WHAT IS IT?
-----------
This project depicts a simple cellular automata model that simulates voting
distribution by having each patch take a "vote" of its eight surrounding
neighbors and itself, then change its own vote according to the outcome.  A vote
of black counts as zero while a vote of white counts as one.

HOW TO USE IT
-------------
Click the SETUP button to create an approximately equal but random distribution
of white and black patches.

Click RUNSTANDARD to run according to traditional voting rules.  That is, the
central patch changes its color to match the majority vote.

RUN follows a slightly different rule: near losses are awarded to the loser.   
That is, if five patches vote for white, the central patch becomes black; and if
five vote for black, the central patch beomes white.  The other possible voting
combinations are awarded traditionally.

Note that RUN and RUNSTANDARD can be run in alternation by having both buttons
turned on at once!

THINGS TO NOTICE
----------------
Watch how any setup quickly settles to a static state when using RUNSTANDARD.

Also watch what happens when using RUN.  Does the model settle to a pattern or to
a particular shape?

What happens when both buttons are depressed?

EXTENDING THE MODEL
-------------------
Try other voting rules.

Start with a nonrandom black-and-white pattern. For example, one could make half
of the screen white and half black by typing "ifelse xcor > ycor [setvote 0]
[setvote 1]" into the command center.

Can you enhance the model to incorporate multiple colors and multiple votes?  One
might interpret shades of color to represent the degree of a patch's opinion
about an issue: strongly against, against, neutral, etc.  Each patch could have
more than two choices and weighted votes: blue patches' vote could count twice,
etc.

CREDITS AND REFERENCES
----------------------
This model is described in Rudy Rucker's "Artificial Life Lab", published in 1993
by Waite Group Press, PAGE ....