Beyond collective intelligence: Collective adaptation

Abstract

We develop a conceptual framework for studying collective adaptation: the process of iterative co-adaptation of cognitive strategies, social environments, and problem structures. Going beyond searching for “intelligent” collectives, we integrate research from different disciplines to show how collective adaptation perspective can help explain why similar collectives can follow very different and sometimes counter-intuitive trajectories. We further discuss how this perspective explains why successful collectives appear to have a general collective intelligence factor, why collectives rarely optimize their behaviour for a single problem, why their behaviours can appear myopic, and why playful exploration of alternative social systems can be useful. We describe different approaches for the study of collective adaptation, including computational models inspired by evolution and statistical physics. The framework of collective adaptation enables the integration and formalization of knowledge about human collective phenomena and opens doors to a rigorous transdisciplinary pursuit of important outstanding questions about human sociality.

A cognitive computational approach to social and collective decision-making

“…Another key dimension on which individuals may vary is the number and structure of social contacts. The topology of the social network is known to strongly influence the dynamics of information and opinion flow (Galesic et al, 2022). Research has approached these systems as inherently dynamic, allowing for repeated interactions.…”

“…Future research could investigate how different social learning strategies in concert allow collectives to adapt to changing environments (or prevent them from doing so). Lastly, group dynamics and social network structures have proven to be important drivers of social learning and collective adaptation (Chimento et al, 2021;Derex & Mesoudi, 2020;Galesic et al, 2022). Experiments on social RL have recently started to move beyond static groups, but future studies could allow even more complex turnover and network dynamics to emerge, making it possible to investigate how such effects might interact with individual cognition.…”

“…And how do social learners decide and switch between different strategies when faced with multiple sources of social information? These and many related questions await more detailed investigation-there is vast unexplored territory concerning the collective consequences of the various cognitive (social) learning mechanisms that facilitate collective adaptation and cultural evolution (Galesic et al, 2022).…”

Cognitive Science of Augmented Intelligence

“…A top‐down approach involves systematizing what we already know about individual cognition and identifying its most fundamental properties. Possible top‐down criteria include adaptation as a result of competition, selection, coordination (e.g., Galesic et al., 2022), the emergence of specialized modules for information processing (Goldstone, 2019; Goldstone & Theiner, 2017), non‐ or near‐decomposability of a system's functionality to smaller units (Simon, 1962; e.g., cognitive function is not reducible to one brain area; collective action is not reducible to individual actions), or the specific mechanisms (e.g., memory and perception) or contents that ostensibly constitute individual cognition (e.g., Sloman, Patterson, & Barbey, 2021). The bottom‐up approach to reengineering the “cognitive system” starts by postulating certain systems as cognitive (e.g., individual humans, teams and corporations, human–machine collaborations, and AI systems), and studying the properties that they share.…”

Harnessing collective intelligence for the future of learning – a co-constructed research and development agenda

“…Mulgan goes back to Latin origins of the word intelligence ('inter' meaning 'between', and 'legere' meaning 'to choose') to emphasize the importance of group formation -who we act with and not just how we act (Mulgan, 2017). Some even argue that existing definitions are not in conflict but only describe the same phenomenon seen through different disciplinary lenses (Galesic et al, 2022). Here, we define collective intelligence as decisions taken when large groups of people construct meaning, with the emphasis on the collective ability to act on it.…”