Swarm Intelligence

elamdaly writes "Eric Bonabeau, Ph.D, a keynote speaker at the upcoming Emerging Technology conference, is a leader in the field of swarm intelligence and has focused on applying these concepts to real world problems such as factory scheduling and telecommunications routing. The concept itself is borrowed from nature; in this interview, that's where the conversation begins, with ants and other social insects. Dr. Bonabeau takes us from his childhood nightmares of carnivorous wasps to applying the theories of swarm intelligence to solving real problems in the business world."

Comments

Get his book

[flynt]

I recommend this book on Swarm Intelligence. It was written by experts in several different fields and is quite good.

From Amazon

swarming behaviour

[tomhudson]

It's already being used in financial models. Explains everything from the dot-bomb crash to "tomorrow will, 2 out of 3 times, be like today"

A more in-depth introduction...

[The Beezer]

by Tony White can be found here.

Michael Crichton - Prey

[bwhaley]

Or, for a lighter read, try Prey by Michael Crichton. Excellent novel, though not quite as good as some of his previous work (Timeline, anyone?).

some cool links

[rnd()]

be sure to check out:

The Swarm Development Group

SFI

Complex Systems

Re:What about Genetic Algorithms?

[aluminum boy]

Genetic algorithms are generally based upon successive "generations" ("iterations", "repeats" whatever) where different portions of algorithms compete. The "winning" sections of algorithms advance further. Swarms, though, are based on a very small set of unchanging ideas. Those simple ideas, when multiplied over thousands of organisms, takes on a whole (swarm) picture. That being said, some swarm programs can be made genetic... those simple assumptions/ideas are pitted against one another.

Emergence

[Will_uk]

The arising of complex behaviour from simple agents is also known as Emergence. It is a subject I have recently begun to study and it deals with the amazing structures, methods of information storage etc which arise in complex networks. Very little of this emerging behaviour can actually be predicted if one is to only examine the behaviour of the individual agents. The reason I bring this up is to plug a book (a popular pastime here apparently!). Its called 'Emergence' by Steven Johnson and it is this book which introduced me to Slashdot. Did you know that slashdot's rating system allows it to act as a forum and knowledge repository on a large scale, without suffering from the needless wastes of spam which ruin other similar forums. Its a difficult topic to explain but the author devotes an entire chapter to Slashdot and how its design encorporates emergant factors to allow its success. Interesting stuff, and a fascinating book too! Will

Re:Emergence

[Mac Degger]

Heh...you might want to check out /.'s review of the book. Make no mistake, I read it, too, and it's an interesting read...if you're new to the subject.
But for more in-depth stuff, check out "Swarm Intelligence: From Natural to Artificial Systems (Santa Fe Institute Studies on the Sciences of Complexity)" by Bonabeau and collegues, or Douglas Hoftadter's website (and book "Godel, Esher and Bach"), which are a bit more technical than "Emergence"'s pop-science take on things.

Re:p2p apps

[deflood]

Like Swarm Radio

Swarm Intelligence: The book

[Jouni]

There's a book on Amazon by the same name (not the one mentioned earlier in this thread). It's a very good overview of artificial social intelligence models, very profound in places. Incidentally, Amazon offers it at a discount when bought together with Bonabeau's book of the same title.

People interested in intelligence and life as an emergent and evolving quality would probably also enjoy "Creation: Life and how to make it", "The Tipping Point", and "Figment of Reality". They should all be reasonably easy to find.

I think there is plenty of room for new inventions from those who understand both software technology and the emergence of intelligence from social models.

Read up! Enjoy!

Cheers, Jouni

Re:Mythical man month

[mmol_6453]

The mythical man month works as a concept because of the problems caused by the division of work.

For example:

• He can't optimize his task list over a long, flexible schedule.
• He has to explain the things he's done to the people after him.
• It takes time to be "in the zone," and the people after him have to spend that time all over again.

These things only occur to complex agents, like people. The idea behind swarm behavior is that the agents are simple, and need not individually perform complex tasks.

Boy, I don't like what that says about me as a Slashdot addict. :)

Re:Proverbs 6:6

[gwernol]

"Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise."

Considering how that's been around for thousands of years, interesting that no one's really done much about it until now. Maybe no one thinks they're a sluggard. ;-)

Actually there is a long and fascinating history of research into swarm/colony intelligence in ants, from the groundbreaking work of EO Wilson to the more recent work of Deborah Gordon whose insights into the relationship between ant colonies as single organisms and the way that human intelligence emerges from the biology of the brain are startling. The study of ants and colony behavior is an exciting field that can inform many fields from weather systems to crowd behavior to artificial intelligence.

Re:I've always wondered about this

[cyberon22]

Try http://www-inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~pshyu/engnews/e ngnews.html