[HN Gopher] Out-of-Sync 'Loners' May Secretly Protect Orderly Sw... ___________________________________________________________________ Out-of-Sync 'Loners' May Secretly Protect Orderly Swarms Author : pseudolus Score : 66 points Date : 2020-05-22 09:32 UTC (13 hours ago) (HTM) web link (www.quantamagazine.org) (TXT) w3m dump (www.quantamagazine.org) | gojomo wrote: | Sheepdogs & sheep herds? | lookdangerous wrote: | It's a noble function... | darkerside wrote: | That must be performed periodically... | gator555 wrote: | Reject all forms of identity politics... | reedwolf wrote: | Someone's gonna make a metaheuristic algorithm out of this | insight. Probably call it "Swarm Sentinel Search" or something. | nitrogen wrote: | I've always felt that the oddballs and outcasts among us are like | the sentinels or vanguards of society. They detect problems | before the majority and try to warn others. It's a painful and | unappreciated role, exemplified by one of the major alien | characters in Greg Egan's book _Incandescence_. | thrower123 wrote: | Cranks on Twitter are a fantastic early warning system. You | start to suspect that people who actually do know things are | behind the racist beagles or the shitposting norse god | avatars... ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2020-05-22 23:01 UTC)