Searcharxiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · physics/0509075

Sharp transition towards shared vocabularies in multi-agent systems

A. Baronchelli·M. Felici·E. Caglioti·V. Loreto·L. Steels
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

What processes can explain how very large populations are able to converge on the use of a particular word or grammatical construction without global coordination? Answering this question helps to understand why new language constructs usually propagate along an S-shaped curve with a rather sudden transition towards global agreement. It also helps to analyze and design new technologies that support or orchestrate self-organizing communication systems, such as recent social tagging systems for the web. The article introduces and studies a microscopic model of communicating autonomous agents performing language games without any central control. We show that the system undergoes a disorder/order transition, going trough a sharp symmetry breaking process to reach a shared set of conventions. Before the transition, the system builds up non-trivial scale-invariant correlations, for instance in the distribution of competing synonyms, which display a Zipf-like law. These correlations make the system ready for the transition towards shared conventions, which, observed on the time-scale of collective behaviors, becomes sharper and sharper with system size. This surprising result not only explains why human language can scale up to very large populations but also suggests ways to optimize artificial semiotic dynamics.

Explore related subjects

physics.soc-phcond-mat.stat-mechcs.GTcs.MA

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

A. Baronchelli, M. Felici, E. Caglioti, V. Loreto, L. Steels. 2006-06-26. Sharp transition towards shared vocabularies in multi-agent systems. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-5468%2F2006%2F06%2Fp06014

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Open-ended innovation arm-race in zero-sum games

We discuss zero-sum games with open-ended innovation, whereby each player may introduce new strategies. The innovation process is modeled as a draw of new strategies form a distribution. It is argued that, when the cost of innovation is vanishingly small, this setting can lead to an everlasting innovation arm-race. In particular, the introduction of new technologies of the advanced player increases the marginal utility for technological innovation of the backward one, whereas innovation of the backward player discourages the more advanced one to innovate.

physics.soc-ph↗
arXiv2026

Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of Fossil- and Bio-Based Membrane Manufacturing

The transition towards sustainable membrane manufacturing is challenged by its reliance on fossil-based polymers, organic solvents, and generation of large volumes of contaminated water. We combined process simulation, life cycle assessment, and Monte Carlo simulation to identify hotspots in the manufacturing of ultrafiltration hollow-fiber membranes for pharmaceutical applications and evaluate strategies to mitigate impact and reduce waste generation. Process models informed by industry input compared fossil- and bio-based membranes on a cradle-to-gate basis per square meter of membrane produced. Key environmental hotspots include polymer and bore solution preparation, driven by the contribution of polymer and solvent, accounting for 30-80% of total impacts across the categories investigated, and wastewater dilution, driven by the environmental burden of solvent-contaminated wastewater management. Under the modeled conditions, although polymer substitution can reduce environmental burdens, cellulose-based membranes show higher impacts than polysulfone membranes in at least 85% of simulations within each impact category, due to chemical-intensive cellulose modification and regeneration. In contrast, solvent recycling can mitigate solvent- and wastewater-related burdens when combined with reduced water demand, yielding climate change benefits at water demands below approximately 36 L per m2 under the modeled recovery configuration and highlighting its potential to reduce the environmental footprint of membrane manufacturing.

physics.soc-ph↗
arXiv2026

Fractional Orbital Bombardment Systems

We analyze Fractional Orbital Bombardment Systems (FOBS) as a means of delivering nuclear weapons by placing warheads into partial orbits around the Earth, and show that they do not represent a game-changing advance in technology or capability. We consider potential uses of such a weapon, including evading missile defenses and delivering attacks with short warning time. FOBS could underfly current exoatmospheric defenses, but the required payload reduction may not justify its use if other countermeasures are deemed effective. If a FOBS attack could be successfully disguised as a satellite launch, the warning time could be short enough to raise fears of a decapitating strike. The development of such a capability could lead countries to shorten decision-making timelines in a crisis, which would be destabilizing. The US can take steps to ensure that very-short-warning attacks would not succeed, thereby enhancing deterrence during a crisis.

physics.soc-ph↗