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Swarm Theory Makes National Geographic

Posted by kdawson on from the intelligence-of-crowds dept.

g8orade writes "Swarm Behavior / Swarm Theory has made the pages of National Geographic. Brief but interesting article with several examples." Swarm theory has been discussed here a few times in recent years.

2 of 213 comments (clear)

  1. Swarm Theory and Economics by Attila+Dimedici · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My fascination is with how similar this is to the theory of free market economics.

    --
    The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
    1. Re:Swarm Theory and Economics by tom_evil · · Score: 5, Insightful

      More like anarchism. Capitalism has corporate bosses, communism has party bosses.

      One key to an ant colony, for example, is that no one's in charge. No generals command ant warriors. No managers boss ant workers. The queen plays no role except to lay eggs. Even with half a million ants, a colony functions just fine with no management at all--at least none that we would recognize. It relies instead upon countless interactions between individual ants, each of which is following simple rules of thumb. Scientists describe such a system as self-organizing.

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      i am the opposite of tom_good, i am the XOR of ]=9fÆ"ÝÕ and ÖÆ\KF, i am 746F6D5F6576696C00.