A search engine for social networks based on the behavior of ants

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Research at Carlos III University in Madrid is developing an algorithm, based on ants’ behavior when they are searching for food, which accelerates the search for relationships among elements that are present in social networks.

 

One of the main technical questions in the field of social networks, whose use is becoming more and more generalized, consists in locating the chain of reference that leads from one person to another, from one node to another. The greatest challenges that are presented in this area is the enormous size of these networks and the fact that the response must be rapid, given that the final user expects results in the shortest time possible. In order to find a solution to this problem, these researchers from UC3M have developed an algorithm SoSACO, which accelerates the search for routes between two nodes that belong to a graph that represents a social network.

 

The way SoSACO works was inspired by behavior that has been perfected over thousands of years by one of the most disciplined insects on the planet when they search for food. In general, the algorithms used by colonies of ants imitate how they are capable of finding the path between the anthill and the source of food by secreting and following a chemical trail, called a pheromone, which is deposited on the ground. “In this study – the authors explain – other scented trails are also included so that the ants can follow both the pheromone as well as the scent of the food, which allows them to find the food source much more quickly”. The main results of this research, which was carried out by Jessica Rivero in UC3M’s Laboratorio de Bases de Datos Avanzadas (The Advanced Data Bases Laboratory – LABDA) as part of her doctoral thesis, are summarized in a scientific article published in the journal Applied Intelligence. “The early results show that the application of this algorithm to real social networks obtains an optimal response in a very short time (tens of milliseconds)”, Jessica Rivero states.

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chaos

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Ordinarily, chaos is confusion or disorder… deterministic chaos implies, scientifically talking, some upsets, but we can find outstanding properties with important consequences. In science, chaos describes an important conceptual paradox which has a precise mathematical meaning. This paradox is that chaos is generated by some deterministic systems which make difficult their future prediction. Change and time are two fundamental vectorial form subjects that form altogether chaos foundations. We normally think that a deterministic system is one…

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Dan Ariely: Beware conflicts of interest | Video on TED.com

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TED In this short talk, psychologist Dan Ariely tells two personal stories that explore scientific conflict of interest: How the pursuit of knowledge and insight can be affected, consciously or not, by shortsighted personal goals. When we’re thinking about the big questions, he reminds us, let’s be aware of our all-too-human brains.

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VS Ramachandran: The neurons that shaped civilization | Video on TED.com

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TED Talks Neuroscientist Vilayanur Ramachandran outlines the fascinating functions of mirror neurons. 

Neuroscientist Vilayanur Ramachandran outlines the fascinating functions of mirror neurons. Only recently discovered, these neurons allow us to learn complex social behaviors, some of which formed the foundations of human civilization as we know it.

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Explaining Away Responsibility: Effects of Scientific Explanation on Perceived Culpability

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College students and suburban residents completed questionnaires designed to examine the tendency of scientific explanations of undesirable behaviors to mitigate perceived culpability. In vignettes relating behaviors to an explanatory antecedent, we manipulated the uniformity of the behavior given the antecedent, the responsiveness of the behavior to deterrence, and the explanatory antecedent-type offered- physiological (e.g., a chemical imbalance) or experiential (e.g., abusive parents). Physiological explanations had a greater tendency to exonerate actors than did experiential explanations. The effects of uniformity and deterrence were smaller, and the latter had a significant effect on judgment only when physiological rather than experiential antecedents were specified. Physiologically explained behavior was more likely to be characterized as “automatic,” and willpower and character were less likely to be cited as relevant to the behavior. Physiological explanations of undesirable behavior may mitigate blame by inviting nonteleological causal attributions. Keywords: person perception, volition, moral attribution, responsibility

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Is Behavioral Economics Doomed?: The Ordinary versus the Extraordinary – Open Book Publishers

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It is fashionable to criticize economic theory for focusing too much on rationality and ignoring the imperfect and emotional way in which real economic decisions are reached. All of us facing the global economic crisis wonder just how rational economic men and women can be. Behavioral economics – an effort to incorporate psychological ideas into economics – has become all the rage.

This book by well-known economist David K. Levine questions the idea that behavioral economics is the answer to economic problems. It explores the successes and failures of contemporary economics both inside and outside the laboratory. It then asks whether popular behavioral theories of psychological biases are solutions to the failures. It not only provides an overview of popular behavioral theories and their history, but also gives the reader the tools for scrutinizing them.

Levine’s book is essential reading for students and teachers of economic theory and anyone interested in the psychology of economics.

See on www.openbookpublishers.com

The 11 Ways That Consumers Are Hopeless at Math

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This is your brain on shopping, and it’s not very smart…

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Sentences to ponder

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Some sentences on behavioral economics to ponder:

 

…….. The findings reveal that 20.7% of the studied articles in behavioral economics propose paternalist policy action and that 95.5% of these do not contain any analysis of the cognitive ability of policymakers.

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Free Beer

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On May 12, 2011, I wrote an essay as part of my application for the MBA that I am two weeks away from completing. The focus of the essay was on the combination of psychology and business, and I researched inspiring individuals including Sendhil Mullainathan, a leading behavioral economist, and Muhammad Yunus, from Bangladesh, who won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for the Grameen Bank. He gives microcredit to people in poor countries; 94% of recipients are female. Additionally, I spoke with Professor Richard Thaler. His focus is on Behavioral Economy and Behavioral Finance, which links economy and psychology. Specifically, he focuses on public as well as private decision-making, which he calls Choice Architecture. Professor Thaler encouraged me to read his books, which I very much enjoyed. Thaler wants to make the world a better place by giving people tools to make better decisions regarding health, wealth and happiness.

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From Bounded Rationality to Behavioral Economics by Massimo Egidi :: SSRN

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The paper provides an brief overview of the state of the art in the theory of rational decision making since the 1950′s, and focuses specially on the evolutionary justification of rationality. It is claimed that this justification, and more generally the economic methodology inherited from the Chicago school, becomes untenable once taking into account Kauffman’s Nk model, showing that if evolution it is based on trial-and-error search process, it leads generally to sub-optimal stable solutions: the ‘as if’ justification of perfect rationality proves therefore to be a fallacious metaphor. The normative interpretation of decision-making theory is therefore questioned, and the two challenging views against this approach, Simon’s bounded rationality and Allais’ criticism to expected utility theory are discussed. On this ground it is shown that the cognitive characteristics of choice processes are becoming more and more important for explanation of economic behavior and of deviations from rationality. In particular, according to Kahneman’s Nobel Lecture, it is suggested that the distinction between two types of cognitive processes – the effortful process of deliberate reasoning on the one hand, and the automatic process of unconscious intuition on the other – can provide a different map with which to explain a broad class of deviations from pure ‘olympian’ rationality. This view requires re-establishing and revising connections between psychology and economics: an on-going challenge against the normative approach to economic methodology.

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