A robust way to speed up consensus via adaptive social networks

Abstract: Opinion dynamics is crucial for unraveling the complexities of human interaction in the information age. How to speed up consensus without disturbing the fate of the system is key for opinion dynamics. We propose a voter model on adaptive networks, which resembles the coevolutionary process between opinions and social relationships. We prove the existence of a one-dimensional stable manifold for the system, which facilitates us to study both the fate of the system and the consensus time it takes. Surprisingly, we find the adjustment of social relations speeds up consensus but does not affect the fate of the system. For echo-chamber-like networks which consist of two homogeneous subnetworks connected by few sparse links, a small probability of adaptive edge dynamics is sufficient to accelerate consensus formation, which is counterintuitive. If the network structure makes consensus much slower than that of the regular networks, minor random rewiring makes a discontinuous drop in consensus time. Our work opens up an avenue for speeding up consensus without disturbing the fate of the system. It can be insightful for crowd control.