# Economic Models ### 1. Origins & Interactive Explorations * **Predator–Prey Virtual Analog:** an interactive web app used coupled differential equations to illustrate resource–consumer cycles, sparking insights into feedback loops and oscillatory dynamics. * [*Link:* Predator–Prey Simulator](http://visuals.kdoore.com/) * **Key Insight:** Simple, interactive visual models can turn abstract equations into embodied learning experiences, revealing non‑linear behaviors and stability boundaries. *** ### 2. System Dynamics Foundations * **Jay Forrester’s Legacy:** Founder of system dynamics—pioneered feedback‑loop modeling for industrial, urban, and ecological systems. * **Donella Meadows & The Limits to Growth:** Applied system‑dynamics simulations to global resource use, demonstrating overshoot, collapse, and leverage points for sustainability. * **Tools & Practices:** * Vensim / InsightMaker for stocks & flows * Causal loop diagramming workshops to map economic feedbacks *** ### 3. Doughnut Economics: A New Paradigm * **Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Model:** Defines a safe and just space for humanity between social foundation and ecological ceiling. [Doughnut Economics Action Lab](https://doughnuteconomics.org/about-doughnut-economics) * **HCI & Grassroots Impact:** Interactive online dashboards and participatory workshops empower communities to localize the Doughnut framework. * **Case Example:** Amsterdam’s Doughnut City initiative—mapping local data onto the doughnut and co-designing action plans. ### Grassroots Economics: {% embed url="" %} *** ### 4. Modeling Snapshots * **Agent Variables (Predator–Prey):** { preyPop: number, predatorPop: number, growthRate: %, predationRate: % } * **System Dynamics Loop (Doughnut):** Stock: socialCapital; Flow: investment; Constraint: resourceCeiling; Feedback: regulatoryPolicy * **Hybrid Approaches:** Combining ABM agents for market behaviors with SD loops for macro‑economic flows. *** ### 5. Interactive Tools & Resources * **Web Simulators:** NetLogo predator–prey models, InsightMaker Doughnut templates. * **Visualization Libraries:** D3.js for live dashboards; P5.js for rhythmic fractal economics visualizations. * **Community Platforms:** GitHub repos, Miro boards, and Slack channels for open‑source economic model collaboration. *** ### 6. Integrating VIM & Doughnut Economics for Trustworthy AI By combining VIM’s four domains with Doughnut Economics’ grassroots framing, communities can co-design AI ecosystems that stay within both social and planetary boundaries: * **Embodied Interaction Workshops:** Local labs where participants use biofeedback and VR experiences to sense AI’s impact on wellbeing, grounding abstract AI risks in felt reality. * **Relational Mapping Dashboards:** Community-curated AI impact maps that track data flows, bias hotspots, and communication norms against the Doughnut’s social foundation and ecological ceiling. * **Ethical Alignment Canvases:** Values-driven forums where stakeholders identify “shadow” AI harms (e.g., surveillance, disinformation) and prototype restorative feedback loops to realign models. * **Adaptive Learning Sprints:** Participatory simulations and hackathons where open-source AI models are iteratively tuned on local datasets, with metrics tied to Doughnut indicators like digital inclusion, data sovereignty, and carbon footprint. **Transformative Potential:** This synergy empowers decentralized, human-centered AI governance—melding the rigors of system modeling with grassroots empathy to create resilient, equitable, and energy-efficient AI systems that honor universal wellbeing. *** ### 7. Further Reading & References * Forrester, J. W. (1961). *Industrial Dynamics*. * Meadows, D. H., Meadows, D. L., & Randers, J. (1972). *The Limits to Growth*. * Raworth, K. (2017). *Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st‑Century Economist*. * Sterman, J. D. (2000). *Business Dynamics: Systems Thinking and Modeling for a Complex World*. * J. Sterman, “System Dynamics: Systems Thinking and Modeling for a Complex World,” Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division, Working Paper, May 2002. Accessed: Nov. 15, 2025. \[Online]. Available: * Fishwick, P. A. (2007). “Modeling, Simulation, and Graphics for Economics Education.” *Simulation & Gaming*, 38(4), 432–449. * Wilensky, U., & Rand, W. (2015). *An Introduction to Agent‑Based Modeling: Modeling Natural, Social, and Engineered Complex Systems with NetLogo*. * K. Doore and P. Fishwick, “Prototyping an analog computing representation of predator prey dynamics,” in *Proceedings of the Winter Simulation Conference 2014*, Dec. 2014, pp. 3561–3571a. doi:[10.1109/WSC.2014.7020186](https://doi.org/10.1109/WSC.2014.7020186). * --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://kdoore.gitbook.io/vital-intelligence/applications-and-extensions/economic-models.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. 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