Self-excited waves in complex social systems

Abstract

A social system is considered whose agents choose between several alternatives of possible actions. The system is described by the fractions of agents preferring the corresponding alternatives. The agents interact with each other by exchanging information on their choices. Each alternative is characterized by three attributes: utility, attractiveness, and replication. The agents are heterogeneous having different initial conditions and different types of memory, which can be long-term or short-term. The agent interactions, generally, can depend on the distance between the agents, varying from short-range to long-range interactions. The emphasis in the paper is on long-range interactions. In a mixed society consisting of agents with both long-term and short-term memory, there appears the effect of spontaneous excitation of preference waves, when the fractions of agents preferring this or that alternative suddenly start strongly oscillating, either periodically or chaotically. Since the considered society forms a closed system, without any external influence, the arising waves are internally self-excited by the society.