An affinity-based evolutionary model of the diffusion of knowledge

Abstract

In this paper, we present a theoretical model that can simulate the diffusion of knowledge in social networks using an evolutionary approach. We assume that social networks built on processes of collaboration and cooperation among stakeholders (people and companies) evolve like living organisms, as described by Charles Darwin in The Origin of Species. We propose an evolutionary model of the diffusion of knowledge, in which stakeholders are knowledge propagators and/or receivers, depending on their customizable attributes. We consider each attribute as a gene that constitutes a chromosome. As in Darwin's theory, the proposed model achieves the processes of crossover and mutation between stakeholders for several generations, until a maximum number of generations is reached. The main contribution of the model is the creation of an environment that is conducive to the study of the dynamics of network cooperation, which uses the stakeholders’ attributes as parameters.