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Swarm Intelligence

Posted by michael on from the alfred-hitchcock dept.

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."

6 of 219 comments (clear)

  1. Get his book by flynt · · Score: 4, Informative

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

    From Amazon

  2. A more in-depth introduction... by The+Beezer · · Score: 5, Informative

    by Tony White can be found here.

  3. some cool links by rnd() · · Score: 4, Informative
    be sure to check out:

    The Swarm Development Group

    SFI

    Complex Systems

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    Amazing magic tricks

  4. Emergence by Will_uk · · Score: 5, Informative

    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

  5. Swarm Intelligence: The book by Jouni · · Score: 5, Informative
    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

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    Jouni Mannonen | Game Designer, Consultant
  6. Re:Mythical man month by mmol_6453 · · Score: 4, Informative
    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. :)
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    What's this Submit thingy do?