Social Computation Network Simulation¶
"Life is self-maintaining computation. A system that suppresses communication between its constituent parts is committing cognitive suicide."
This simulation demonstrates a network of nodes where survival and structural integrity depend entirely on the continuous exchange of novel, entropy-reducing information.
Mechanism¶
- Knowledge representation: Each node holds a distinct subset of "knowledge" (integers representing information units).
- Energy decay: Every node loses a fixed amount of structural energy per simulation step. If energy reaches zero, the node "dies" (cognitive suicide/starvation).
- Novelty interaction: Nodes interact with neighbors. If a node shares information that is novel to the receiving node (i.e., entropy-reducing for the receiver), the receiver gains a significant energy boost, and the sender receives a smaller "social cohesion" boost.
- Incompleteness: Occasionally, spontaneous discoveries (new knowledge units) occur, expanding the total pool of possible knowledge and fueling further open-ended progress.
Run the Simulation¶
Observations¶
- Interconnected clusters sharing diverse information survive longer than isolated nodes.
- "Echo chambers" that share the exact same redundant information will eventually starve, as no novel entropy-reduction takes place.
- The absolute need for an influx of "the unknown" mirrors the theoretical premise that a fully known, static system ceases to compute, ergo, ceases to live.
(See the essay The Non-Individual Intelligence in the theory/ directory for mathematical and philosophical context.)