First we wrestle, then we ooze

In which the academic, fresh from a bout of rabid-squirrel-wrestling, oozes off into the primordial swamp of knowledge:

How is the modern professoriate like a slime mold? Consider this description from Steven Johnson:

[T]hey solve problems by drawing on masses of relatively stupid elements, rather than a single, intelligent "executive branch." They are bottom-up systems, not top-down. They get their smarts from below. In a more technical language, they are complex adaptive systems that display emergent behavior. [Emergence: Scribner, 2001]

Read the article: it's interesting.

(HT: Three-Toed Sloth)

Tags: academe