Genetic Society

Segregation, mutation, and evolution in a grid-based society. This simulation is a JavaScript rewrite of the original Genetic Society applet, which was (unknowingly) inspired by Schelling’s segregation model. Each cell is an agent with a faction, a tolerance value, and a happiness state. On each tick, agents can move to a random empty cell, and they have a chance to mutate their tolerance. Watch as patterns of segregation emerge, evolve, and sometimes collapse over time.

What the grid shows

Red and blue squares are the two factions from the Java applet.
The number in each square is that agent’s tolerance.
White text means happy, black text means unhappy.

Grid size Tick speed (ms) Mutation odds

Iterations: 0

Mutations: 0

Unhappy: 0

Deaths: 0

Initializing neighborhood...

faction 0 faction 1 happy tolerance text unhappy tolerance text