May 27, 2011

Collective complexity

Been on the road so much here in South Africa that I've not had time to keep my usual trip diary up to date, let alone blog about the experience. Perhaps I'll catch up once I'm back in India next week. That's a threat.

But meantime, my column on mathematical thingamajigs in Mint is on air for this fortnight, and it speaks of cormorants in Cape Town. Take a look: Collective complexity.

Comments, as always, welcome.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Emergence is a useful word. How does it differ from cellular automata? Could you offer some deeper insights beyond connecting your nearest flock of birds to a fashionable word? Are humans not emergent from the atomic and subatomic interactions that in themselves are "mindless"? Could one eliminate Al Qaeda using an emergent flock of drone-boids?