Swarm Intelligence Revisited

I wrote earlier about the concept of swarm intelligence (1/29/09, “Nascent Wisdom”), wherein I gave examples of how social creatures collectively exhibit far more skill and wisdom than any one of them would ever be capable of. I described some of the intelligent behavior that colonies of ants and bees demonstrate. I also described how flocks of birds and schools of fish cleverly avoid predators when their collective mass instantly changes shape and moves organically.

Audubon Magazine recently offered some gorgeous photos of flocks of starlings, as the cloud of birds undulates and assumes some fantastic shapes. Some of these photos can be seen at http://www.richardbarnes.net/ , the work of photographer Richard Barnes.

The Audubon article also described ongoing research that is exploring the dynamics of these clouds of birds—trying to understand what each bird must be doing, in order for the whole flock to act instantly as one organism. The researchers have been able to identify some of the basic parameters of the process, but seem stumped as to explaining the overall phenomenon. I believe that understanding the process of swarm intelligence is beyond us at this time, because it’s an emergent capability that cannot be anticipated or described by current scientific capabilities.

There are other examples of emergent qualities that science has as yet been unable to explain or comprehend. The major one is the emergence of life on Earth. Science is tantalizingly close to understanding that the advent of Earthly life was preceded by a crucial collection and mixing of what is called prebiotic compounds—certain amino acids, proteins, etc. But how the compounds interacted and why these complex chemicals suddenly sprang to life is another, far deeper story.

Another example of an emergent quality is the appearance of consciousness. Out of a complex collection of primitive brain cells in ancient animals consciousness arose at some point. Neither the emergence of life nor of consciousness (or the cloud of bird dynamics) can be explained by conventional science. It can be modeled by incredibly complex computer simulations, but that’s not an explanation, it’s just a recreation.

Of course, one way to answer the dilemma is by stating that God created life, and that may well be the case, but that’s also not an explanation of how. Suffice it to say that I’m content to live with the mystery. Someday down the road we humans may well come to understand emergent processes, just as we once came to understand that all the stars are suns, and that the planets revolve around our sun, not the Earth.

It seems as if Homo sapiens might be on the verge of yet another emergent quality: wisdom. We might be at the point when a sustainable, spiritual worldview emerges, replacing our current destructive, immature mentality. It needs to happen soon.