Collective behavior and evolutionary games - An introduction

TL;DR

This paper introduces a special issue focusing on collective behavior across natural and social systems, emphasizing unifying principles and interdisciplinary approaches, including evolutionary games, to understand complex emergent phenomena.

Contribution

It highlights the importance of identifying unifying principles in collective behavior and encourages interdisciplinary research, including evolutionary game theory, to interpret complex systems.

Findings

Emphasizes the role of unifying principles in understanding collective phenomena

Encourages interdisciplinary approaches including evolutionary games

Aims to foster better interpretation of complex emergent behaviors

Abstract

This is an introduction to the special issue titled "Collective behavior and evolutionary games" that is in the making at Chaos, Solitons & Fractals. The term collective behavior covers many different phenomena in nature and society. From bird flocks and fish swarms to social movements and herding effects, it is the lack of a central planner that makes the spontaneous emergence of sometimes beautifully ordered and seemingly meticulously designed behavior all the more sensational and intriguing. The goal of the special issue is to attract submissions that identify unifying principles that describe the essential aspects of collective behavior, and which thus allow for a better interpretation and foster the understanding of the complexity arising in such systems. As the title of the special issue suggests, the later may come from the realm of evolutionary games, but this is certainly not a necessity, neither for this special issue, and certainly not in general. Interdisciplinary work on all aspects of collective behavior, regardless of background and motivation, and including synchronization and human cognition, is very welcome.