complex model. Therefore it is valuable for pedagogical reasons to show how similar behavior can be also realized with models that are much simpler. This paper presents a series of world models; starting with very simple exponential growth and predator-prey systems; then investigates a minimal human-nature model; Handy; and ends with a brief account of the World3 model. For the first time; a simple human-nature interaction model is made available in Modelica that distinguishes between dynamics of Elite and Commoner social groups. It is shown that Handy can reproduce rather complex behavior with a very simple model structure; as compared to that of world models like World3.
Modelica; Simulation; Population Dynamics; World Models; Human-Nature Models.
