More on Theoretical History

We read, in the July 2, 2010 issue of the Wall Street Journal:

"The reason Axis & Allies and other such games have such lasting resonance is that they teach a subject which is no longer fashionable: the mechanics of military history. Playing as Japan in Axis & Allies, for instance, you see that, as a tactical matter, you must attack Hawaii as soon as possible. Play as Russia and you can conduct What-If? experiments with variations on Stalin's strategic retreat."

But note that this is still a far cry from Theoretical History for the focus is narrow in subject matter and domain. Moreover, one major shortcoming of these games is that they do not model the human action at the individual level - there are no autonomous software agents through the actions of whom what we call history arises.

But, it is a start.