Swarms are innovative and resilient… but incoherent.

2024-06-03 · Bits and Bobs 6/3/24

Innovative + resilient = antifragile.

If they're so powerful why don't we use them for more things?

Because of the incoherence.

Hard to hold onto.

Hard to control.

Trying to control a swarm forces us to confront that we're less in control than we think we are.

More on this topic

From other episodes

The tools of modernity, when used to their maximum, are hyper-rational to the point of irrationality.2026-03-23
A swarm can do something like multi-ply thinking even if none of its individuals can.2024-10-28
There are swarms of people today whose "job" is to produce the content the algorithm wants.2024-10-21
Sometimes a new thing is in the adjacent possible but no one else realizes it yet.2024-09-09
A swarm has the ability to do intelligent things, and yet doesn't have a face.2024-08-26
What will the future be like?2024-08-19
Alignment of agents creates brittleness 2024-06-17
If the individual can't survive outside the swarm they will become more similar to others in the swarm.2024-06-17