Discrete Simulation of the Dynamics of Opinions about Extremism.pdfVIP

Discrete Simulation of the Dynamics of Opinions about Extremism 5 0 Dietrich Stauffer* and Muhammad Sahimi 0 2 Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Southern California, n Los Angeles, California 90089-1211, USA u J 1 Visiting from Institute for Theoretical Physics, Cologne University, D-50923 1 K¨oln, Germany. ] h e-mail: moe@, stauffer@thp.uni-koeln.de p - c Abstract: We propose a discrete model for how opinion about a given phe- o s nomenon, about which various groups of a population have different degrees of . s enthusiasm, such as fanaticism and extreme social and political positions, includ- c i ing terrorism, may spread. The model, in a certain limit, is the discrete analogue s y of a deterministic continuum model suggested by others. We carry out extensive h computer simulation of the model by utilizing it on lattices with infinite- or short- p [ range interactions, and on (directed) Barab´asi-Albert scale-free networks. Several 1 interesting features of the model are demonstrated, and comparison is made with v the continuum model. 6 0 1 6 1 Introduction 0 5 0 Given the current political climate around the world, and the rise of extreme / ideologies everywhere, from the Middle East to Africa and Western Europe, s c models that can provide insight into how such idealogies may spread in a i s society are clearly of great interest. In particular, given that, (1) the phe- y h nomenon of globalization has made interaction between people of various p