Swarm Intelligence

your score tells you how you compare to others—which is really the

point, isn’t it?), or other aspects of opinion and ability. Individuals in the

Adaptive Culture Model—and in particle swarms—compare themselves

with their neighbors on the critical measure and imitate only those

neighbors who are superior to themselves. The standards for social be-

haviors are set by comparison to others.

Imitate

You would think that imitation would be everywhere in nature; it is such

an effective way to learn to do things. Yet, as Lorenz has pointed out,

very few animals are capable of real imitation; in fact, he asserts that only

humans and some birds are capable of ...