elearnspace

It’s rather perplexing to watch how the individual, local activities of an agent (ants for example) can produce, when aggregated, surprisingly effective outcomes for an entire group. Swarm Theory is a great introduction to the benefits of aggregated individual efforts. Based on the activities or ants and bees, a discipline/theory/science has emerged (no pun) which is capable of providing “best options” information in very complex environments. For ants, it might be about finding food…for a company, about finding the best way to manage resources or run supply chains. Eric Beinhocker tackled the impact of complex behavioural outcomes through swarm-based behaviour in Origin of Wealth (a book that has received far less attention than it deserves). It would appear that functioning in truly complex spaces moves us beyond centralized vs. decentralized debates, and puts us instead in a philosophy of simple rules, local activity, and high levels of connections/contact. The most overwhelming problems can be attended to with this simple model. The solution is not something we work on directly…instead it emerges when we attend to the individual elements.