Behavior Quote by Norbert Wiener
“It is easy to make a simple machine which will run toward the light or run away from it, and if such machines also contain lights of their own, a number of them together will show complicated forms of social behavior...”
About This Quote
Source Book: Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, 1948
Simple machines reacting to light can, when combined, exhibit complex social-like behavior, illustrating emergent properties from basic rules.
In simple terms: Simple agents can create complex group behavior.
Key Takeaway
Study how simple rules lead to complex systems.
Themes
emergence
systems
behavior
Mood
curious
analytical
Type
scientific
philosophical
When to use this quote
- robotics
- swarm intelligence
- traffic flow
- social media dynamics
Key Concepts
cybernetics
self‑organization
Questions to Reflect On
- How can we harness emergent behavior responsibly?
- What limits simple rule‑based systems?
A Different Perspective
Complexity can be unpredictable and hard to control.
