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Major Mechanisms Contributing to Swarm Intelligence
Author(s) -
Foss Richard A.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
systems research and behavioral science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1099-1743
pISSN - 1092-7026
DOI - 10.1002/sres.2416
Subject(s) - swarm behaviour , swarm intelligence , decentralization , collective intelligence , process (computing) , diversity (politics) , computer science , quality (philosophy) , artificial intelligence , business , economics , machine learning , sociology , philosophy , particle swarm optimization , anthropology , market economy , operating system , epistemology
This article examines some of the major mechanisms that might contribute to the apparent collective intelligence of the honey bee swarm and determines their role in its nest site decision making process. Decentralization of power allowed the swarm to utilize massively parallel information processing during its search for a new home. Various diversity generating mechanisms provided the swarm with a full range of potential nest sites for consideration. Numerous independent evaluations of nest site quality provided a relatively unbiased and noise free assessment of each site's survival worthiness. Differential net recruitment to the better quality sites aggregated evidence in favour of each site. A natural selection type process selected out the best competing sites and the first site to accumulate a quorum level of support was chosen as the swarm's new home. The article discusses the implications of these findings and how they relate to collective decision making by human groups. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.