Eamonn Fitzgerald recently blogged one of those connections that can jump out at you when you’re reading two or more books at the same time ‚àö¬± this one connecting Howard Rheingold’s Smart Mobs with Michael Crichton’s new novel, Prey — the link in this case being the use of “flocking” in both books. Both “flocking” and “swarming” are fascinating topics with a lot to teach us about how seemingly complex behaviors can come out of simple rulesets. For an overview of the area, Steven Johnson’s Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software , is hard to beat, but it is visual illustration that makes the point come alive ‚àö¬± from the urban traffic scenes in Koyannisqatsi to Craig Reynolds’ marvellous online flocking Boids.
Thanks, Eamonn
Comments
@ 06:01
I would like to point out that the term nanoswarm, and the application of emergent flocking behavior being applied to nanotechnology was first coined, outlined and implemented by Stel Pavlou in his novel Decipher, which was published in 2000, a copy of which Mr. Crichton is known to have read. Hardly an example of a meme, and more an example of plagiarism.
@ 18:15
Bah. No more plagiarism than any other idea of modern man. The concept of flocking is not owned or patented by anyone, and may be expressed however one wishes.
@ 15:53
I have started a Smart Flock Section over at FJF. If you would like to post it, I would much appreciate it. It’s a global community, so it will get a lot of exposure.
It’s the top section on the site.. can’t miss it.
Best Regards,
MX Guru