Michael W . Macy ( 1998 ) ' Social Order in Artificial Worlds

How does social order emerge among autonomous but interdependent agents? The expectation of future interaction may explain cooperation based on rational foresight, but the "shadow of the future" offers little leverage on the problem of social order in "everyday life" -the habits of association that generate unthinking compliance with social norms. Everyday cooperation emerges not from the shadow of the future but from the lessons of the past. Rule-based evolutionary models are a promising way to formalize this process. These models may provide new insights into emergent social order -not only prudent reciprocity, but also expressive and ritual self-sacrifice for the welfare of close cultural relatives.