Study suggests common ground between individual and collective intelligence, creating potential for bioengineering and AI

A recent study calls into question the traditional distinction between individual and collective intelligence, suggesting that they share common elements. This finding could have potential applications in bioengineering and artificial intelligence. The research, conducted by Michael Levin and Richard Watson, was published by Sage Journals.

According to the researchers, the conventional view that individual and collective intelligence are fundamentally different concepts is challenged in their study. They argue that while individual intelligence is well-understood as a product of specialized neural machinery shaped through natural selection and lifetime experiences, collective intelligence has remained elusive due to its ambiguous definition and domain-specific mechanisms. However, the study suggests these distinctions are not as rigid as they appear. Drawing from examples in evolution and developmental morphogenesis, Levin and Watson propose that commonalities exist between the two forms of intelligence. This opens up the possibility for a framework that combines insights from individual cognition and learning with connectionist models used in neural networks to better understand collective intelligence.

The study also proposes that harnessing the potential of collective intelligence within cell groups could advance biomedicine by offering innovative ways to guide native and synthetic morphogenesis. Furthermore, Levin argues that insights gained from biological systems could enhance the development of intelligent robots that rely on cooperation, competition, and the merging of subunits across various organizational levels. To achieve these goals, Watson emphasizes the importance of developing formalisms for controlling multi-scale intelligent agents and applying concepts from machine learning, behavioral neuroscience, and evolutionary biology to address challenges related to collective intelligence.

The researchers underscore a symmetry between the emergence of new evolutionary individuals from competent subunits and the assembly of integrated cognitive agents through collective intelligence composed of sub-agents. They state that future experiments and computational simulations are expected to quantitatively define the relationships necessary for such transitions. This could potentially lead to a thriving sub-field of collective intelligence. According to Levin and Watson, this research's implications span from fundamental evolutionary biology to regenerative medicine and artificial intelligence, promising developments and applications in various fields.

SAGE Publications: Dr. Richard Watson, Dr. Michael Levin, The collective intelligence of evolution and development, Collective Intelligence (2023). https://doi.org/10.1177/26339137231168355