Moreover, the system is more robust since the entire team s performance no longer depends on the guidance of a single leader. The approach works best for problems that can be decomposed into largely unrelated sub-problems, or problems for which a desired group behavior results from the aggregate of individual behaviors and interactions. Consider an economic system for coordinating robots. The agents coordinate with each other to produce an aggregate set of goods. Additionally, since economic output is divided equally amongst the entire population, individuals have little incentive to work harder or more efficiently than what is required to minimally comply with the economic plan.
Individual input is decoupled from individual output.
The net effect is a sluggish, brittle, inefficient economy. Despite the fact that individuals in the economy act only to advance their own self-interests, the aggregate effect is a highly productive society . Individuals are in the best position to understand their needs and the means to satisfy them. Thus, individuals reap the direct benefits of their own good decisions and suffer the direct consequences of their bad ones. At times they cooperate with other members of the society to achieve an outcome greater than that possible by each member alone.