The Smart Swarm
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Narrated by:
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Sean Pratt
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By:
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Peter Miller
About this listen
How Understanding Flocks, Schools, and Colonies Can Make Us Better at Communicating, Decision Making, and Getting Things Done
In a world where speed and flexibility are valued more than ever, leaders from the corporate boardroom to the military are looking for answers from seemingly unlikely experts - the ones in the grass, in the air, in the lakes, and in the woods. In this innovative audiobook, veteran National Geographic editor Peter Miller explains the basic principles of smart swarms - self-organization, diversity of knowledge, indirect collaboration, and adaptive mimicking - to show how swarm species such as ants, bees, and fish can teach us to tackle some of the most complex conundrums in business, politics, and technology.
By studying ant colonies’ simple governing rules, computer scientists have written programs to streamline factory processes, telephone networks, and truck routes. Termites have inspired climate-control solutions, and the U.S. military is developing a team of robots that behaves like a school of fish. Groups in nature are the real specialists because they’ve evolved strategies over millions of years to cope with uncertainty, complexity, and change - the same challenges that make our lives and businesses difficult today.
Leading scientists in fields from biology to physics, social psychology, and business management are all studying smart swarms to unlock their secrets, and Peter Miller takes us on a lively tour to show us how we can, too. A fascinating journey from the critter to the corporation, The Smart Swarm is an eye-opening look at small-scale phenomena with big implications for us all.
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Simple Rules
- How to Thrive in a Complex World
- By: Donald Sull, Kathleen M. Eisenhardt
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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We struggle to manage complexity every day. We follow intricate diets to lose weight, juggle multiple remotes to operate our home entertainment systems, face proliferating data at the office, and hack through thickets of regulation at tax time. But complexity isn't destiny. Sull and Eisenhardt argue there's a better way: by developing a few simple yet effective rules, you can tackle even the most complex problems.
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If you are in any sort of leadership position or plan to be, read this book
- By Rex on 06-09-15
By: Donald Sull, and others
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The Click Moment
- Seizing Opportunity in an Unpredictable World
- By: Frans Johansson
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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On the one hand we aren’t surprised by the uncertainty of everyday life, but on the other we believe that success can be analyzed and planned for. It is a revealing paradox. The implications are explosive and they obliterate every common-sense notion we have about strategy and planning. The Click Moment is about two very simple but highly provocative ideas.
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Outstanding book!
- By Anilyn Karel on 08-26-24
By: Frans Johansson
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Applied Minds
- How Engineers Think
- By: Guru Madhavan
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Through narratives and case studies spanning the brilliant history of engineering, Madhavan shows how the concepts of prototyping, efficiency, reliability, standards, optimization, and feedback are put to use in fields as diverse as transportation, retail, health care, and entertainment. Equal parts personal, practical, and profound, Applied Minds charts a path to a future where we apply strategies borrowed from engineering to create useful and inspired solutions to our most pressing challenges.
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excellent edifying book; great narrator too.
- By Phillip on 01-16-22
By: Guru Madhavan
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The Chaos Imperative
- How Chance and Disruption Increase Innovation, Effectiveness, and Success
- By: Ori Brafman, Judah Pollack
- Narrated by: Drew Birdseye
- Length: 4 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Ori Brafman and management consultant Judah Pollack dramatically demonstrate how even the best and most efficient organizations - from Fortune 500 companies to today's US Army - can become more innovative by allowing a little unstructured space and "contained chaos" into their planning and decision-making. Through their consulting work, they realized that while structure and hierarchy are essential both in large corporations and small groups, too much of either can stifle creativity.
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a must read!!
- By Kelly Pavich on 05-26-19
By: Ori Brafman, and others
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Team of Teams
- New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World
- By: General Stanley McChrystal, Tantum Collins, David Silverman, and others
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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The retired four-star general and and best-selling author of My Share of the Task shares a powerful new leadership model. Former General Stanley McChrystal held a key position for much of the War on Terror, as head of the Joint Special Operations Command. In Iraq, he found that despite the vastly superior resources, manpower, and training of the US Military, Al Qaeda had an advantage because of its structure as a loose network of small, independent cells. To defeat such an agile enemy, JSOC had to change its focus from efficiency to adaptability.
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excellent book, very informative.
- By J.J. Gardona on 08-24-15
By: General Stanley McChrystal, and others
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Thinking Machines
- The Quest for Artificial Intelligence - and Where It's Taking Us Next
- By: Luke Dormehl
- Narrated by: Gus Brown
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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When most of us think about artificial intelligence, our minds go straight to cyborgs, robots, and sci-fi thrillers where machines take over the world. But the truth is that artificial intelligence is already among us. It exists in our smartphones, fitness trackers, and refrigerators that tell us when the milk will expire. In some ways the future people dreamed of at the World's Fair in the 1960s is already here. We're teaching our machines how to think like humans, and they're learning at an incredible rate.
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Mostly platitudes with no depth
- By Gary on 03-24-17
By: Luke Dormehl
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Breakpoint
- Why the Web Will Implode, Search Will Be Obsolete, and Everything Else You Need to Know About Technology Is in Your Brain
- By: Jeff Stibel
- Narrated by: Robert David Grant
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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We are living in a world in which cows send texts to farmers when they're in heat, where the most valuable real estate in New York City houses computers, not people, and some of humanity's greatest works are created by crowds, not individuals. We are in the midst of a networking revolution - set to transform the way we access the world's information and the way we connect with one another. Studying biological systems is perhaps the best way to understand such networks, and nature has a lesson for us if we care to listen: Bigger is rarely better in the long run.
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Meh
- By Customer on 12-07-14
By: Jeff Stibel
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Tomorrowland
- Our Journey From Science Fiction to Science Fact
- By: Steven Kotler
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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New York Times, Wired, Atlantic Monthly, Discover bestselling author Steven Kotler has written extensively about those pivotal moments when science fiction became science fact...and fundamentally reshaped the world. Now he gathers the best of his best, updated and expanded upon, to guide listeners on a mind-bending tour of the far frontier, and how these advances are radically transforming our lives.
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Covers a lot of different topics in many industries
- By ErnieA on 06-27-15
By: Steven Kotler
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The Filter Bubble
- What the Internet Is Hiding from You
- By: Eli Pariser
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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In December 2009, Google began customizing its search results for each user. Instead of giving you the most broadly popular result, Google now tries to predict what you are most likely to click on. According to MoveOn.org board president Eli Pariser, Google's change in policy is symptomatic of the most significant shift to take place on the Web in recent years: the rise of personalization.
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Now in the top 3 best books I've ever read
- By Brian Esserlieu on 05-26-11
By: Eli Pariser
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Where Wizards Stay Up Late
- The Origins of the Internet
- By: Katie Hafner, Matthew Lyon
- Narrated by: Mark Douglas Nelson
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Twenty-five years ago, it didn't exist. Today, 20 million people worldwide are surfing the Net. Where Wizards Stay Up Late is the exciting story of the pioneers responsible for creating the most talked about, most influential, and most far-reaching communications breakthrough since the invention of the telephone. In the 1960s, when computers where regarded as mere giant calculators, J.C.R. Licklider at MIT saw them as the ultimate communications devices.
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Absolutely fascinating and we'll researched
- By Elsa Braun on 10-01-16
By: Katie Hafner, and others
What listeners say about The Smart Swarm
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- 04-25-16
FLOCK TO THIS BOOK!
Without question, this is my favorite introductory book to systems science/networks/ emergence. This is what I was hoping to read when I picked up a copy of Global Brain by Howard Bloom. I remember putting that book down and feeling such disappointment because the concept of swarm behavior in humans that mimics the swarm behavior of markets or insects was so fantastic, but Bloom was too enamored by every positive aspect of group think and failed to think critically enough to make the book even remotely reliable. I have read some books on networks, such as Linked by Albert-László Barabási, which I liked a great deal. But, this book is simply better. The only book I can say I enjoyed more was Geoffrey West's Scaling in Biology. However, that book is a compilation of academic articles and is less accessible to the general public. This book is simply addicting and would be appealing to the scientist and non-scientist alike.
Peter Miller just hit a home run! This book is EXCELLENT! Every time I finished a chapter, I started the chapter again! I had to. I loved it that much. Miller introduced his reader to various group behaviors in termites, ants, bees, humans, and markets. While providing incredibly intersting stories about each species (I was absolutely riveted!), Miller focused on the local rules of each species that led to the overall structure of the behavior. I will provide examples for each species below. If you do not want spoilers, do not read any further, since I am about to explain some of the best studies included in this book.
Termites:
Termites build huge mounds that act like lungs! These lungs allow termites to live in the type of comfort know to humans who have central air in their homes.
Each mound (5 x size of Great Pyramids in people terms) is made of fungus. The fungus does 2 jobs:
- Breaks down food to ingestible form for the 2 million termites who live in the mound.
- Regulates the temp and humidity of the mound by breathing out CO2 through it's channels and breathing in oxygen.
The rate of breath is so oxygen greedy, a typical mound acts like the lung of a goat or small cow!
Engineers are looking into building houses that act like breathable lungs, like termite mounds. These houses of the future would use the difference in wind frequency to regulate the temperature in the home, just as well as it is regulated now, but without using electricity to do so.
What are the local rules for termites? Look and see what your neighbor is doing. If your neighbor drops a pile of dirt, you should too. Each individual termite might seem as if they are not organized. They might even seem extremely inefficient. However, when all the disorganized behaviors of the termites are looked at via time lapsed video, it's clear that their collective actions build incredibly efficient and organized structures.
Fish:
How do fish know how to escape a predator? Their group reaction is so swift and coordinated. How is that possible without verbal communication or overall, top-down knowledge of how to escape a predator? Fish use local rules. They do what their neighbor is doing. They follow at least 3 key rules. 1. There is a zone of repulsion in which the fish will not crowd in too close to each other. 2. There is a zone of attraction in which they keep themselves from being too isolated. 3. There is a zone of orientation, which allows them to know which direction to go. Researchers have built models based on these 3 rules and have played around with them to understand how fish go from a disorganized state to a well organized state that helps them evade predators. Shifting from a disorganized state to an organized state is a phase transition, much like that of water turning to ice. Interestingly, fish on their own made bad choices. They swam right up to the predator at times. Group choices were significantly better. This is the case for most species, but Miller made the reader aware that when the group makes bad choices, they are spectacularly bad, as witnessed in the next example.
Ants:
This is the best learned helplessness study I have come across! A group of ants got separated from their larger group. They laid down a circular trail of pheromones and continued to walk in circles. As they continued going around they laid down more pheromones. The pheromones became stronger and stronger, so strong in fact, they were helpless to do anything but walk in circles until they died! Every once in a while a single ant would try to reverse direction and stop going around in circles. But, it got bumped and jostled so much by the other ants that it had no choice but to travel in the group's direction. Then, it too walked and walked in a circle until it died.
People:
When humans make a decision about behaviors -- smoking, picking a song to go viral, getting tattoo, what to wear, etc -- they rely more on groupthink than individuality, no matter how individualistic they think they are. For example, researchers have studied smoking behavior and found that quitting smoking looks very much like how birds flock and fish school. Behaviors like smoking affect 2 to 3 degrees of separation. Your friend's actions can affect you, your friends, and your friends' friends.
When it comes to predicting whether a pop song that will be a hit or not, things get a little more complicated. Researcher can predict that the group, more than the quality of the song, will be the determining factor in whether a song goes viral. But, they cannot predict which song will go viral. Here is why. Multiple groups have the same song list. The first people to listen to songs in each group give initial ratings to the songs. The different groups like different songs. But in each group, the songs that were initially rated highly, were the songs that went on to become viral hits. Each group gave rise to different hits. Thus, researchers amusingly concluded that in one universe Madonna is a megastar. In another universe, she is a nothing.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Locusts:
African locusts are shy by nature. They spend their days feeding on plants but avoid interacting with other locusts. If a particular season is very rainy, it can change the locust from shy introvert to strongly attracted and aggressive extrovert. When excess rains come, locusts lay more eggs. The increased population begins eating the increased plant life. However, once conditions become dry once more, there are more locusts trying to eat fewer plants. The locust then seek each other out, kill each other, swam together and engage in absolute destruction of the land. Along with behavioral changes, locusts who become social and aggressive also experience bodily changes. Juveniles change from tan and green to black and yellow and immature adults change from bright pink to the yellow hue reserved for mature adults. Why does this happen?
Researchers tested to see if it was the site of other locusts that prompted the change. It was not. They then tested to see if it was the smell of other locusts. Still no positive finding. They finally figured out the stimulus when they began "bumping into locusts" with a paintbrush, to mimic crowded conditions. When they poked at various parts of the body, no change in behavior or morphology was observed. But, when they specifically poked the hind legs, the cascade of changed got underway. It turned out that poking this part of the locust promoted the release of serotonin into key brain areas that governed personality, physical maturity, and morphology.
Miller related these stories and more as he attempted to understand the nature of networks on a universal level. I suspect I will pick this book up again in the not so distant future. I took about 10 pages of notes for this book because I didn't want to lose any of the knowledge imparted to me by miller. I loved this book!
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6 people found this helpful
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- Kindle Customer
- 10-12-17
Excellent opportunity to rethink on teams
Loved tge perspective and how science abd business utilize the structure of ants and swarms to improve teams, structure, a d efficiency.
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Overall
- Andy
- 02-09-11
builds upon the wisdom of crowds
The title says it all, and Peter Miller delivers on it. Whether or not you've read The Wisdom of Crowds, this book covers similar territory and more. By more, I mean a handful of very interesting examples in nature of why we think swarms do what they do. Narration is first rate.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Susan
- 03-19-12
Very Insightful and Thought Provoking
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
I would recommend this book to anyone involved in management or group decision making as it outlines critical factors for success
What about Sean Pratt’s performance did you like?
The oration was done well and kept you engaged. Enjoyable to listen to.
Any additional comments?
For those thinking there has to be a better way, this book will aid you in your journey.
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