Voting

PoliticsSocial Science CanvasRendererTerrain

Based on the model described by Rudy Rucker in “Artificial Life Lab” and implemented in NetLogo, this model simulates a voting process and the emergence of polarized opinions. Each agent samples its neighbors within RADIUS and, if there's a clear super-majority with a different vote from the agent, it will change its vote (i.e. bowing to social pressure).

By expanding the RADIUS parameter, regions of agents with the same opinion become larger and more defined.

💻 voting.js - Interactive Editor

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import { Environment, Terrain, CanvasRenderer } from "flocc";

const RADIUS = 3;
const width = 500;
const height = 500;

const environment = new Environment({ width, height });
const renderer = new CanvasRenderer(environment, { width, height });
renderer.mount("#container");

const terrain = new Terrain(width, height, { grayscale: true });
environment.use(terrain);

terrain.addRule((x, y) => {
  const neighbors = terrain.neighbors(x, y, RADIUS, true);
  const votesForBlack = neighbors.filter(v => v === 0).length;
  let value;
  if (votesForBlack > neighbors.length / 2 + 1) value = 0;
  if (votesForBlack < neighbors.length / 2 - 1) value = 200;
  return value;
});

function setup() {
  let value = 1;
  const p = 433494437;
  const m = 514229;
  terrain.init(() => {
    value = (m * value) % p;
    return Math.sin(value) > 0 ? 200 : 0;
  });
}

function run() {
  environment.tick();
  setTimeout(run, 50);
}

setup();
run();

Edit the code on the left · See results on the right