Some costs and consequences of large-scale social systems modeling

Abstract

Large-scale models have very important theoretical, technical, ethical, and political costs and consequences that are often not recognized, and when recognized, often ignored. These costs and consequences prevent large-scale models from playing a constructive role in policy processes and retard the development of a more useful large-scale modeling activity. This essay discusses some of these costs and consequences and recommends their explicit recognition and acknowledgments as the first steps for improvement.