Two recent news articles relevant to bees and the hive mind:
Bumblebee boogie analysis in webserver boost: The title has it wrong, as the algorithms are actually based on honey bee behavior, not bumblebee, but I’m not one to grudge a guy an alliteration. Noting that
Bees have no central command or leadership (the “queen” is mainly concerned with laying eggs rather than directing the nectar harvest). Rather, the cunning insect workers pass information to each other by doing complicated little dances in the hive.
Craig Tovey of Georgia Tech developed a similar “dancefloor” approach that allows servers to distribute load to one another, rather than relying on a central decision-maker.
Second, there’s an interesting interview with Toby Segaran, author of the recently published Programming Collective Intelligence. Definitely worth a read, if you’re in the field.
On another note, if you’re interested in Toby’s experimental approach to avoiding jet lag (simply continue to operate on your home time zone’s schedule), check out his blog.
(Bumblee Boogie link via rb.Trends)
