2.1) What Is Simulation?

In social sciences just as in natural or engineering sciences, simulation can be seen as the experimental use of models.
Simulation is the experimental use of models.
Although this is established practice in most research fields, it has only become broadly recognised in the social sciences in the last two decades.
"We view artificial societies as laboratories, where we attempt to 'grow' certain social structures in the computer - or in silico - the aim being to discover fundamental local or micro mechanisms that are sufficient to generate the macroscopic social structures and collective behaviours of interest." (Epstein, 1996).