Abstract

This special issue of Cognitive Systems Research is intended as a follow-up and a companion to an earlier issue devoted to the theme of stigmergy, what we termed stigmergy 3.0 ( Doyle & Marsh, 2013). It reinforces the idea that the observation and the theorizing of the mechanism of stigmergy is no longer the sole preserve of eusocial insects (termites for example), eukaryotic cellular organisms (slime mold) and the flocking, herding, and schooling of organisms with much higher cognitive capacity than termites. Indeed, homo sapiens’ richly adaptive and dynamic behavior may well the paradigm instantiation of stigmergy – think economies and markets, cultures, traditions and practices, urban development, and of course of late, the world-wide web – all highly complex emergent phenomena.