Entropy of teamwork: Multitasking, Configuration, Effectiveness & Efficiency

Abstract

Traditional social models discount the theoretical value of interdependence, the defining characteristic of social behavior, in favor of cooperation, a shift to least entropy production (LEP). But, theoretically, teams organized like distributed processors overlook the interdependence in multitasking. As a simple example of interdependence, foraging deer overgraze in forests free of predators. In our model, interdependence entails uncertainty, tradeoffs, and teamwork. Unlike individuals, the ability of teams to multitask reflects a quantum-like entanglement that suggests the application of maximum entropy production (MEP) to problems that improve social welfare. Our model supports findings in the literature that evolution in nature is driven by the MEP from intelligent choices. Exploiting interdependence improves team intelligence; forced cooperation disorganizes it; e.g., if local cooperation improves teamwork, widespread forced cooperation under autocracies reduces social intelligence. In our model, competition between teams selforganizes outsiders willing to sort through the noise for signals of the choices that improve social welfare (e.g., juries in courtrooms). Social systems organized around competition (checks and balances) better control a society than autocracies due to their inefficiency in sizing teams to solve problems. Overall, we predict, the density of MEP directed at solving problems in a society able to freely self-organize its labor and capital is denser.