Stigmergy
Coordination through environmental modification rather than direct communication. Individuals leave traces that influence subsequent behavior by others.
Used in the Books
This term appears in 2 chapters:
"...ositive feedback loop creates an emergent property: the colony collectively identifies and exploits the richest food sources through a process called stigmergy - indirect coordination through environmental modifications. Crucially, the system also incorporates negative feedback: pheromone trails evaporate o..."
"Ant colonies make collective decisions (which food sources to exploit, where to build nest chambers) without centralized command through stigmergy - individual ants leave pheromone trails that influence others' behavior. No ant plans colony strategy, yet coordinated collective behavior emerges."
Biological Context
Termites build complex mounds through stigmergy: each worker responds to what previous workers built, not to a blueprint. Ant pheromone trails are stigmergic—the trail itself coordinates followers. Wikipedia editing is human stigmergy—each edit influences subsequent editors.
Business Application
Digital stigmergy: commit histories in code, edit trails in documents, usage patterns in products. Understanding stigmergic coordination helps design systems that improve through use.