Collective behaviour

　　集體行為

　　A group s intelligence depends in part on its members ignorance

　　集體的 智商 部分取決于成員的無(wú)知

　　HUMAN beings like to think of themselves as the animal kingdom s smartest alecks. It maycome as a surprise to some, therefore, that Iain Couzin of Princeton University believes theyhave something to learn from lesser creatures that move about in a large crowd. As he toldthe AAAS meeting in Washington, DC, groups of animals often make what look like wisedecisions, even when most of the members of those groups are ignorant of what is going on.

　　人類常常自詡為最聰明的動(dòng)物。事實(shí)真的如此嗎?美國(guó)普林斯頓大學(xué)Iain Couzin認(rèn)為人類需要向其他生物學(xué)習(xí)，學(xué)習(xí)他們的集體行為。正如他在華盛頓美國(guó)科學(xué)促進(jìn)會(huì)的會(huì)議上所說(shuō)，動(dòng)物群體往往會(huì)做出明智的決定，即便群體中的大多對(duì)所發(fā)生的事情一無(wú)所知。

　　Coming to that conclusion was not easy. Before lessons can be drawn from critters perchedon the lower rungs of the evolutionary ladder, their behaviour must first be understood.One way to do this is to tag them with devices that follow them aroundmotion-capturesensors, radio transmitters or global-positioning-system detectors that can put a precisefigure on their movements.

　　得出這個(gè)結(jié)論并不容易。想要從低等生物上獲得研究結(jié)果，首先得了解他們的行為。一種做法就是用儀器來(lái)捕捉他們的行動(dòng)，如：動(dòng)作捕捉感應(yīng)器，無(wú)線電發(fā)射器或全球定位系統(tǒng)探測(cè)器，這些儀器可以把他們的動(dòng)作準(zhǔn)確記錄下來(lái)。

　　Unfortunately, it is impossible to tag more than a few individuals in a herd, flock orswarm.Researchers have therefore tended to extrapolate from these few results by usingvarious computer models. Dr Couzin has done quite a bit of this himself. Most recently, hehas modelled the behaviour of shoals of fish. He posited that how they swim will depend oneach individual s competing tendencies to stick close to the others while not actually getting too close to any particular other fish. Itturns out that by fiddling with these tendencies, a virtual shoal can be made to swirlspontaneously in a circle, just like some real species do.

　　不幸的是，要想標(biāo)記出一大群動(dòng)物的行為幾乎是不可能的。研究人員因此傾向于通過(guò)使用各種計(jì)算機(jī)模型來(lái)推斷這些鮮為人知的結(jié)論。 Couzin博士身先士卒。最近，他用計(jì)算機(jī)模仿了魚(yú)群的行為。他設(shè)想，魚(yú)群的游動(dòng)主要取決于每條魚(yú)之間的相互擠碰，而實(shí)際上并不會(huì)擠碰旁邊的其他魚(yú)，只是一種趨勢(shì)而已。事實(shí)證明，魚(yú)群內(nèi)部像這樣彼此間的相互擠碰，不自然的就會(huì)是魚(yú)群形成螺旋狀。

　　That is a start. But real shoals do not exist to swim in circles. Their purpose is to help theirmembers eat and avoid being eaten. At any one time, however, only some individuals knowaboutand can thus react tofood and threats. Dr Couzin therefore wanted to find out howsuch temporary leaders influence the behaviour of the rest.

　　表面如此，但是真正的魚(yú)群是不會(huì)螺旋狀游動(dòng)的。他們的真正目的其實(shí)是相互幫助覓食和躲避掠食者。然而，任何時(shí)候只有魚(yú)群中的少數(shù)才會(huì)會(huì)對(duì)食物和威脅作出反應(yīng)。因此，Couzin博士十分想弄明白這些所謂的 領(lǐng)導(dǎo) 是如何影響魚(yú)群的行為的?

　　He discovered that leadership is extremely efficient. The larger a shoal is, the smaller isthe proportion of it that needs to know what is actually going on for it to feed and avoidpredation effectively. Indeed, having too many leaders with conflicting opinions results inconfusion. At least, that is true in the model. He is now testing it in reality.

　　他發(fā)現(xiàn)，領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力至關(guān)重要。魚(yú)群越大，花在捕食和躲避掠食者方面的精力就越少。而事實(shí)上，領(lǐng)導(dǎo)太多，意見(jiàn)相左，就會(huì)陷入混亂，至少在模擬試驗(yàn)中是這樣。現(xiàn)在，他要在真實(shí)的環(huán)境中開(kāi)始測(cè)試了。

　　Tracking individual fish in a shoal is hard. Fortunately, advances in pattern-recognitionsoftware mean it is no longer impossible. Systems designed to follow people are now cleverenough not only to track a person in a crowd, but also to tell in which direction his head isturned. Since, from above, the oval shape of a human head is not unlike the oblong body of afish, this software can, with a little tweaking, follow piscine antics, too.

　　追蹤魚(yú)群中的個(gè)體十分的困難，幸運(yùn)的是，外形識(shí)別軟件的進(jìn)步意味著它不再成為不可能。人類行為識(shí)別系統(tǒng)已經(jīng)十分的智能化了，不僅能在人群中追蹤個(gè)體，而且還可以告訴他的頭正朝向哪里。從上面看，既然人類頭顱的橢圓形狀與魚(yú)類長(zhǎng)圓型的體型沒(méi)區(qū)別不大，那么，這個(gè)軟件只需稍加調(diào)整便可識(shí)別魚(yú)了。

　　機(jī)器魚(yú)

　　Robo fish

　　Dr Couzin has been using a program developed by Colin Twomey, a graduate student at hislaboratory, to track individual fish in a tank. The result is not just a model of shoaling fish,but a precise numerical representation of their actual movements and fields of vision. Thatmeans it is possible to investigate whether real-life fishy leaders have the same effect on agroup as their virtual kin.

　　Couzin博士一直在使用研究生科林圖梅開(kāi)發(fā)的一個(gè)程序，該程序能追蹤魚(yú)缸里的魚(yú)的行為。研究結(jié)果不僅能反映整個(gè)魚(yú)群的活動(dòng)，并且能用數(shù)字精確地表示出魚(yú)群的確切行動(dòng)和視野。這意味著它可以研究出是否魚(yú)群中的 領(lǐng)導(dǎo) 對(duì)整個(gè)魚(yú)群有影響。

　　Alas, merely observing a shoal does not make it clear which individuals lead and whichfollow. Instead, Dr Couzin has built a biddable robot three-spined stickleback. A preliminarystudy of a shoal of ten flesh-and-blood sticklebacks shows that they do indeed mingle withthe robot and that they follow its leadership cues as predicted. He is now making a robotpredator to see how the shoal reacts to less benign intruders.

　　唉，只觀察魚(yú)群不能說(shuō)明魚(yú)群中誰(shuí)是領(lǐng)導(dǎo)，誰(shuí)是追隨者。相反，Couzin博士已經(jīng)設(shè)計(jì)了一條機(jī)器三刺魚(yú)。通過(guò)把機(jī)器三刺魚(yú)跟10條真正的三刺魚(yú)混在一起對(duì)進(jìn)行研究正與先前的預(yù)測(cè)一樣，他們的確聽(tīng)其號(hào)令。現(xiàn)在，博士正在做一個(gè)機(jī)器捕食者，看看魚(yú)群對(duì)這些兇惡入侵者將會(huì)會(huì)做出如何反映。

　　If the models are anything to go by, the best outcome for the groupin this case, not beingeatenseems to depend on most members being blissfully unaware of the world outsidethe shoal and simply taking their cue from others. This phenomenon, Dr Couzin argues,applies to all manner of organisms, from individual cells in a tissue to voters in the democratic process. His team has already begun probing the question ofvoting patterns. But is ignorance really political bliss? Dr Couzin s models do not yetcapture what happens when the leaders themselves turn out to be sharks.

　　如果這些模型能夠說(shuō)明問(wèn)題，要得出最好的結(jié)果沒(méi)有被吃掉，似乎取決于魚(yú)群中的大多數(shù)對(duì)周圍所發(fā)生的情況一無(wú)所知，而只是默默地接受其他魚(yú)的暗示。這種現(xiàn)象，Couzin博士認(rèn)為在所有生物體中都存在，無(wú)論是單個(gè)細(xì)胞生命，還是在民主進(jìn)程中的選民。博士的研究小組已經(jīng)著手開(kāi)始使用這一成果來(lái)研究投票形式的問(wèn)題了，可是，無(wú)知真的會(huì)帶來(lái)政治上的福音嗎?Couzin博士的模型沒(méi)能證明，如果魚(yú)群中的 領(lǐng)導(dǎo) 變成鯊魚(yú)會(huì)怎樣?

　　Collective behaviour

　　集體行為

　　A group s intelligence depends in part on its members ignorance

　　集體的 智商 部分取決于成員的無(wú)知

　　HUMAN beings like to think of themselves as the animal kingdom s smartest alecks. It maycome as a surprise to some, therefore, that Iain Couzin of Princeton University believes theyhave something to learn from lesser creatures that move about in a large crowd. As he toldthe AAAS meeting in Washington, DC, groups of animals often make what look like wisedecisions, even when most of the members of those groups are ignorant of what is going on.

　　人類常常自詡為最聰明的動(dòng)物。事實(shí)真的如此嗎?美國(guó)普林斯頓大學(xué)Iain Couzin認(rèn)為人類需要向其他生物學(xué)習(xí)，學(xué)習(xí)他們的集體行為。正如他在華盛頓美國(guó)科學(xué)促進(jìn)會(huì)的會(huì)議上所說(shuō)，動(dòng)物群體往往會(huì)做出明智的決定，即便群體中的大多對(duì)所發(fā)生的事情一無(wú)所知。

　　Coming to that conclusion was not easy. Before lessons can be drawn from critters perchedon the lower rungs of the evolutionary ladder, their behaviour must first be understood.One way to do this is to tag them with devices that follow them aroundmotion-capturesensors, radio transmitters or global-positioning-system detectors that can put a precisefigure on their movements.

　　得出這個(gè)結(jié)論并不容易。想要從低等生物上獲得研究結(jié)果，首先得了解他們的行為。一種做法就是用儀器來(lái)捕捉他們的行動(dòng)，如：動(dòng)作捕捉感應(yīng)器，無(wú)線電發(fā)射器或全球定位系統(tǒng)探測(cè)器，這些儀器可以把他們的動(dòng)作準(zhǔn)確記錄下來(lái)。

　　Unfortunately, it is impossible to tag more than a few individuals in a herd, flock orswarm.Researchers have therefore tended to extrapolate from these few results by usingvarious computer models. Dr Couzin has done quite a bit of this himself. Most recently, hehas modelled the behaviour of shoals of fish. He posited that how they swim will depend oneach individual s competing tendencies to stick close to the others while not actually getting too close to any particular other fish. Itturns out that by fiddling with these tendencies, a virtual shoal can be made to swirlspontaneously in a circle, just like some real species do.

　　不幸的是，要想標(biāo)記出一大群動(dòng)物的行為幾乎是不可能的。研究人員因此傾向于通過(guò)使用各種計(jì)算機(jī)模型來(lái)推斷這些鮮為人知的結(jié)論。 Couzin博士身先士卒。最近，他用計(jì)算機(jī)模仿了魚(yú)群的行為。他設(shè)想，魚(yú)群的游動(dòng)主要取決于每條魚(yú)之間的相互擠碰，而實(shí)際上并不會(huì)擠碰旁邊的其他魚(yú)，只是一種趨勢(shì)而已。事實(shí)證明，魚(yú)群內(nèi)部像這樣彼此間的相互擠碰，不自然的就會(huì)是魚(yú)群形成螺旋狀。

　　That is a start. But real shoals do not exist to swim in circles. Their purpose is to help theirmembers eat and avoid being eaten. At any one time, however, only some individuals knowaboutand can thus react tofood and threats. Dr Couzin therefore wanted to find out howsuch temporary leaders influence the behaviour of the rest.

　　表面如此，但是真正的魚(yú)群是不會(huì)螺旋狀游動(dòng)的。他們的真正目的其實(shí)是相互幫助覓食和躲避掠食者。然而，任何時(shí)候只有魚(yú)群中的少數(shù)才會(huì)會(huì)對(duì)食物和威脅作出反應(yīng)。因此，Couzin博士十分想弄明白這些所謂的 領(lǐng)導(dǎo) 是如何影響魚(yú)群的行為的?

　　He discovered that leadership is extremely efficient. The larger a shoal is, the smaller isthe proportion of it that needs to know what is actually going on for it to feed and avoidpredation effectively. Indeed, having too many leaders with conflicting opinions results inconfusion. At least, that is true in the model. He is now testing it in reality.

　　他發(fā)現(xiàn)，領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力至關(guān)重要。魚(yú)群越大，花在捕食和躲避掠食者方面的精力就越少。而事實(shí)上，領(lǐng)導(dǎo)太多，意見(jiàn)相左，就會(huì)陷入混亂，至少在模擬試驗(yàn)中是這樣。現(xiàn)在，他要在真實(shí)的環(huán)境中開(kāi)始測(cè)試了。

　　Tracking individual fish in a shoal is hard. Fortunately, advances in pattern-recognitionsoftware mean it is no longer impossible. Systems designed to follow people are now cleverenough not only to track a person in a crowd, but also to tell in which direction his head isturned. Since, from above, the oval shape of a human head is not unlike the oblong body of afish, this software can, with a little tweaking, follow piscine antics, too.

　　追蹤魚(yú)群中的個(gè)體十分的困難，幸運(yùn)的是，外形識(shí)別軟件的進(jìn)步意味著它不再成為不可能。人類行為識(shí)別系統(tǒng)已經(jīng)十分的智能化了，不僅能在人群中追蹤個(gè)體，而且還可以告訴他的頭正朝向哪里。從上面看，既然人類頭顱的橢圓形狀與魚(yú)類長(zhǎng)圓型的體型沒(méi)區(qū)別不大，那么，這個(gè)軟件只需稍加調(diào)整便可識(shí)別魚(yú)了。

　　機(jī)器魚(yú)

　　Robo fish

　　Dr Couzin has been using a program developed by Colin Twomey, a graduate student at hislaboratory, to track individual fish in a tank. The result is not just a model of shoaling fish,but a precise numerical representation of their actual movements and fields of vision. Thatmeans it is possible to investigate whether real-life fishy leaders have the same effect on agroup as their virtual kin.

　　Couzin博士一直在使用研究生科林圖梅開(kāi)發(fā)的一個(gè)程序，該程序能追蹤魚(yú)缸里的魚(yú)的行為。研究結(jié)果不僅能反映整個(gè)魚(yú)群的活動(dòng)，并且能用數(shù)字精確地表示出魚(yú)群的確切行動(dòng)和視野。這意味著它可以研究出是否魚(yú)群中的 領(lǐng)導(dǎo) 對(duì)整個(gè)魚(yú)群有影響。

　　Alas, merely observing a shoal does not make it clear which individuals lead and whichfollow. Instead, Dr Couzin has built a biddable robot three-spined stickleback. A preliminarystudy of a shoal of ten flesh-and-blood sticklebacks shows that they do indeed mingle withthe robot and that they follow its leadership cues as predicted. He is now making a robotpredator to see how the shoal reacts to less benign intruders.

　　唉，只觀察魚(yú)群不能說(shuō)明魚(yú)群中誰(shuí)是領(lǐng)導(dǎo)，誰(shuí)是追隨者。相反，Couzin博士已經(jīng)設(shè)計(jì)了一條機(jī)器三刺魚(yú)。通過(guò)把機(jī)器三刺魚(yú)跟10條真正的三刺魚(yú)混在一起對(duì)進(jìn)行研究正與先前的預(yù)測(cè)一樣，他們的確聽(tīng)其號(hào)令。現(xiàn)在，博士正在做一個(gè)機(jī)器捕食者，看看魚(yú)群對(duì)這些兇惡入侵者將會(huì)會(huì)做出如何反映。

　　If the models are anything to go by, the best outcome for the groupin this case, not beingeatenseems to depend on most members being blissfully unaware of the world outsidethe shoal and simply taking their cue from others. This phenomenon, Dr Couzin argues,applies to all manner of organisms, from individual cells in a tissue to voters in the democratic process. His team has already begun probing the question ofvoting patterns. But is ignorance really political bliss? Dr Couzin s models do not yetcapture what happens when the leaders themselves turn out to be sharks.

　　如果這些模型能夠說(shuō)明問(wèn)題，要得出最好的結(jié)果沒(méi)有被吃掉，似乎取決于魚(yú)群中的大多數(shù)對(duì)周圍所發(fā)生的情況一無(wú)所知，而只是默默地接受其他魚(yú)的暗示。這種現(xiàn)象，Couzin博士認(rèn)為在所有生物體中都存在，無(wú)論是單個(gè)細(xì)胞生命，還是在民主進(jìn)程中的選民。博士的研究小組已經(jīng)著手開(kāi)始使用這一成果來(lái)研究投票形式的問(wèn)題了，可是，無(wú)知真的會(huì)帶來(lái)政治上的福音嗎?Couzin博士的模型沒(méi)能證明，如果魚(yú)群中的 領(lǐng)導(dǎo) 變成鯊魚(yú)會(huì)怎樣?