Stewardship of global collective behavior

Joseph B Bak-Coleman^{1

2}, Mark Alfano^{3

4}, Wolfram Barfuss^{5

6}, Carl T Bergstrom⁷, Miguel A Centeno⁸, Iain D Couzin^{9

10

11}, Jonathan F Donges^{5

12}, Mirta Galesic¹³, Andrew S Gersick¹⁴, Jennifer Jacquet¹⁵, Albert B Kao¹³, Rachel E Moran¹⁶, Pawel Romanczuk¹⁷, Daniel I Rubenstein¹⁴, Kaia J Tombak¹⁸, Jay J Van Bavel^{19

20}, Elke U Weber^{21

22}

Affiliations

¹ Center for an Informed Public, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195; joebak@uw.edu.
² eScience Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.
³ Ethics & Philosophy of Technology, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands.
⁴ Institute of Philosophy, Australian Catholic University, Banyo Queensland 4014, Australia.
⁵ Earth System Analysis, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Member of the Leibniz Association, 14473 Potsdam, Germany.
⁶ Tübingen AI Center, University of Tübingen, 72074 Tübingen, Germany.
⁷ Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.
⁸ Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544.
⁹ Department of Collective Behaviour, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, 78315 Radolfzell am Bodensee, Germany.
¹⁰ Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, 78464 Konstanz, Germany.
¹¹ Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78464 Konstanz, Germany.
¹² Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 11419 Stockholm, Sweden.
¹³ Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 87501.
¹⁴ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544.
¹⁵ Department of Environmental Studies, New York University, New York, NY 10012.
¹⁶ Center for an Informed Public, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.
¹⁷ Institute for Theoretical Biology, Department of Biology, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, 10115 Berlin, Germany.
¹⁸ Department of Anthropology, Hunter College of the City University of New York, New York, NY 10065.
¹⁹ Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003.
²⁰ Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY 10003.
²¹ Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544.
²² Andlinger Center for Energy and Environment, School of Engineering and Applied Science, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544.

PMID: 34155097
PMCID: PMC8271675
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2025764118

Review

Stewardship of global collective behavior

Joseph B Bak-Coleman et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021.

. 2021 Jul 6;118(27):e2025764118.

doi: 10.1073/pnas.2025764118.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Center for an Informed Public, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195; joebak@uw.edu.
² eScience Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.
³ Ethics & Philosophy of Technology, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands.
⁴ Institute of Philosophy, Australian Catholic University, Banyo Queensland 4014, Australia.
⁵ Earth System Analysis, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Member of the Leibniz Association, 14473 Potsdam, Germany.
⁶ Tübingen AI Center, University of Tübingen, 72074 Tübingen, Germany.
⁷ Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.
⁸ Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544.
⁹ Department of Collective Behaviour, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, 78315 Radolfzell am Bodensee, Germany.
¹⁰ Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, 78464 Konstanz, Germany.
¹¹ Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78464 Konstanz, Germany.
¹² Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 11419 Stockholm, Sweden.
¹³ Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 87501.
¹⁴ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544.
¹⁵ Department of Environmental Studies, New York University, New York, NY 10012.
¹⁶ Center for an Informed Public, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.
¹⁷ Institute for Theoretical Biology, Department of Biology, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, 10115 Berlin, Germany.
¹⁸ Department of Anthropology, Hunter College of the City University of New York, New York, NY 10065.
¹⁹ Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003.
²⁰ Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY 10003.
²¹ Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544.
²² Andlinger Center for Energy and Environment, School of Engineering and Applied Science, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544.

PMID: 34155097
PMCID: PMC8271675
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2025764118

Abstract

Collective behavior provides a framework for understanding how the actions and properties of groups emerge from the way individuals generate and share information. In humans, information flows were initially shaped by natural selection yet are increasingly structured by emerging communication technologies. Our larger, more complex social networks now transfer high-fidelity information over vast distances at low cost. The digital age and the rise of social media have accelerated changes to our social systems, with poorly understood functional consequences. This gap in our knowledge represents a principal challenge to scientific progress, democracy, and actions to address global crises. We argue that the study of collective behavior must rise to a "crisis discipline" just as medicine, conservation, and climate science have, with a focus on providing actionable insight to policymakers and regulators for the stewardship of social systems.

Keywords: collective behavior; complex systems; computational social science; social media.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interest.

Comment in

Swarm intelligence begins now or never.
Cheong KH, Jones MC. Cheong KH, et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Oct 19;118(42):e2113678118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2113678118. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021. PMID: 34654748 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
Reply to Cheong and Jones: The role of science in responding to collective behavioral threats.
Bak-Coleman JB, Bergstrom CT. Bak-Coleman JB, et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Oct 19;118(42):e2114477118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2114477118. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021. PMID: 34654751 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

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1. Couzin I. D., Krause J., Self-organization and collective behavior in vertebrates. Adv. Stud. Behav. 32, 1–75 (2003).

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Stewardship of global collective behavior

Affiliations

Stewardship of global collective behavior

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Comment in

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Miscellaneous