This is a piece of work that cannot be either liked, nor disliked. The imagery and music tie in together to make a perfect piece, if not for the slanderous commentary stating that not just these birds, but all birds, have no intelligence, and no consciousness to speak of. If birds were unintelligent, then they would not know to find food, to run from predators... it is not just instinct. Instinct is created by knowledge; knowledge comes from intelligence. Therefore, birds are intelligent.
Thanks Sugarfree and Ulgrum... I'm sorry I used the word "intelligence" as the debate around this takes away from the important message in the video. That humans can link their intelligence and perhaps achieve some kind of collective consciousness. Macrowikinomics is about humans not animals. What do you all think of the idea of humans achieving collective intelligence?
Think this could be shown at all conferences in the UK, it should be a flagship video for the Big Society. I think it is brilliant, but we are a while off being able to get everyone to collaborate digitally, probably due to the fact that a third of the country can't get a decent, fit for purpose connection through the obsolete copper phone network... but the future is coming. It just isn't here yet, but when it is we can make the most of digital technology to join the dots.
I should add and agree with most of the comments below about the narration. It detracted significantly from the obviously more intelligent display of flock behavior as an organic form of intelligence both beautiful and functional. For a while I thought I had the wrong audio and soon muted it.
The swirling morphology of the flock as a whole is mesmerizing to b sure. If one watches the behavior of the crisp margins one notes exploratory phalanges of brds one of which is right at thepredator, seemingly to have a look and then, in a moment, merge back toward the center of the mass. Then I look at this I wonder if it is an analog of how our own brains cobble together our consciousness.
Just because starlings can't build buildings or computers doesn't make them unintelligent. They do what is needed to survive, they build nests and gather food and shelter themselves from storms. It's pretty obvious they are the best dancers. Would take forever for that many humans to have choreography that good.
It´s sad that this beauty natural form of starlings only be used to humans as a way to built better organizations, cooporations, that is: financial interest. Maybe we can start being more natural if we start being less greedy... more simple.
Beautiful images, pleasant score, disturbingly idiotic naration - there is no "collaboration" among starlings, merely the instinct to avoid predation by hiding among other birds. This, coupled with the nimbleness of starlings, and their individual desires causes the ballet in this film. This is a free market; the manifestation of Smith's "invisible hand"
@InvalidationX145 1) i can like or dislike w/e I want 2) instinct is an evolutionary buildup of thousands of years of environmental feedback, hardcoded in the DNA and epigenetic proteins of a species 3) birds are intelligent because they can learn new things
Great images, but it's a pity that the comment is a good example of human arrogance, stating that starlings are not intelligent and have no consciousness. Research has proven that starlings are intelligent, and they have some form of consciousness. And I doubt we humans could ever perform something close to murmuration.
Perhaps the narrator meant that individual bird consciousness wasn't guiding the group when he commented about intelligence..dunno cause birds are obviously intelligent. I was glad to hear some of the bird facts but could do without the wish to grab starling talent and translate it to human organizations. I can see corporate leaders' mouths watering at the prospect of such pack mentality demonstrated on behalf of the corporate bottom line. I'd have preferred starling wing noise to human narrati
@InvalidationX145 Thank you. I was just going to say that. He said "this is not a collective intelligence or collective consciousness, of course, because individual birds are not intelligent or conscious." The nerve! How can one look at this display and make such a foolish statement? Birds are not intelligent or conscious?! What are this guy's definitions of intelligent and conscious? What a surprising display of ignorance.
