Evolutionary Games with Sociophysics: Analysis of Traffic Flow and Epidemics

Recent applications of evolutionary game theory in the merging fields of the mathematical and social sciences are brilliantly portrayed in this book, which highlights social physics and shows how the approach can help to quantitatively model complex human–environmental–social systems.

First, readers are introduced to the fundamentals of evolutionary game theory. The two-player, two-strategy game, or the 2 × 2 game, is presented as an archetype to help understand the difficulty of cooperating for survival against defection in common social contexts. Subsequently, the book explains the theoretical background of the multi-player, two-strategy game, which may be more widely applicable than the 2 × 2 game for social dilemmas. The latest applications of 2 × 2 games are also discussed to explore how integrated reciprocity mechanisms can solve social dilemmas.

In turn, the book describes two practical areas in which evolutionary game theory has been applied. The first concerns traffic flow analysis. In conventional interpretations, traffic flow can be understood by means of fluid dynamics, in which the flow of vehicles is evaluated as a continuum body. Such a simple idea, however, does not work well in reality, particularly if a driver’s decision-making process is considered. Various dilemmas involve complex structures that depend primarily on traffic density, a revelation that should help establish a practical solution for reducing traffic congestion.

Second, the book provides keen insights into how powerful evolutionary game theory can be in the context of epidemiology. Both approaches, quasi-analytical and multi-agent simulation, can clarify how an infectious disease such as seasonal influenza spreads across a complex social network, which is significantly affected by the public attitude toward vaccination. A methodology is proposed for the optimum design of a public vaccination policy incorporating subsidies to efficiently increase vaccination coverage while minimizing the social cost. 

Jun Tanimoto was born in 1965 in Fukuoka, but grew up in Yokohama. He graduated from the Department of Architecture, Undergraduate School of Science & Engineering at Waseda University, in 1988. In 1990, he completed his master’s program, and in 1993, he earned his doctoral degree from Waseda University. He began his professional career as a Research Associate at Tokyo Metropolitan University in 1990, later transferred to Kyushu University and was promoted to Assistant Professor (Senior Lecturer) in 1995, prior to becoming an Associate Professor in 1998. Since 2003 he has served as Professor and Head of the Laboratory of Urban Architectural Environmental Engineering. He has served as a Visiting Professor at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), USA; the University of New South Wales, Australia; Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands; and at the Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Germany. Professor Tanimoto has published numerous scientific papers on building physics, urban climatology, and statistical physics, and is the author of books such as Fundamentals of Evolutionary Game Theory and its Applications (Springer; ISBN: 978-4-431-54961-1) and Mathematical Analysis of Environmental System (Springer; ISBN: 978-4-431-54621-4). He was a recipient of the Award of the Society of Heating, Air-Conditioning, and Sanitary Engineers of Japan (SHASE), the Fosterage Award from the Architectural Institute of Japan (AIJ), and the IEEE CEC2009 Best Paper Award. He is involved in numerous activities worldwide, including as an editor for several international journals, e.g. Applied Mathematics & Computation, PLOS One and Journal of Building Performance Simulation; as a committee member for many conferences; and as an expert at the IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Program Task 23. He is also an active painter and novelist, and has been awarded numerous prizes for fine art and literature. He has created many works of art and published several books.He specializes in scenic drawing with watercolors and romantic fiction.