Benji

“The “modern synthesis” in evolutionary biology brought the tools of population genetics to track the process of natural selection; now the “extended synthesis” adds the insight that organism and environment influence each other.”
― Deborah M Gordon, The Ecology of Collective Behavior

“Although some animals are considered to be solitary rather than group-living, they can also be considered to engage in collective behavior. Even the state of aloneness is itself a relation with others. We know this from our own behavior. People who are alone are not removed from the social fabric; avoidance is a form of relation, and the use of language, even in solitude, is a social activity.”
― Deborah M Gordon, The Ecology of Collective Behavior

“Planarium is a small multicellular organism with an amazing capacity to regenerate; if cut into 200 pieces, it will grow 200 planaria. Its capacity is not limitless: if cut into more than about 250 pieces, each piece is smaller than the minimum module of interactions among cells needed to stimulate regeneration. It is likely that species differences in the capacity to regenerate are associated with the frequency and risk of local damage.”
― Deborah M Gordon, The Ecology of Collective Behavior

“Though many early models of collective behavior sought to reveal common, basic principles that would lead to a single general theory of collective behavior, emergence, or self-organization, it is now clear that the processes that generate collective behavior are very diverse. By now many different models have been developed to de- scribe the myriad processes in nature that use interactions to generate collective outcomes.”
― Deborah M Gordon, The Ecology of Collective Behavior