Ant paths built from pheromone traces
Stigmergy (/ˈstɪɡmərdʒi/ STIG-mər-jee) is a mechanism of indirect coordination, through the environment, between agents or actions. The principle is that the trace left in the environment
by an individual action stimulates the performance of a succeeding
action (possibly by the same agent, but in many scenarios by a different
agent). Under either the planning or the evolutionary account,
each action reinforces the likelihood of repetition of traits that have
enhanced the net survival of previous generations of the species.
(The crucial distinction that the nervous systems in the relevant
species are too simple to produce the observable relationships between
the behaviors of earlier and later individuals on the same trail.)
Stigmergy is a form of self-organization.
It produces complex, seemingly intelligent structures, without need for
any planning, control, or even direct communication between the agents.
As such it supports efficient collaboration between extremely simple
agents, who lack any memory, intelligence or even individual awareness
of each other.
History
The term "stigmergy" was introduced by French biologist Pierre-Paul Grassé in 1959 to refer to termite behavior. He defined it as: "Stimulation of workers by the performance they have achieved." It is derived from the Greek words στίγμα stigma "mark, sign" and ἔργον ergon
"work, action", and captures the notion that an agent’s actions leave
signs in the environment, signs that it and other agents sense and that
determine and incite their subsequent actions.
Later on, a distinction was made between the stigmergic
phenomenon, which is specific to the guidance of additional work, and
the more general, non-work specific incitation, for which the term sematectonic communication was coined by E. O. Wilson, from the Greek words σῆμα sema "sign, token", and τέκτων tecton
"craftsman, builder": "There is a need for a more general, somewhat
less clumsy expression to denote the evocation of any form of behavior
or physiological change by the evidences of work performed by other
animals, including the special case of the guidance of additional work."
Stigmergy is now one of the key concepts in the field of swarm intelligence.
Stigmergic behavior in non-human organisms
Stigmergy was first observed in social insects. For example, ants exchange information by laying down pheromones (the trace) on their way back to the nest when they have found food. In that way, they collectively develop a complex network
of trails, connecting the nest in an efficient way to various food
sources. When ants come out of the nest searching for food, they are
stimulated by the pheromone to follow the trail towards the food source.
The network of trails functions as a shared external memory for the
ant colony.
In computer science, this general method has been applied in a variety of techniques called ant colony optimization, which search for solutions to complex problems by depositing "virtual pheromones" along paths that appear promising.
In the field of artificial neural networks stigmergy can be used as a computational memory. F. Galatolo
showed that a stigmergic memory can achieve the same performances of
more complex and well established neural networks architectures like LSTM. Other eusocial creatures, such as termites, use pheromones to build their complex nests by following a simple decentralized rule set.
Each insect scoops up a 'mudball' or similar material from its
environment, invests the ball with pheromones, and deposits it on the
ground, initially in a random spot. However, termites are attracted to
their nestmates' pheromones and are therefore more likely to drop their
own mudballs on top of their neighbors'. The larger the heap of mud
becomes, the more attractive it is, and therefore the more mud will be
added to it (positive feedback). Over time this leads to the
construction of pillars, arches, tunnels and chambers.
Stigmergy has even been observed in bacteria, various species of
which differentiate into distinct cell types and which participate in
group behaviors that are guided by sophisticated temporal and spatial
control systems. Spectacular examples of multicellular behavior can be found among the myxobacteria. Myxobacteria travel in swarms containing many cells kept together by intercellular molecular signals. Most myxobacteria are predatory: individuals benefit from aggregation as it allows accumulation of extracellular enzymes which are used to digest prey microorganisms. When nutrients are scarce, myxobacterial cells aggregate into fruiting bodies,
within which the swarming cells transform themselves into dormant
myxospores with thick cell walls. The fruiting process is thought to
benefit myxobacteria by ensuring that cell growth
is resumed with a group (swarm) of myxobacteria, rather than isolated
cells. Similar life cycles have developed among the cellular slime molds. The best known of the myxobacteria, Myxococcus xanthus and Stigmatella aurantiaca, are studied in various laboratories as prokaryotic models of development.
Analysis of human behavior
Stigmergy studied in eusocial creatures and physical systems, has been proposed as a model of analyzing some robotics systems, multi-agent systems, communication in computer networks, and online communities.
On the Internet there are many collective projects where users interact only by modifying local parts of their shared virtual environment. Wikipedia is an example of this. The massive structure of information available in a wiki, or an open source software project such as the FreeBSD kernel could be compared to a termite
nest; one initial user leaves a seed of an idea (a mudball) which
attracts other users who then build upon and modify this initial
concept, eventually constructing an elaborate structure of connected
thoughts.
In addition the concept of stigmergy has also been used to
describe how cooperative work such as building design may be integrated.
Designing a large contemporary building involves a large and diverse
network of actors (e.g. architects, building engineers, static
engineers, building services engineers). Their distributed activities
may be partly integrated through practices of stigmergy.
Analysis of human social movements
The rise of open source software in the 21st century has disrupted the business models of some proprietary software providers, and open content projects like Wikipedia have threatened the business models of companies like Britannica.
Researchers have studied collaborative open source projects, arguing
they provide insights into the emergence of large-scale peer production
and the growth of gift economy.
Stigmergic society
Heather Marsh, associated with the Occupy Movement, Wikileaks, and Anonymous, has proposed a new social system where competition as a driving force would be replaced with a more collaborative society. This proposed society would not use representative democracy but new forms of idea and action based governance and collaborative methods including stigmergy.
"With stigmergy, an initial idea is freely given, and the project is
driven by the idea, not by a personality or group of personalities. No
individual needs permission (competitive) or consensus (cooperative) to
propose an idea or initiate a project."
Some at the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement in 2014 were quoted recommending stigmergy as a way forward.
