Non-Thermal Transitions in n-th Order Moral Decisions

TL;DR

This paper models moral decision-making in networks based on empathy levels, revealing complex phase transitions and non-thermal behavior through analytical solutions in large systems.

Contribution

It introduces a novel network model of moral decisions based on empathy hierarchy and provides analytical solutions showing rich phase structures.

Findings

Reveals discontinuous non-thermal transitions in the model

Provides analytical solutions for large and finite systems

Shows complex phase behavior in moral decision networks

Abstract

This work introduces a model in which agents of a network act upon one another according to three different kinds of moral decisions. These decisions are based on an increasing level of sophistication in the empathy capacity of the agent, a hierarchy which we name Piaget's Ladder. The decision strategy of the agents is non-rational, in the sense that it does not minimize model's Hamiltonian, and the model presents quenched disorder given by the distribution of its defining parameters. We obtain an analytical solution for this model in the thermodynamic limit and also a leading order correction for finite sized systems. Using these results, we show that typical realizations develop a rich phase structure with discontinuous non-thermal transitions.