Swarm Intelligence

chapter

two

Symbols, Connections, and

Optimization by Trial and Error

This chapter introduces some of the techni-

cal concepts that will provide the founda-

tion for our synthesis of social and computer

scientific theorizing. Thinking people and

evolving species solve problems by trying so-

lutions, making adjustments in response to

feedback, and trying again. While we may

consider the application of logical rules to

be a “higher” or more sophisticated kind

of problem-solving approach, in fact the

“lower” methods work extremely well. In

this chapter we develop a vocabulary and set

of concepts for discussing cognitive pro-

cesses and the trial-and-error optimization ...