I wrote this small script to demonstrate the role that agent-based models (ABMs) can play in explaining social phenomena. I got interested in social polarisation as a spectator of the political polarisation in the U.S. between liberals and conservatives. These two groups have their own cultures and information ecosystems, and I was curious as to how this could occur. I came across a paper by a political scientist by the name of Robert Axelrod who designed a simulation of polarisation showing that it could occur on a large-scale only through small-scale imitation. This was my attempt to implement that model for educative purposes and to myself practice some object-oriented programming. In future I intend to convert it onto a small interactive webpage where the user can themselves run the simulation in the browser.
AXELROD R (1997) The dissemination of culture - A model with local convergence and global polarization. Journal of Conflict Resolution 41(2), pp. 203-226.