There’s a joke that cracks me up:
“Do you know that, earlier than the clock was invented, individuals needed to actively roam round and ask individuals the time?”
There may be clearly no want to clarify the joke, but when we had been to overthink it a little bit bit (like good mathematicians do) we are able to say that the joke is about the truth that the data of a particle of a bunch can be utilized to tell all the opposite particles. This idea is definitely means deeper than the joke I simply mentioned and will be exploited additional.
Let’s contemplate a self-organized system, equivalent to hen flocking or fish education. We are able to outline this technique as one manufactured from particles (e.g. a particle is a hen). We are able to additionally assume with a superb diploma of approximation that these particles transfer round in area adjusting their positions based mostly on two elements:
- The perfect place that the precise particle is aware of: what the hen thinks is greatest for themselves.
- The world greatest place that’s given by all of the particles “speaking” with one another: what the hen is instructed to do by the “primary hen”