Drake Equation Simulation

I want to take the Drake equation and then build a small model where you can see the effects of changing the different assumptions. Make it small, like 100-1000 stars. Not a full model of the universe.

The key visual aspect is seeing the expanding circle of how far a civilization can see and hear, maybe what percentage of the time they're listening or seeing, and then the round-trip times where two civilizations overlap and can communicate. That's the part that's hard to think about in our heads but really even if there's a bunch of civilizations out there the roundtrip time to communicate is huge. Longer than we've been looking in many cases I think. The wait for even one round of communication could be multi-generational. The 1000 year conversation* (that might or might not happen).

Create agents for the simulation:

Define initial agents in init.json by adding objects to the array Ex. [{“position”:[0,0], “behaviors”: [‘custom.js’’}] OR convert init.json to a JavaScript or Python file by right clicking on init.json and return an array of agents Agents will run each of their behaviors on each step of the simulation

Add behaviors to the agents

Create new behavior files by clicking the new file indicator in the top left panel. Select python or javascript. Attach the behaviors to the agent by adding them to the agents behavior array Ex. [{“position”:[0,0], “behaviors”: [‘custom.js’’}] Behaviors can access and modify the agent state They can allow the agent to view other agents with neighbors: Neighbors = context.neighbors() Or allow agents to interact by sending messages state.addMessage(...)

Run the simulation

Click the Play button or the Step Simulation button in the bottom right under the viewer If you’ve defined a position on the agent, you’ll see the agent appear in the 3d viewer Click reset to reset the simulation to the initial state.