Work

Getting closer to the goal by being less capable

Year: 2019

Type: article

Abstract: larvae seeking food), engineering (e.g., driverless navigation), medicine (e.g., reliable movement for brain-damaged individuals), and socioeconomics (e.g., bottom-up goal-driven human organizations). Centralized systems perform better with better components. Here, we show, by contrast, that a decentralized entity is more efficient at reaching a target when its components are less capable. Our findings reproduce experimental results for a living organism, predict that autonomous vehicles may perform better with simpler components, offer a fresh explanation for why biological evolution jumped from decentralized to centralized design, suggest how efficient movement might be achieved despite damaged centralized function, and provide a formula predicting the optimum capability of a system's components so that it comes as close as possible to its target or goal.

Source: Science Advances

DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aau5902

Authors: Pedro D. Manrique, Mason Klein, Yao Sheng Li, Chen Xu, Pak Ming Hui, Neil F. Johnson

Institutions: University of Miami, Soochow University, Chinese University of Hong Kong, George Washington University

Language: English

Topic: Complex Systems and Dynamics

Subfield: Statistical and Nonlinear Physics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $4,500

Funders: National Science Foundation, Air Force Office of Scientific Research