The computer age's centralized mindset has successfully produced machines that have changed our lives. But today's computer isn't the only available tool for computing.
Machines can process information in other ways.
Think of a hive or an anthill. The collective intelligence of social insects, swarm intelligence, offers a powerful new model for computing. In swarms, autonomy, emergence, and distributed functioning replace control, preprogramming, and centralization. For example, an ant colony can collectively discover the shortest path to a food source. In experiments, a food source is separated from the nest by a bridge with two branches, one shorter and one longer.