8/25/03
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Comparison of Ant Colonies
and Neural Networks
common
observed
Complex dynamics
brain waves
trails
Global patterns
high
weak
Connect. stability
short/long term
short-term
Memory
local
local
Connectivity
high
high
Robustness
high
high
No. of units
Neural Nets
Ant Colonies
from SolŽ & Goodwin: Signs of Life, p. 149
Connections between neurons are long-term; ant colonies are more like fluid neural nets (S&G 159)
Complex dynamics refers to 1/f
(S&G 149)