A Computational Approach to Collective Behaviors

Abstract

In her book ``Information Theory and the Living System,'' Gatlin (Gatlin, Information Theory and the Living System, 1972) states that ``Life may be defined operationally as an information processing system---a structural hierarchy of functioning units---that has acquired through evolution the ability to store and process the information necessary for its own accurate reproduction.'' Somehow this statement can readily be adapted to define swarms from the information processing viewpoint: a swarm can be defined operationally as a single distributed information processing system---a dynamic and decentralized structure of functioning units---that has the ability to process information and adapt to changing environments. This definition echoes the general role of computation in complex systems given by Mitchell (Mitchell, Complexity: A Guided Tour, 2009): ``computation is what a complex system does with information in order to succeed or adapt in its environment.''