Concept

DemocracySim is set in a grid-based environment where agents interact with their surroundings and participate in group decision-making through elections. The system explores various scenarios and voting rules to understand key dynamics and challenges in democratic participation.

Key Features

Simulated Environment:

• The grid is designed without boundaries, and each unit (field) within it adopts one of x colors. Fields change color based on election results, with a mutation rate affected by prior outcomes.
• Groups of fields form territories, which serve as the basis for elections and influence grid evolution.

Agents:

• Agents are equipped with a basic artificial intelligence system and operate under a "top-down" model, learning decision-making strategies via training.
• Each agent has a limited budget and must decide whether to participate in elections.
• Agents have individual preferences over colors (called personalities) and are divided into y randomly distributed personality types.
  (The distribution of types forms majority-minority situations.)

Elections and Rewards (Two Dilemmas):

1. Elections:

   • Elections concern the frequency distribution of field colors in a given territory, representing an "objective truth" aimed at emulating wise group decisions.
   • For an intuitive understanding, the election addresses the question:
     "What is — or should be — the current color distribution within your territory?"

2. Rewards:

   • Rewards are distributed to all agents in the territory, regardless of participation (participation dilemma).
     These rewards consist of:
     • Base reward: Distributed equally based on how well agents guess the true color distribution.
     • Personal reward: Allocated based on the alignment between election results and agent preferences, introducing a second dilemma:
       • Should agents vote selfishly (favoring their preferences) or vote with a focus on the group's accuracy (collective good)?