Essence of Humanities and Social Sciences45:Social Sciences with Evolutionary Simulation

Academic unit or major

Humanities and social science courses

Instructor(s)

Yutaka Nakai / Isamu Okada

Class Format

Lecture (Face-to-face)

Media-enhanced courses

-

Day of week/Period
(Classrooms)

Intensive

Class

-

Course Code

LAH.S510

Number of credits

100

Course offered

2024

Offered quarter

4Q

Syllabus updated

Mar 14, 2025

Language

Japanese

Syllabus

Course overview and goals

The subject of this course is "Exchange System Historiography". The first half of the lecture will explain various problematic situations that lead to social dilemmas, such as the war of all against all and the free-rider problem, and will use the analytical methods of evolutionary game theory and evolutionary simulation to theoretically clarify that the emergence of institutions such as communities, states, and markets is related to the resolution of these dilemmas. The second half of the lecture will look to the future of the community, state, and market. We will look to discuss with students various forms of mutual aid.

In the lectures, we formulate problematic situations with mathematical models and programs, and at the same time, we present new social theories that are different from discourse-oriented social theories by examining the social scientific meanings embedded in the models. The lecture will also cultivate the student’s ability to gain insight into the emerging exchange society through systems thinking.

Course description and aims

By taking this course, students will acquire the following abilities
(1) Understand that the dilemmas in various exchanges (1:1 general exchange, 1:N general exchange, and limited exchange) are related to the formation of institutions such as communities, nations, states, and markets.
(2) Understand that the formation of institutions can be described using mathematical models and programs.
(3) To be able to recognize and gain insight into the signs of a new society.
(4) Understand the possibility of designing a mutual aid society from a systems science perspective through computational social sciences (data science).

Student learning outcomes

実務経験と講義内容との関連 (又は実践的教育内容)

Nakai, who has 20 years of work experience at the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) and Mitsubishi Research Institute, will contrast the realities of society with social theory in his lecture.

Keywords

General exchange, war of all against all, free rider problem, in-group favoritism, predatory state, social dilemma, evolutionary game theory, evolutionary simulation, community, nation, state, market, computational social science, data science

Competencies

• Specialist skills
• Intercultural skills
• Communication skills
• Critical thinking skills
• Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

In part1-6, emphasis will be placed on linking social scientific interpretations with the structure of models, explaining the social and historical phenomena to be explained specifically, as well as the mathematical models and algorithms that explain them, using as much simple mathematics as possible. The part7&8 will look for signs of an exchange society that transcends the community, the state, and the market, and provide insight into the future society.

This lecture will be given in the form of an intensive face-to-face style as follows:
(Lecture room: W9-326, 3rd Floor, West Bldg. 9, Ookayama Campus) *Updated Jan.17
12th Feb (Wed): Part 1 《＃5-＃6》, Part 2 《＃7-＃8》
14th Feb (Fri): Part 3 《＃3-＃4》, Part 4 《＃5-＃6》
19th Feb (Wed): Part 5 《＃1-＃2》, Part 6 《＃3-＃4》, Part 7 《＃5-＃6》, Part 8 《＃7-＃8》
＊　9/13 Date updated

Attendance for all three days is a prerequisite for enrollment in this intensive course.
This course will be offered face-to-face.

---Update: October 17
The last class for this course will be held on February 19th.
The grades for graduation must be reported until February 17th, it means this course's credit won't be able to include for your graduation.
If you plan to graduate in March 2025 and the credits for this course are related to your graduation, please take other courses.
Check the available courses on the Humanities and Social Science courses page (文系教養科目申告状況) of “Course Registration” on the “Web System for Students and Faculty”, select the course you wish to take from among the courses that have not reached capacity, and register for the course.

Course schedule/Objectives

Study advice (preparation and review)

To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.

Textbook(s)

None required.

Reference books, course materials, etc.

Course materials are posted on T2SCHOLA　and/or provided during the classes.

Evaluation methods and criteria

Participation in class discussions is encouraged. You will also be asked to submit a report (Assignment A) for ＃1-＃6. In addition, students will be asked to submit group work products (Assignment B) for #7&8. In addition, students will be asked to easy assessments for other group work products (Assignment C). Assignments A, B and C will be combined and weighted 50%, 40% and 10%, respectively, for the overall evaluation. In all cases, you are encouraged to use AI as an excellent assistant, since AI is not good at finding unknown problems and interpreting them in new ways.

Related courses

• LAH.S437 ： Essence of Humanities and Social Sciences42:Consensus Building

Prerequisites

Prospective students should have interests in a society and history.

Contact information (e-mail and phone) Notice : Please replace from ”[at]” to ”@”(half-width character).

Yutaka NAKAI、nakai.yutaka0[at]gmail.com
Isamu OKADA、okada[at]soka.ac.jp

When inquiring by emails, include the course title in the subject, and your student ID and name in the body of the email.

Other

This course includes the content of science.

***Lectures in a classroom throughout three days.

This course is 500-level course.
Tokyo Tech’s “wedge-shaped style education” enables students to pursue liberal arts education in a phased manner throughout undergraduate and graduate programs.
Students are encouraged to take 100-level to 600-level courses in order. As such, master’s students must begin Humanities and Social Science courses at the 400 level (in 1Q/2Q of the first year for those entering in April, and 3Q/4Q for those entering in September), then proceed to 500-level courses (in 3Q/4Q or later for those entering in April, and 1Q/2Q of the following year or later for those entering in September).

As a general rule, the authorized absence system does not apply to intensive lecture-style courses.
If acquiring credits for this course is related to your own graduation, please fully understand the risks before taking this course.

---Update: October 17
The last class for this course will be held on February 19th.
The grades for graduation must be reported until February 17th, it means this course's credit won't be able to include for your graduation.
If you plan to graduate in March 2025 and the credits for this course are related to your graduation, please take other courses.
Check the available courses on the Humanities and Social Science courses page (文系教養科目申告状況) of “Course Registration” on the “Web System for Students and Faculty”, select the course you wish to take from among the courses that have not reached capacity, and register for the course.