Does “Swarm Intelligence” Support Reductive Physicalism?

Abstract

This paper discusses the collective intelligent behavior of wholes made out of numerous individuals, otherwise known as Swarm Intelligence (SI). By and large, SI is defined as a kind of a problem-solving ability that emerges when a large number of relatively simple information-processing units, whether animate or artificial, interact locally with each other and with the environment. In this paper, we examine whether SI systems can be thought of as intelligent, according to an accepted definition of Universal Intelligence, whether the emergence of such collective “mind behavior” can be deduced from the simple rules that govern the behavior of the individuals of the swarm, and whether we can reach, through analogical reasoning, new insights regarding physicalist–reductionist views about human intelligence.