
A rendition of the basic “island model”, wherein, originally, one man B and one woman A are stranded on a deserted island, having been that way for some time, and therein having established a certain “relationship”, symbolized by the relationship bond “≡”, quantified by certain bond energy, the scenario representative of the “initial state”. In this model, the people are the “reactants” or "chemicals" (or human chemicals), the surface of the island is the “substrate”, and the air and surrounding water is the “reaction milieu” (Ѻ) or reaction medium. Sometime later, a third man C is introduced into the “system”, e.g. by plane crash, drifting ashore, etc., thereby crossing the “boundary” of the system, and triggering, via sunlight, collision theory, and activation energy barrier crossing, new system reactions, after which, given time, the reactive system transforms into the “final state” (or end state), with new final state bonds and dynamics.

A rendition of the basic “island model”, wherein, originally, one man B and one woman A are stranded on a deserted island, having been that way for some time, and therein having established a certain “relationship”, symbolized by the relationship bond “≡”, quantified by certain bond energy, the scenario representative of the “initial state”. In this model, the people are the “reactants” or "chemicals" (or human chemicals), the surface of the island is the “substrate”, and the air and surrounding water is the “reaction milieu” (Ѻ) or reaction medium. Sometime later, a third man C is introduced into the “system”, e.g. by plane crash, drifting ashore, etc., thereby crossing the “boundary” of the system, and triggering, via sunlight, collision theory, and activation energy barrier crossing, new system reactions, after which, given time, the reactive system transforms into the “final state” (or end state), with new final state bonds and dynamics.

In hmolscience, island model, or “island example”, refers to the method of employing a thought experiment model of a conceptualized simple social system on a hypothetical island, consisting of a number of people, people explicitly modeled as reactive chemicals (human chemicals) or molecules (human molecules), according to which if no people enter or leave the island, e.g. by swimming, boat, or plain, etc., the island is a "closed" system, thermodynamically speaking, but if individuals are able to enter or leave the island, it is then a "open" system; other models may take into account semi-permeable membrane boundary models, such as investigated chemically by Jacobus van't Hoff, via his Van't Hoff equilibrium box.

Goethe | Estate
In 1809, German polyintellect Johann Goethe, in his physical chemistry based Elective Affinities, introduced his now-famous “estate” model, wherein a couple residing on a country estate, was presented as being akin to a chemical retort, into which new reactants could be introduced selectively, crossing the fenced in boundary of the estate, chapter by chapter, causing observable human chemical reactions, acting to displace others from the estate. [1]
Goethe (estate model)

Shown above, e.g., is Edward (B), conceptualized as a human chemical, according to Goethe, and his human chemical theory, entering his estate (system), in P1:C1, through the fenced in "boundary", engaging in passing discussion (interaction) with the gardener of the estate. See: Goethe’s affinity table for more on character symbol assignment, e.g. Charlotte (A), Captain (C), gardener (Gar), etc.

Christie
In 1994, John Christie, an Australian physical chemist, in his "A Survey of Thermodynamical Ideas", builds on the work of John Neumann (1932) and discusses how microcanonical ensembles can be used to formulate economic analogies, wherein he employs a 6-person "island model", in which goods are traded, resulting in a microstate currency distribution; how social equilibrium relates to Gibbs free energy; how coupling and time scales may play a role, etc., in economic processes. Of note, Christie discusses Gibbs free energy, in definitional terms, and alludes to the premise that when an inhabitant enters or leaves the island—if the island were an "open" system—the “component will move into or out of the system to minimize its chemical potential (see: social chemical potential), i.e. it will tend to flow from regions of higher to lower chemical potential.” [2]


Libb Thims' "island example" section, from his Human Chemistry (2007), which he had originally discussed earlier in 2005 with Georgi Gladyshev.

Libb Thims' "island example" section, from his Human Chemistry (2007), which he had originally discussed earlier in 2005 with Georgi Gladyshev.

Thims
In 2005, Libb Thims began to discuss his "idea" of an "island example", to understand Gibbs energy changes in a small social system, in respect to the terms open, closed, and isolated, with Georgi Gladyshev. [5]

In 2007, American electrochemical engineer Libb Thims outlined a closed 2-person “island example”, consisting of one man and one women; after which he discussed an "open" system model into which a third male is introduced, as a way to introduce chemical thermodynamics concepts, e.g. changes in bond energy between each person. [3]

In 2015, Thims made a more detailed basic "island model", shown below:
Island model 3

of an initial state of 9 people (N=9), a beginners way to be introduced to the subject of applying chemical thermodynamics concepts, e.g. bond energy, substrate, exchange force, heat (e.g. social heat), human chemical reaction theory, etc., to the modeling or human interactions and societies, and social systems; given time (reaction extent), in which human reproduction reactions (sexual interactions) may accrue, a final state of say 12 people (N=12) could result. The human free energy theorist, subsequently, would need to quantify, chemical thermodynamically, the change state, in terms of enthalpy and entropy, in the social system, in going (transforming) from state one (year one) to state two (year ten).

Ksenzhek
In 2007, Octavian Ksenzhek, using Robinson Crusoe as a conceptual model example, discussed thermodynamics of economics using an island model thought experiment; the following is the main excerpt:

“Thermodynamics usually considers a single physical or chemical system in a passive environment. In contrast to that, the environment in which the social objects exist is always an active one. Any social entity, whether an individual or an association of any grade, from a small group to a nation, always maintains more or less tight interaction with other entities of a similar type. The model of Robinson Crusoe, who was removed from a society and placed on a desert island, is quite inadequate in this respect.”
— Octavian Ksenzhek (2007), Money, Virtual Energy: Economy through the Prism of Thermodynamics [4]


A cartoon version of the island model, where one man is stranded on an island with seven voluptuous women, showing him “exhausted” from having to satisfy so many women, that when a new man enters the island, the stranded man exclaims “thank goodness, a relief man!”

A cartoon version of the island model, where one man is stranded on an island with seven voluptuous women, showing him “exhausted” from having to satisfy so many women, that when a new man enters the island, the stranded man exclaims “thank goodness, a relief man!”

Here, Ksenzhek seems to dismiss the hypothetical "island model" thought experiment scenario as useless, per reason that, in his mind, any "social entity" is always maintains a "tight interaction" with other "entities of a similar type" in a "active" environment.

Quotes
The following are related quotes:

“Taking the whole earth instead of this island, emigration would of course be excluded; and supposing the present population equal to a thousand millions, the human species would increase as the numbers 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, and subsistence as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. In two centuries the population would be to the means of subsistence as 256 to 9; in three centuries as 4096 to 13, and in two thousand years the difference would be almost incalculable. In this supposition no limits whatever are placed to the produce of the earth. It may increase for ever, and be greater than any assignable quantity; yet still the power of population being in every period so much superior, the increase of the human species can only be kept down to the level of the means of subsistence by the constant operation of the strong law of necessity acting as a check upon the greater power.”
— Thomas Malthus (1798), An Essay on the Principle of Population (pg. 8)

References
1. Smith, Peter D. (1999). “Elective Affinities: A Tale of Two Cultures?” (retort, pg. 49) (WB), Prometheus: Firing of the Mind, 4:48-64.
2. Christie, John R. (1994). “A Survey of Thermodynamical Ideas”, in: Economics and Thermodynamics: New Perspectives on Economic Analysis (editors: Peter Burley and John Foster). Kluwer Academic Publishers.
3. Thims, Libb. (2007). Human Chemistry (Volume One) (§:Island example, pgs. 103-05). Morrisville, NC: LuLu.
4. Ksenzhek, Octavian. (2007). Money, Virtual Energy: Economy through the Prism of Thermodynamics (pg. 21). Universal Publishers.
5. Thims, Libb. (2005). "Island Example", in: Gladyshev folder [Thims files], Oct 24.