What do you think?
Rate this book
Swarm Intelligence
Traditional methods for creating intelligent computational systems have privileged private "internal" cognitive and computational processes. In contrast, Swarm Intelligence argues that human intelligence derives from the interactions of individuals in a social world and further, that this model of intelligence can be effectively applied to artificially intelligent systems.
The authors first present the foundations of this new approach through an extensive review of the critical literature in social psychology, cognitive science, and evolutionary computation. They then show in detail how these theories and models apply to a new computational intelligence methodology - particle swarms - which focuses on adaptation as the key behavior of intelligent systems. Drilling down still further, the authors describe the practical benefits of applying particle swarm optimization to a range of engineering problems. Developed by the authors, this algorithm is an extension of cellular automata and provides a powerful optimization, learning, and problem solving method.
This important book presents valuable new insights by exploring the boundaries shared by cognitive science, social psychology, artificial life, artificial intelligence, and evolutionary computation and by applying these insights to the solving of difficult engineering problems. Researchers and graduate students in any of these disciplines will find the material intriguing, provocative, and revealing as will the curious and savvy computing professional.
* Places particle swarms within the larger context of intelligent adaptive behavior and evolutionary computation.
* Describes recent results of experiments with the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm.
* Includes a basic overview of statistics to ensure readers can properly analyze the results of their own experiments using the algorithm.
* Support software which can be downloaded from the publishers website, includes a Java PSO applet, C and Visual Basic source code.
The authors first present the foundations of this new approach through an extensive review of the critical literature in social psychology, cognitive science, and evolutionary computation. They then show in detail how these theories and models apply to a new computational intelligence methodology - particle swarms - which focuses on adaptation as the key behavior of intelligent systems. Drilling down still further, the authors describe the practical benefits of applying particle swarm optimization to a range of engineering problems. Developed by the authors, this algorithm is an extension of cellular automata and provides a powerful optimization, learning, and problem solving method.
This important book presents valuable new insights by exploring the boundaries shared by cognitive science, social psychology, artificial life, artificial intelligence, and evolutionary computation and by applying these insights to the solving of difficult engineering problems. Researchers and graduate students in any of these disciplines will find the material intriguing, provocative, and revealing as will the curious and savvy computing professional.
* Places particle swarms within the larger context of intelligent adaptive behavior and evolutionary computation.
* Describes recent results of experiments with the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm.
* Includes a basic overview of statistics to ensure readers can properly analyze the results of their own experiments using the algorithm.
* Support software which can be downloaded from the publishers website, includes a Java PSO applet, C and Visual Basic source code.
544 pages, Hardcover
First published March 26, 2001
20 people are currently reading
203 people want to read
About the author
James Kennedy
351 books13 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 5, 2019
Read for university, suprirsingly interesting mix of computer science and social sciences.
August 29, 2018
When I first started this book, it seemed dense and academic, and I was hoping for a more accessibly written, Malcolm-Gladwell style book that boiled complicated ideas into memorable anecdotes. But as I delved into the book, I read with growing interest and excitement, because James Haywood Rollings Jr. has synthesized multiple complex ideas into a rich and powerful argument about the nature and purpose of human creativity.
At the risk of simplifying his message, the main point I took away was that creativity is the engine for human change and progress, and there is no such thing as individual creativity. Rather, creativity is a collective societal endeavor that multiplies and transmits human knowledge and progress, with art, design, and storytelling as some of its most powerful manifestations. When conditions in a culture are right, the collective creativity of that society surges forward and also enables the individual creative superstars to emerge (who are inevitably a product of their creative communities).
What are the ideal conditions for nurturing collective and individual creativity? Rolling turns to swarm behavior in nature as a guide. Swarm behavior occurs when vast numbers if individuals, acting in their own best interests, also end up acting in the collective's best interest. Think bees deciding where to build a nest, wildebeests running from predators, or a flock of starlings turning directions on a dime. Rolling identifies four laws of successful swarm behavior (as opposed to pathological behavior like groupthink or mass hysteria), which can be applied to human creativity:
1. Law of succession. The individual members of a swarm chase after those immediately ahead of them, resulting in new and changing leaders. In human creative terms, this means chasing after the new ideas, the new techniques, the mentors that inspire, the leaders of the field, to become an innovator, mentor, and leader in turn.
2. Law of Separation. The individual members separate themselves from those that are too close for comfort, which allows room for everyone to move forward. In creative terms, it means separating from the crowd to do something different and transformational.
3. Law of Alignment. Individual members align themselves with those in the crowd with whom they are most comfortable, which creates a group average that allows the entire group to move forward. Creatively, this can mean finding a cohort of like minded creatives who together develop an artistic movement, a political movement, or innovative business practices.
4. Law of Cohesion. The individual members cohere with those around the, so the entire group arrives at a goal at the same time. Creatively, the destination can be as small as a group of kids building an ad hoc dam of a stream, or as large as a personal computer revolution.
Rollins uses these insights and others to argue that public education has woefully underprepared people for being creative (and therefore successful in this interconnected age). He argues for a public education system that fosters creativity, by breaking down borders between the arts and sciences, that encourage self-directed learning (motivated by curiosity), and that do so in a way that brings everyone along. He obviously decries the standardized testing and rote learning that has resulted from the No Child Left Behind law that is the antithesis of creativity.
At the risk of simplifying his message, the main point I took away was that creativity is the engine for human change and progress, and there is no such thing as individual creativity. Rather, creativity is a collective societal endeavor that multiplies and transmits human knowledge and progress, with art, design, and storytelling as some of its most powerful manifestations. When conditions in a culture are right, the collective creativity of that society surges forward and also enables the individual creative superstars to emerge (who are inevitably a product of their creative communities).
What are the ideal conditions for nurturing collective and individual creativity? Rolling turns to swarm behavior in nature as a guide. Swarm behavior occurs when vast numbers if individuals, acting in their own best interests, also end up acting in the collective's best interest. Think bees deciding where to build a nest, wildebeests running from predators, or a flock of starlings turning directions on a dime. Rolling identifies four laws of successful swarm behavior (as opposed to pathological behavior like groupthink or mass hysteria), which can be applied to human creativity:
1. Law of succession. The individual members of a swarm chase after those immediately ahead of them, resulting in new and changing leaders. In human creative terms, this means chasing after the new ideas, the new techniques, the mentors that inspire, the leaders of the field, to become an innovator, mentor, and leader in turn.
2. Law of Separation. The individual members separate themselves from those that are too close for comfort, which allows room for everyone to move forward. In creative terms, it means separating from the crowd to do something different and transformational.
3. Law of Alignment. Individual members align themselves with those in the crowd with whom they are most comfortable, which creates a group average that allows the entire group to move forward. Creatively, this can mean finding a cohort of like minded creatives who together develop an artistic movement, a political movement, or innovative business practices.
4. Law of Cohesion. The individual members cohere with those around the, so the entire group arrives at a goal at the same time. Creatively, the destination can be as small as a group of kids building an ad hoc dam of a stream, or as large as a personal computer revolution.
Rollins uses these insights and others to argue that public education has woefully underprepared people for being creative (and therefore successful in this interconnected age). He argues for a public education system that fosters creativity, by breaking down borders between the arts and sciences, that encourage self-directed learning (motivated by curiosity), and that do so in a way that brings everyone along. He obviously decries the standardized testing and rote learning that has resulted from the No Child Left Behind law that is the antithesis of creativity.
December 16, 2023
I used this guy's algorithm in my PhD without fully understanding it. With my viva looming, I set about understanding what the algorithm actually did. I was expecting a technical overview of how to fine tune parameters, test convergence, avoid getting stuck at local optima etc.
He starts by tracking cognitive science research over time. Initially the behaviourists pretended minds didn't exist. Then the cognitive psychologists introduced the mind as a mediator between stimulus and response. But thinking was very much an internal process. Bandura begins to overturn this research program in the 1960s by showing humans can learn by watching others. Slowly, slowly the social aspects of cognition were accepted by mainstream researchers. Then he also weaves together a nice history of the progression of AI research, the shortcomings of neo-darwinism and memetics, the problematic status of simulation, etc.
But he tells this story within the framework of the PSO algorithm. It is an inspirationally good interdisciplinary work.
"The evolution of ideas involves changes in the states of minds that hold ideas, not changes in the ideas themselves; it is a search—by minds—through the universe of ideas, to find the fitter ones" 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
He starts by tracking cognitive science research over time. Initially the behaviourists pretended minds didn't exist. Then the cognitive psychologists introduced the mind as a mediator between stimulus and response. But thinking was very much an internal process. Bandura begins to overturn this research program in the 1960s by showing humans can learn by watching others. Slowly, slowly the social aspects of cognition were accepted by mainstream researchers. Then he also weaves together a nice history of the progression of AI research, the shortcomings of neo-darwinism and memetics, the problematic status of simulation, etc.
But he tells this story within the framework of the PSO algorithm. It is an inspirationally good interdisciplinary work.
"The evolution of ideas involves changes in the states of minds that hold ideas, not changes in the ideas themselves; it is a search—by minds—through the universe of ideas, to find the fitter ones" 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
October 10, 2014
Swarm Intelligence is a fascinating review of social science theory and particle swarm optimization techniques that emerged from efforts to simulate social systems. This book has captured my attention for weeks. It took a while to get through, with a mix of pure social science research findings and algorithms and math. Core paradigms that really captured my imagination included the idea that a 'mind' is a social construct (a team can have a 'mind') and that culture is a manifestation of learning in a team 'mind.' If you like to think deeply about how technical teams work, I think you'll love this book.
June 13, 2008
Overall a great introduction to new 'intelligence' in computer algorithms. It spans topics ranging from pscyhology and biology to computer science and mathematics.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews