Figure 1.

Different paths to spontaneous consensus. (a) Surviving states for the Moran process (simple contagion) and naming game (complex contagion) on different topologies. (b) Success rate, defined as the probability of observing an interaction involving two identical individuals in the Moran process or a successful interaction in the naming game (similar alternative observables exist for the two models, the qualitative description is not affected by the particular choice). In homogeneously mixing populations, the Moran process evolves through a progressive elimination of different states, while the naming game exhibits a sharp transition to order (symmetry breaking). The dynamics of the two models appear more similar on lattices, although profound differences exist (figure 2). On complex networks, on the other hand, after an initial phase in which the two models appear similar, the naming game exhibits a transition to order similar to the one observed on homogeneously mixing populations. Population size of N=10 000 individuals prepared initially in M=N different states. Lattice and random network have coordination number k=4 for all the nodes.