An ant colony functions together as a group in an interesting way. There is a queen, but her only job is to lay eggs. That's all she does. She does not give directions. There is no ant that is in charge. Yet somehow the group is efficient in functioning with all the jobs that are required to make it run well. This is a great example of the science of emergence: the individuals of a group coming together without formal organization and creating something as a whole.
In Southeast Asia, there are areas where fireflies live in trees along river banks. They turn their lights off and on in synchrony. All on, then all off. No one in charge. No detectable reason. It has been described as rows of Christmas trees all lit up. Then darkness. Then the lights.
In Southeast Asia, there are areas where fireflies live in trees along river banks. They turn their lights off and on in synchrony. All on, then all off. No one in charge. No detectable reason. It has been described as rows of Christmas trees all lit up. Then darkness. Then the lights.
Synchronous Display of male fireflies in a "firefly tree" in Southeast Asia
Scientific American, May 1976
John Buck, a researcher, caught many of these fireflies and took them to his hotel room. At first, they flashed randomly. After a little while, they started grouping in twos and threes and would synchronize their flashing in these little groups. Then slowly all the groups merged a few at a time until the whole room was flashing together.
In 1906, Sir Francis Galton (Charles Darwin's cousin) attended a fair and stumbled upon a contest being held. An ox was on display, and the people were supposed to guess the weight of the animal after it was slaughtered and dressed. Nearly 800 guesses were made, but not one was the exact amount of 1,187 pounds.. Sir Galton asked the man running the contest if he could have the papers. He took them, did the math, and found that the average weight that the crowd had guessed was one pound off - 1,188 pounds!
Now there are experiments at colleges all over the United States. A professor, usually a psychology professor, will put a bowl of jelly beans in front of the class and ask the students to guess the number of jelly beans. Over and over again, there will not be one who guesses correctly, but often the class as a whole, when averaged out, will guess the correct number. It would be a fun experiment to try, I think.
Google became the giant of search engines using this idea that a group of people as a whole can be more accurate than a single person. They decided that every time someone linked to a web page, it was counted as a vote. Now when you wonder who decided what page should come up first in a search, the answer is everybody and nobody. It is another example of emergence.
For the full WNYC RadioLab podcast, go here.
Now you have heard something interesting.
Scientific American, May 1976
John Buck, a researcher, caught many of these fireflies and took them to his hotel room. At first, they flashed randomly. After a little while, they started grouping in twos and threes and would synchronize their flashing in these little groups. Then slowly all the groups merged a few at a time until the whole room was flashing together.
In 1906, Sir Francis Galton (Charles Darwin's cousin) attended a fair and stumbled upon a contest being held. An ox was on display, and the people were supposed to guess the weight of the animal after it was slaughtered and dressed. Nearly 800 guesses were made, but not one was the exact amount of 1,187 pounds.. Sir Galton asked the man running the contest if he could have the papers. He took them, did the math, and found that the average weight that the crowd had guessed was one pound off - 1,188 pounds!
Now there are experiments at colleges all over the United States. A professor, usually a psychology professor, will put a bowl of jelly beans in front of the class and ask the students to guess the number of jelly beans. Over and over again, there will not be one who guesses correctly, but often the class as a whole, when averaged out, will guess the correct number. It would be a fun experiment to try, I think.
Google became the giant of search engines using this idea that a group of people as a whole can be more accurate than a single person. They decided that every time someone linked to a web page, it was counted as a vote. Now when you wonder who decided what page should come up first in a search, the answer is everybody and nobody. It is another example of emergence.
For the full WNYC RadioLab podcast, go here.
Now you have heard something interesting.
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I've never heard the word "emergence" defined like this. I learned something new. Picturing the ants working together made me think of Letisha's family and how they worked together to set up and clean up the wedding reception. It was just like that, no one in charge but everyone busy and then it was done.
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