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

Media-enhanced courses

-

Day of week/Period
(Classrooms)

Class

-

Course Code

LAH.S510

Number of credits

100

Course offered

2025

Offered quarter

4Q

Syllabus updated

Apr 3, 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:
9th Feb (Mon): Part 1 《＃3-＃4》, Part 2 《＃5-＃6》, Part 3 《＃7-＃8》
12th Feb (Thr): Part 4 《＃3-＃4》, Part 5 《＃5-＃6》, Part 6 《＃7-＃8》
16th Feb (Mon): Part 7 《＃3-＃4》, Part 8 《＃5-＃6》
The lecture will be offered at the Ookayama campus. The lecture room will be announced in the syllabus and other means as soon as it is decided.

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

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 Science Tokyo LMS and/or provided during the classes.

Evaluation methods and criteria

Participation in class discussions is encouraged. You will also be asked to submit two reports (Assignment A and Assignment B) for ＃1-#6. You will also be asked to submit a brief evaluation (Assignment C) of the group presentation in #8. Note that in all cases, you will be required to find unknown issues and interpret them in a new way, which AI is not good at, so please do not rely on AI for your reports (it is perfectly acceptable to ask AI for its opinion after you have constructed your own ideas).

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.
Science Tokyo (science and engineering fields) provides a wedge-shaped style education that allows students to continuously take liberal arts courses from a Bachelor’s Program to a Doctoral Program. Students are recommended to take liberal arts courses in ascending order of course level. In the semester right after enrollment in the Master’s Degree Program – i.e., 1Q and 2Q for students who enroll in spring, and 3Q or 4Q for students who enroll in fall – students may register only in 400-level Humanities and Social Science Courses.
Students may take 500-level Humanities and Social Science Courses after studying at least six months after enrollment, i.e., in 3Q and 4Q for students who enroll in spring, and in 1Q and 2Q of the following year for students who enroll in fall.

This is an intensive course. If acquiring credits for this course is related to your own graduation, please keep the following two points in mind and fully understand the risks before taking this course.
- Intensive courses are held in a short period of time, and since there are many classes per day, as a general rule, it is not possible to take excused absences.
- There is a possibility that grades will not be reported in time for graduation decisions.