Directions: Find a party you like. Hit "New Party" then "Dance" and watch the people dance for a couple seconds. (only about half are interesting. In the others, people stop mingling after a couple dances. Keep hitting "New Party") When you find a good party hit "Stairway to heaven" to watch them dance longer. "New Position" puts the guests in random positions when the song starts. By the way, you have to wait until the song has ended before you change parties (if you hit a button and nothing happens it means the people are still dancing).
Can't find a prom date? That good-looking engineer at work ignores you? That frisky widow down the hall pretends she can't hear you? Well, this applet may help explain why.
Hit the "Dance" button above. Wasn't that fun? Hit it again. Those squiggles on the screen represent little people dancing around a party. Why are they running around like that? They are dancing toward people they are attracted to, and away from people they'd rather not see today. The farther away they are from people they like, the faster they dance toward them (the grass is always greener...); the closer to people they don't like, the faster they dance away. As in life, just because you like someone doesn't mean they like you. About 1/3 of the people like eachother, 1/3 dislike eachother, and the remaining people don't affect eachother (I think that's about right). Colors and initial positions are also assigned at random.
Hit the "New Party" button above. This starts a party with new people. If you just hit "random position", the party stays the same, but...well you can guess what chages.
Now, what did we learn about relationships today...
Many relationship graphs cause people to get into a rut. They will orbit the same path as the simulation runs. Even if you hit random position, many times the people will find their way back to the same orbit. Surprising, huh?