“With the growing interest in complex adaptive systems, artificial life, swarms and simulated societies, the concept of “collective intelligence” is coming more and more to the fore. The basic idea is that a group of individuals (e. g. people, insects, robots, or software agents) can be smart in a way that none of its members is. Complex, apparently intelligent behavior may emerge from the synergy created by simple interactions between individuals that follow simple rules.”

Source: Collective Intelligence and its Implementation on the Web (1999), p.253

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Francis Heylighen9

Belgian cyberneticist 1960

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Francis Heylighen9

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