Robust-first Computing Wiki

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 pay a metabolism cost of 1 energy. If this depletes the energy to 0, the Sytizen is removed and the event ended. 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. The Sytizen will then consume one neighboring RES within 2 Manhattan distance from them. A consumed RES bestows 10 energy on the Sytizen. Then, any genetic-specific behavior is performed. If the Sytizen is still alive, they will attempt to procreate. Any in-group members within a Manhattan distance of 2 is sorted by energy, the