There’s a joke that cracks me up:

“Do you know that, earlier than the clock was invented, folks needed to actively roam round and ask folks the time?”

There’s clearly no want to elucidate the joke, but when we have been to overthink it a bit bit (like good mathematicians do) we will say that the joke is about the truth that the data of a particle of a bunch can be utilized to tell all the opposite particles. This idea is definitely method deeper than the joke I simply mentioned and will be exploited additional.

Let’s think about a self-organized system, similar to chook flocking or fish education. We are able to outline this technique as one product of particles (e.g. a particle is a chook). We are able to additionally assume with diploma of approximation that these particles transfer round in house adjusting their positions primarily based on two elements:

• The most effective place that the precise particle is aware of: what the chook thinks is greatest for themselves.
• The world greatest place that’s given by all of the particles “speaking” with one another: what the chook is instructed to do by the “important chook”