The systems lab / 01—12
A small change. A different world.
Explore how startups, cities, friendships and families evolve. Change the assumptions, run an experiment and follow the consequences.
Runs in your browser. No account or installation needed.
Why this lab exists
Hesham built this lab to make complex systems easier to question. Instead of accepting a single answer, you can test a small change and see how a synthetic world responds.
How to learn here
Start with a question or a saved preset. Pause a run, change an agent or a rule, then compare the data with a matched baseline. Named browser-local saves let you return to an experiment; every project explains its assumptions and limits.
Choose a project
Each project is a simplified model for learning, not a prediction.
Guided and advanced workspaces in English, Arabic, German, French and Spanish.
Startups & capital
Build a synthetic startup ecosystem and explore how financing, competition and economic shocks affect companies and investors.
Quick: 1,000 companies · Full: 10,000 companies
Explore simulation — Venture Ecosystem LabCities & housing
Explore the connections between housing, jobs, transport and household decisions across a synthetic city.
Quick: 1,000 households · Full: 10,000 households
Explore simulation — CityScopeFriendship & networks
See how encounters, attention and available time shape friendships and social networks over time.
Quick: 1,000 people · Full: 10,000 people
Explore simulation — Friendship LabFamilies & population
Explore family formation, births, ageing and kinship as a synthetic population changes across generations.
Quick: 1,000 people · Full: 10,000 people
Explore simulation — Kinship LabLearning labs
A finite population adopts through innovation and well-mixed imitation.
Four question-led scenarios · Editable individuals · Saved results
Open the lab — Adoption and churnLearning labs
Orders and physical goods move through a retailer, wholesaler, distributor, and factory.
Four question-led scenarios · Editable individuals · Saved results
Open the lab — A four-stage supply chainLearning labs
Random pairs play a repeated Prisoner’s Dilemma with pair-specific memory.
Four question-led scenarios · Editable individuals · Saved results
Open the lab — Repeated cooperationLearning labs
One indivisible item is offered to bidders with independently redrawn private values.
Four question-led scenarios · Editable individuals · Saved results
Open the lab — Auction rules and budgetsLearning labs
Tasks queue for implementation and review with limited worker capacity.
Four question-led scenarios · Editable individuals · Saved results
Open the lab — Team flow and work in progressLearning labs
Misinformation and corrections spread once per newly active node over fixed edges.
Four question-led scenarios · Editable individuals · Saved results
Open the lab — Information cascadesLearning labs
Synthetic households save income, receive returns and transfers, experience losses, and exchange wealth.
Four question-led scenarios · Editable individuals · Saved results
Open the lab — Synthetic wealth distributionLearning labs
Cars follow the Nagel–Schreckenberg cellular automaton on a one-lane circular road.
Four question-led scenarios · Editable individuals · Saved results
Open the lab — Traffic on a ringThese are exploratory models using synthetic populations. Their results illustrate assumptions and scenarios; they are not calibrated forecasts.
