1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910491848803321

Autore

Vehlken Sebastian

Titolo

Zootechnologies : a media history of swarm research / / Sebastian Vehlken ; translated by Valentine A. Pakis [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Amsterdam University Press, 2019

Amsterdam : , : Amsterdam University Press, , 2019

ISBN

90-485-3742-8

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (400 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Collana

Recursions: theories of media, materiality, and cultural techniques

Disciplina

006.3824

Soggetti

Swarm intelligence

Computer simulation

Swarming (Zoology)

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 20 Nov 2020).

Already published as: Zootechnologien. Eine Mediengeschichte der Schwarmforschung,  Sebastian Vehlken. Copyright 2012, Diaphanes, Zürich-Berlin.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- I. Deformations: A Media Theory of Swarming -- II. Formations -- III. Formats -- IV. Formulas -- V. Transformations -- VI. Zootechnologies -- Conclusion -- Works Cited

Sommario/riassunto

Swarming has become a fundamental cultural technique related to dynamic processes and an effective metaphor for the collaborative efforts of society. This book examines the media history of swarm research and its significance to current socio-technological processes. It shows that the hype about collective intelligence is based on a reciprocal computerization of biology and biologization of computer science: After decades of painstaking biological observations in the ocean, experiments in aquariums, and mathematical model-making, it was swarms-inspired computer simulation which provided biological researchers with enduring knowledge about animal collectives. At the same time, a turn to biological principles of self-organization made it possible to adapt to unclearly delineated sets of problems and clarify the operation of opaque systems - from logistics to architecture, or



from crowd control to robot collectives. As zootechnologies, swarms offer performative, synthetic, and approximate solutions in cases where analytical approaches are doomed to fail.