This is an old revision of the document!
Model Description
Paralta is a simulation that runs in the Moveable Feast Machine, a robust-first, spatially distributed computational environment. The Paralta simulation is made up of three elements
- Dynamic Regulators (DREGs): Produce RES and can destroy nearby elements with small probability.
- Resources (RES): A resource of the world. Diffuse around the world until consumed.
- Sytizens: A denizen of the simulation world.
DREGs are set with the following parameters:
- Spawn RES with probability 0.02
- Delete nearby Elements with probability 0.01
- Spawn other DREGs with probability 0.002
- Delete other DREGs with probability 0.02
Each Sytizen is represented by the following parameters:
- Team - an integer value representing the in-group of the Sytizen.
- Energy - an integer value initialized to 20.
- Genotype - the genetic makeup of the Sytizen that determines its overall behavior in the world. This is represented by two integer values:
- Parochialism - a value ⇐7 indicates a non-parochial individual, while a value >7 implies a parochial citizen.
- Altruism - a value ⇐7 indicates a non-altruistic individual, while a value >7 implies an altruistic citizen.
The genotype parameters gives rise to four discrete behavior categories as follows:
Parochial Altruist (PA): The behavior of a parochial altruist is to attempt to kill one out-group member encountered within a Manhattan distance of 2 with 0.5 probability of success. If this attempt fails, the PA dies with probability 0.5. Movement is additionally biased towards out-group members.
Parochial Non-Altruists (PNA): PNAs will attempt to injure one out-group member within a Manhattan distance of 2 at a reduced risk to themselves. With 0.5 probability, the victim will suffer a loss of 10 energy. If the attack fails, the attacker will suffer the same energy loss with 0.5 probability.
Non-Parochial Altruists (NPA): Upon encountering an in-group member with low energy within a Manhattan distance of 2, NPAs will share an amount of their resources equal to half the difference in energy, less a sharing threshold of 20. Movement is additionally biased towards in-group members.
Non-Parochial Non-Altruists (NPNA): No specialized behavior.
All Sytizens, in addition to their genetic movement bias (if any) are also movement-biased towards any RES visible to them in a given event. Upon the beginning of an event, a Sytizen will first consume any neighboring RES within 2 Manhattan distance from them. A consumed RES bestows 10 energy on the Sytizen. The “neighborhood” of the Sytizen is then scanned, and the location and type of any Element or empty space is recorded within a Manhattan distance of 4.