<div dir="ltr">Hmm, not apparently users of <a href="http://arxiv.org">arxiv.org</a> either.<div><br></div><div>Here are the raw videos of sheep in pastures, might be good bedtime watching? <a href="https://zenodo.org/record/6905807">https://zenodo.org/record/6905807</a></div><div><br></div><div>In my experience, swarms are following the mouse, or chasing a randomly fleeing agent, or just wandering around randomly, or following some gradient of pheromone left by Guerin. I honestly never thought sheep went anywhere on purpose unless being herded. But according to Wikipedia they have dominance hierarchies in the flock and score as only slightly less intelligent than pigs.</div><div><br></div><div>There are reports of a flock learning to cross a cattle guard by rolling over the grid on their backs, though it may be a shaggy dog story. It sounds like a trick some bored kids on holiday might teach a flock.</div><div><br></div><div>I don't know how crowd leader selection goes. It sounds like the presumption was that the dominant sheep had the job until it got fired. But this research suggests that sheep aren't so dogmatic. In fact, you can almost hear Graeber saying: "see, even sheep aren't that attached to dominance hierarchies"</div><div><br></div><div>-- rec --</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Nov 21, 2022 at 12:56 PM Steve Smith <<a href="mailto:sasmyth@swcp.com">sasmyth@swcp.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div>
Roger -<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">From hackernews
<div><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-022-01769-8" target="_blank">https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-022-01769-8</a>
<div>corrected link from comments to </div>
<div>"Sheep flocks alternate their leader and achieve
collective intelligence"</div>
</div>
<div>The secret sauce of american democracy.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>-- rec --</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>I wasn't able to read the (paywall) article, but was intrigued by
the abstract's implications.<br>
</p>
<p>The following concluding statement felt a little *projective*</p>
<blockquote>
<p><i><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Harding,Palatino,serif;font-size:18px;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">Our
analysis suggests that it is possible to conceive
intermittent collective strategies that take advantage of
both hierarchical and democratic organizational schemes.</span></i></p>
</blockquote>
<p>But I assume the terms of question (democratic/hierarchical) are
shortcuts for more subtle/complex concepts that they elaborate in
the article. <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Harding,Palatino,serif;font-size:18px;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline"><br>
</span></p>
<p>I'm not a close follower of Swarm literature but I assume there
is already precedent for thinking about "leader election" (to
defer to the democracy analogy)... maybe you or someone else has
more insight into what they are saying here and how it fits into
the larger body of study?</p>
<p>- Steve<br>
<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Harding,Palatino,serif;font-size:18px;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline"></span><i><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Harding,Palatino,serif;font-size:18px;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline"></span></i></p>
</div>
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