Computer simulation of cultural drift - Limitations on interstellar colonisation
Abstract
A socio-cultural model of interstellar colonization is developed on the basis of a coherent theory of social behavior, and a microcomputer simulation is used to demonstrate the possibility of the existence of numerous limited civilizations. The model incorporates the concept of cultural drift, i.e., a random cultural change likely in areas that are not of great practical value to members of the society. Some of the conclusions drawn from the model are: interstellar civilizations are highly irregular in shape; uncolonized habitable worlds exist near the home worlds of large interstellar civilizations; and the expansion of interstellar civilizations proceeds more slowly than expected by models which do not incorporate the concept of cultural drift.
- Publication:
-
Journal of the British Interplanetary Society
- Pub Date:
- September 1984
- Bibcode:
- 1984JBIS...37..420B
- Keywords:
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- Computerized Simulation;
- Culture (Social Sciences);
- Interstellar Space;
- Sociology;
- Space Colonies;
- Behavior;
- Probability Theory;
- Space Sciences (General)