AgriScience Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Agroecology
Computational Human Dynamics (CHD); A Look into Applicability of Dynamics Laws to Human Behaviour
Abstract
Youssef I. Hafez
This paper develops a novel theoretical model that adapts Newton’s second law of motion to describe and quantify human-driven behaviour processes in socio-economic, hydraulic, irrigation, and agricultural systems. The proposed Computational Human Dynamics (CHD) framework links management actions (forces), system capacity (mass), and performance outcomes (acceleration) to provide a new quantitative perspective for water resources management and environmental engineering.
The study demonstrates that human and institutional behaviour, as well as socio-economic and technical responses, can be analyzed through deterministic relationships analogous to physical laws. Building on this analogy, CHD interprets social and organizational behaviour using physical constructs of force, mass, and acceleration, allowing the quantification of cause–effect relationships in engineering and environmental contexts.
Applications to water management, irrigation modernization, and agricultural planning reveal that identical management efforts often yield different outcomes depending on system capacity or resistance to change. This highlights the need for adaptive, system-specific strategies in planning and policy implementation.
The CHD framework thus offers both analytical and predictive power, helping explain and forecast how institutional, technical, and social systems respond to interventions. A central lesson emerges: one cannot apply the same “forces” to different “masses” and expect equal “accelerations.” People, organizations, and nations differ in their capacities and resistances to change; therefore, effective management requires aligning the magnitude and direction of interventions with the inherent dynamics of each system.
