Module 2 Quiz

Puntos totales 12
1.
Pregunta 1
You got to know NetLogo through our explorations, where ‘patches’ and ‘ticks’ are
fundamental components. What are they?

1 punto

Patches represent global locations and ticks local locations

A patch is a spatial unit, and a tick is a temporal units

A tick represents quirk in agent behavior and a patch rectifies it

Ticks checkmark the completeness of all model assumptions, and patches strengthen the
resulting weak points

A patch defines the global environment, and a tick individual behavior

2.
Pregunta 2
When it comes to agent-based computer simulations, which of the following statements is
true?

1 punto

 Rules that govern both the environment and the agents can either be fixed while the
model runs, or change variably

3.
Pregunta 3
The Sugarscape is a famous and emblematic agent-based model of a simple artificial society.
Having spent much time with it, you are aware of the assumptions of the very basic first
version of the Sugarscape model. Which one was NOT one of them?

 Different locations on Sugarscape have different amounts of sugar

 Each agent has a specific level of resource usage capacity
 Resources are distributed according to an unequal Pareto law

4.
Pregunta 4
In the social science of economics, what is the most typical measure to assess income
inequality?
1 punto

Gini coefficient, based on the Lorenz curve

Fitness, based on individual capabilities

Disadvantage measure, based on the individual gains

Sustainability metric, based on previous gains

1% metric, based on the number of self-made billionaires

5.
Pregunta 5
We grew an extremely unequal wealth distribution on Sugarscape, one that resembled the
unequal income distribution in society. Where did this effect come from?

 From the interacting combination of different factors

What does it mean that income is usually distributed according to a power-law, called a Pareto
distribution?

 Exponentially few nodes, have many links, and exponentially many, have few links
 Exponentially few, have exponentially much, and exponentially many, have
exponentially Little
 Preferential attachments is driven by Pareto distributions of income levels, since it
makes the rich even richer

7.
Pregunta 7
As we have confirmed with our computer simulations, the extreme inequality in income
distributions that have been found in societies over centuries is an inevitable law of nature.
Whatever we do, inequality will always emerge as a result. True or False.

1 punto

False
True

Pregunta 8
In science, the so-called “spherical cow” argument is a metaphor for:
Overly simplified and impractical models of complex real-life phenomena

In one of our Sugarscape model, we introduced an inheritance mechanism. Agents passed on

their sugar to their offspring after death. What was the effect we observed?

There was less evolutionary selection pressure as more unskilled agents made it

In agent-based models, like the NetLogo implementations we’ve seen, it is not possible to
program the following for an individual agent:

1 punto

All of these options

Unchanging customs, such as when they wake up and go to sleep

11.
Pregunta 11
After having reviewed agent-based models (ABM), such as Schelling’s segregation model and
Sugarscape, what have we learned:

1 punto

 Both the micro and the macro can be surprising

12.
Pregunta 12
What is Epstein’s ‘generativist motto’?

1 punto

If you didn’t grow it, you didn’t explain it

When it comes to agent-based computer simulations, such as Sugarscape, which of the

following statements is true?

1 punto

The traits of both the environment and the agents can either be fixed while the model runs, or
change variably according to certain rules

The Sugarscape is a famous and emblematic agent-based model of a simple artificial society.
Having spent much time with it, you are aware of the assumptions of the very basic first
version of the Sugarscape model. Which one was NOT one of them?
Resources are distributed according to an unequal Pareto law

Pregunta 11
In the social sciences, the terms macro and micro, respectively, describe:

The big picture of aggregate variables and the detailed picture of individuals