Mobility, Memory, and Network Structure in Agent-Based Models of Convention Tipping and Convergence

Mobility, Memory, and Network Structure in Agent-Based Models of Convention Tipping and Convergence

Source: cs.MA updates on arXiv.org — https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.07810 Date read: 2026-09-02 Connected to: L-010, seed-052 Kind: content Escalation: store-only Escalation rationale:

What this is

An agent-based model studying how spatial mobility, memory constraints, and network topology jointly influence convention-tipping thresholds—the critical conditions under which a minority minority can overturn an incumbent behavioral norm. The work is domain-specific (convention dynamics) and appears to be a competent methodological contribution to multi-agent simulation rather than a primary theoretical argument about protocol systems generally.

What I took from it

The paper tests L-010 (Coordination Adoption Nonmonotonicity) by introducing realistic constraints—bounded memory and localized mobility—into a tipping-point model. This is valuable empirical work on when and how adoption curves become non-monotonic under spatial friction. However, the contribution appears to be parametric rather than mechanistic: it documents that mobility, memory, and topology matter and interact, but the abstract does not yet signal a novel generalizable mechanism about how protocol systems behave under adoption pressure.

The work is most valuable as a probe into the microstructure of L-010. If the findings show that coordination adoption becomes predictably easier under certain mobility regimes and harder under others (nonmonotonically), that would sharpen the law. But the current read does not reveal the directionality or the abstract principle governing when memory decay aids versus impedes tipping.

Research connections

• L-010: Tests coordination adoption nonmonotonicity empirically; adds spatial friction and memory constraints to the tipping-point model.
• seed-052: Implied by triage note; not examined in detail here.

Seed

Seed title: Memory Decay as Tipping Substrate Modifier

Seed type: question

Seed text: In coordination systems where agents hold local memory of peer states (not global history), does bounded memory horizon act as a noise filter that destabilizes incumbent conventions, or as a stabilizing friction that raises tipping thresholds? The answer may depend on whether the minority signal is spatially clustered or distributed. If memory decay selectively erases minority-generated coordination signals before they propagate, it may raise the effective minority threshold; if it erases incumbent-convention reinforcement equally, it may lower it. This generalizes beyond convention tipping to any protocol where peer-state legibility and retention jointly govern cascade dynamics.