Comments on: Scientists Determine the Fishiest Election Ever (LiveScience)

Scientists Determine the Fishiest Election Ever (LiveScience)

bondgirl53001 — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:56:45 -0800

Scientists make fish "vote" by having them choose an artificial fish to follow. Shocker: There's not a lot of individual decision-making.. I always did say some people are as intelligent as fish..

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:09:23 -0800

i guess that explains the landslides for gorton and van de kamp

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:17:51 -0800

Summary Decisions reached through consensus are often more accurate, because they efficiently utilize the diverse information possessed by group members [1], [2] and [3]. A trust in consensus decision making underlies many of our democratic political and judicial institutions [4], as well as the design of web tools such as Google, Wikipedia, and prediction markets [5] and [6]. In theory, consensus for the option favored by the majority of group members will lead to improved decision-making accuracy as group size increases [2] and [4]. Although group-living animals are known to utilize social information [7], [8], [9] and [10], little is known about whether or not decision accuracy increases with group size. In order to reach consensus, group members must be able to integrate the disparate information they possess. Positive feedback, resulting from copying others, can spread information quickly through the group, but it can also result in all individuals making the same, possibly incorrect, choice [8], [11] and [12]. On the other hand, if individuals never copy each other, their decision making remains independent and they fail to benefit from information exchange [4]. Here, we show how small groups of sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) reach consensus when choosing which of two replica fish to follow. As group size increases, the fish make more accurate decisions, becoming better at discriminating subtle phenotypic differences of the replicas. A simple quorum rule proves sufficient to explain our observations, suggesting that animals can make accurate decisions without the need for complicated comparison of the information they possess. Furthermore, although submission to peers can lead to occasional cascades of incorrect decisions, these can be explained as a byproduct of what is usually accurate consensus decision making. David J.T. Sumpter, Jens Krause, Richard James, Iain D. Couzin, Ashley J.W. Ward, Consensus Decision Making by Fish, Current Biology In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 13 November 2008. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6VRT-4TX7M9G-5/2/44804c1fd7d7d05e9daf0d6cf3f9cf3d) (CITATION, POPSCI MOTHERFUCKERS, DO YOU SPEAK IT? I am damn fucking tired of having to dig up articles based on scanty info like "was recently published in the Journal of..." or less. In this case, for example, the article is mentioned as published in the 13 November issue of Current Biology. Which doesn't exist. Note, even, that what I gave isn't really a proper citation, but this isn't MY JOB.)

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:24:55 -0800

So they voted for the healthy fish? Is that what I read? Did the sick one have a replacement waiting in the wings that didn't know Africa was a continent? Did they factor that in?

By: CautionToTheWind

CautionToTheWind — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:28:43 -0800

suggesting that animals can make accurate decisions without the need for complicated comparison of the information they possess. Mmmm mmmm

By: felix betachat

felix betachat — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:33:31 -0800

YES WE SPAWN! YES WE SPAWN!

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:38:11 -0800

This explains why we get such crappie leaders.

By: KokuRyu

KokuRyu — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:44:44 -0800

I always did say some people are as intelligent as fish.. Would you include yourself in that category?

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:50:48 -0800

The audacity of tope.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:52:14 -0800

Dreams from My Flounder.

By: lumensimus

lumensimus — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:04:57 -0800

Dreams from Mahi Father?

By: fantabulous timewaster

fantabulous timewaster — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:07:00 -0800

Tim, thanks for the link to the actual study. Digital Object Identifiers are becoming pretty good canonical references for academic papers. For example, this paper has doi:10.1016/j.cub.2008.09.064, which seems to be a preferred citation until it appears in print next week.

By: ~

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:12:46 -0800

I vote for the Astro Zombie pun.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:23:54 -0800

My pun takes the other puns to school.

By: iSimone

iSimone — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:24:30 -0800

Some of the studies out there are just plain amazing. I've seen a real jawdropper recently, a bird getting his food out of a glass. Incredible.

By: spamguy

spamguy — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 12:04:13 -0800

I always did say some ~~people~~ politicians are as intelligent as fish Fix'd.

By: lostburner

lostburner — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:18:53 -0800

Some of the studies ~~out~~ trout there are just plain amazing. Fished that for you.

By: kuujjuarapik

kuujjuarapik — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:15:28 -0800

i guess that explains the landslides for gorton Former senator Slade Gorton of Washington is one of those Gortons. Don't think he ever got a landslide though.

By: subaruwrx

subaruwrx — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:26:29 -0800

Damn you Astro Zombie. You and the other bottom feeders are just trawling for laughs... and I bought it hook, line and sinker.

By: twoleftfeet

twoleftfeet — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:14:42 -0800

Barracuda Obama!

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 16:28:53 -0800

Earlier this year, and possibly posted to MeFi, was a study of bees choosing a new hive location. Exploratory scouts were sent out, they returned wth their report, more scouts were sent to check out those locations, and eventually a group decision would be made that inevitably chose the best available location for the new colony.