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Emergence 2009: 1D Cellular Automaton Variant II

Emergence

Biology 361 = Computer Science 361
Bryn Mawr College, Spring 2009

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Download/view: Rule127.nlogo

WHAT IS IT?

When density is 1, no vertical lines appear at all. Only the horizontal strips are seen. When the density is set to really low (between 2% and about 20%) very few to no vertical lines appear. The vertical lines start to get denser and denser when the density is increased, especially from about 40% to 80%. After that, the lines once again start to appear less and less frequently, until at 100% density, there are no vertical lines again.

HOW IT WORKS

I think this is a perfect representation of "too many cooks spoil the broth." We can consider the vertical lines a measure of productivity. When there are few people and it is not enough for a project, then little to nothing gets done over a certain period of time. When there is an optimum number of people, the most work gets done. Then when there are too many, it ruins the work and productivity goes down once again.

In fact, it works for any scenario that is represented by the bell curve. Take the total utility curve for instance. Utility increases as an individual gets more and more of a good or service up to a certain point. After that, utility starts to decrease.

THINGS TO NOTICE

With the single setup, horizontal strips of green and black are produced and they keep repeating. When the setup is random, vertical green lines appear on top of the horizontal lines at random locations depending on the density that is set.

Models created using NetLogo.