On Modelling in Memetics - Bruce Edmonds
Hence for memetics (and other similar fields), the difficulties of verification mean that we need more stringent selection criteria. We may have to accept that we are constructing our memetic reality rather than merely passively reflecting it by our modelling choices, since the complexity of our chosen phenomena forces this on us. But just because we take such a constructivist stance*1 we do not have to be vague - we can respond to our chosen challenge by seeking to retain rigour.
These other criteria can be such as: its similarity to other accepted models (a lateral coherence criteria); the complexity of the model; the meaningfulness of the model in human terms; the ease with which the model can be used to calculate its predictions; and how general (or generalisable) it is.
Let me stress again that these are not optional extras - by applying these and making them explicit in our work we are only accepting their inevitability. When dealing with the complexity of phenomena such as social interaction we have no choice but to accept trade-offs in terms of the complexity of our models and (for example) their error-rate when verified against data [8].
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